First, there were floods in the Atacama Desert in March (video take near the town of Diego Alamagro below)... there were casualties and the north of the country was in a state of emergency for several weeks.
However, unusual rains in the Atacama Desert, normally give way to an incredible phenomenon: El Desierto Florido (or the Desert in bloom) in which the area of the desert (between Chañaral and La Serena) gets covered in different varieties of flowers. Normally, this happens once every 5 to 7 years and tends to coincide with "El Niño". It usually lasts for 1-2 months... this year, however, it has been going since May and it is likely to last till November, making it the the biggest bloom event of the last 18 years.
We had to see for ourselves this spectacle of nature so, with a few friends, we took a night bus from Santiago on Friday night to be in Copiapo very early on Saturday morning. We drove around Saturday to see what we could find and we were quite lucky: 2 guanacos, several Atacama Iguanas and lots of pink, yellow, white and even some blue flowers. We had a lovely camping experience (full moon included) in a campsite in a National Park (llanos de Challes, the only place where the flora is protected and not subject to motor sports which seems to be a cause of destruction of these flowers), only a few meters from a beach.
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| It is not just flowers... the animals follow, lots of butterflies, other insects and even iguanas! |
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| The desert? or a meadow in the Alps? |
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| Good night |
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| Good morning |
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| So much colour |
Sunday night we took the bus back to Santiago (premium class is a great way of travelling by bus, with your very own bed!).
Some photos of the trip below.
Or here in higher resolution
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