Road trip through the Puna de Atacama
Puna means ‘region of high land’ in the Quenchua dialect, native to the Andes region. The Puna de Atacama spans northern Chile, western Bolivia and northern Argentina. Our two week road trip through the Argentinian Puna took our breath away, just like it said in the description of this Squiver trip.
The ever changing desert landscapes are vast and surreal, making you feel like being on a different planet. On the horizon there are snowy mountain tops and volcanoes. We saw mountains where wind and water erosion have created incredible shapes and colors. Endless seas of salt and lagoons with amazing colors dot the valleys. Now and then a green oasis appears in a parched gorge, with little farms, llamas and sheep grazing peacefully.
This was an epic road trip. We were lucky with a crew of exceptional drivers and guides. Daniela Sibbing, thank you for being a great “cheffa” and posing as a model to place these vast landscapes into perspective and Marsel van Oosten and Ignacio Palacios thank you for your guidance on landscape photography.
Sweet memories
We visited the Atacama desert in Chile and the altiplano of Bolivia in the early Nineties. Therefore we were curious how this Argentinian part of the Puna would compare to our memories. To be honest, we were impressed.
Colorful worship
Driving through the high desert of Argentina we saw many churches, chapels, shrines and graveyards for the dead, the living and the holy. Even tiny settlements seem to have impressive churches. Have a look at the Hipsta post…
Catching the light
This was an amazing roadtrip of close to 3000 km over dusty roads on sometimes over 4000m altitude. The days were long because we wanted to capture the golden light both at sunrise and sunset on these amazing landscapes.
Puna de Atacama Gallery
