On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Dorothy A. Winsor
As you may have seen, Mr. DAW and I were on a cruise in South America from late March until mid-April. The ship was one of Viking’s expedition ships, coming from Antarctica where it had spent the southern summer and repositioning to the Great Lakes for the northern summer. So we flew to Santiago, Chile and then were bussed to Valparaiso to board the ship.
There were only 5 stops, which was a little disappointing for such a long trip, but they were mostly places we hadn’t been before. I’m not good with a camera, so I pre-apologize for some of the shots.
The first stop was in Iquique, Chile, where we went to the Atacama Desert, the driest desert in the world. It looked like a moonscape. Not even cactus was in sight. Our first destination was Humberston, an abandoned mining town. It was a large place with family and single person housing, a school, a theater, a church, stores, everything you’d need when so far away from anything else. It was a company town, and frankly, I found the whole thing kind of horrifying. Once you hired on there, it was hard to get out because you were paid in scrip that was good only in whatever town you happened to be working in.
This is the market area. There were stalls all around.
Our second stop was Cerro Pintados Geoglyphs. These were created between 500 and 1500 AD. Our guide said they didn’t know the purpose, those I’ve seen a site claiming they were guideposts for travelers.
Another shot of the geoglyphs. There were hundreds of them.
raven
Great pics! Our friends went to France last months for a Viking Cruise and the strike caused their trip to be called off.
Benw
Those glyphs are wild, man.
NotMax
Early form of either advertising or of graffiti.
Or both. ;)
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Kids those days…
JPL
@NotMax: 😃😃
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
“ixtaquimoy was here.”
:)
eclare
Wow that desert is …frightening. I don’t know the right word, but it’s not friendly.
Dorothy A. Winsor
That desert was very unwelcoming. When we were out looking at the geoglyphs, it was so hot, I felt faint.
Kristine
The second shot reminds me of the photos of the Martian landscape.
Betty
Kind of amazing that people lived in the area long enough to leave such a significant landmark.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty: I know! NASA did some training for the Mars mission there.
Spanky
The Atacama is one of the driest places on earth, and there are a bunch of observatories for infrared and submillimeter studies.
I’d like to spend some time there, but highly doubt I will.
Spanky
@eclare: Go to Google Maps, search on “La Silla Observatory”, and go to the Street View.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Apollo training in Hawaii.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@NotMax: LOL. That looks much better than the Atacama Desert.
Old School
@Spanky:
Woah.
When I do that and look down, I see a disembodied leg.
SkyBluePink
Fascinating geoglyphs-
Looking forward to more of your trip.
Joy in FL
@Spanky: I just visited that web site. wow. For this Florida native, that is really different land. Thanks for the views.
Joy in FL
What an amazing trip! Thank you for sharing about it.
J R in WV
Really dry deserts vary from a few very hardy plants to nothing, as you saw at Atacama on your trip.
When we went on our whale watching trip, we started on the pacific side of the Baja Sud in wide shallow bays full of sea life, like the many Gray Whale moms and their calves, who were peaceful and quiet as they met their two leg friends. They would eventually put their nose right on the floats of the Zodiak boats full on tourists and guides, and look right at us with those huge eyes.
My old friend and retired ER doc got covered in small whale snot when small whale sneezed violently — evidently whale was Mike allergic — was hilarious, Mike was covered as if by an automated paint shop tool set !!! He was wearing his Raybans, so little actual harm caused. So funny, wish I had better photos of it all. Great crowd tho …!
ETA: On the inner side of the Baja there were a few big cactus trees right on the coast, but once you climbed up away from the “beach” and walked inland it was really REALLY dry, almost nothing for miles and miles. Sonoran desert for second driest place in Americas…
evodevo
@NotMax:
Yeah…that’s what I think…look at the history of the Oregon Trail and Register Rock…
StringOnAStick
I wonder if when those geoglyphs were carved if it wasn’t nearly as dry there then, at least enough so that the area could be traversed without dying from lack of water. Or maybe what made it so sacred and deserving of the difficulty of making those carvings is that it was such inhospitable terrain?
lee
Great shots of the desert. That one is on my bucket list.
way2blue
Those glyphs will outlive us all! Maybe the glyphs are requests to the rain gods… As the foreground of the second photo—with what appears to be dried mud—hints at wetter times.
Curious to see your other port stops.
RaflW
My brother and I are considering an Antarctic cruise/expedition. I see that you cruised Viking for repositioning, but what are your impressions of the ship? Size of vessel, comfort, food, crew? Thanks!
Denali5
@RaflW
If you are considering an Antarctic cruise, I would go with a more experienced Antarctic expedition company. Viking is great for river cruises; for oceans, especially the wild south Atlantic, I think another company would be a better choice.
RaflW
@Denali5: Thanks. Yeah, some friends took a Nat. Geo. cruise to Antartica on one of the newest Endurance/Resolution class ships and it looked and sounded amazing.