{"id":2174,"date":"2015-06-30T11:30:58","date_gmt":"2015-06-30T10:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/?p=2174"},"modified":"2015-06-30T12:36:16","modified_gmt":"2015-06-30T11:36:16","slug":"the-atacama-desert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/?p=2174","title":{"rendered":"The Atacama Desert"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>So what do I take back from the Atacma ?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Just putting pictures of\u00a0 Laguna Caxa, Laguna Miscanti, Valle de la Lune, the Geyser at el Tatio, the desert around\u00a0 Paranal, and Mano de la Desierto next to each other makes one realize that the desert may always look meagre but at the same time also quite diverse. It is not just yellow sand dunes as in cartoons. Like in Antarctica,\u00a0 life has adapted to this extreme environment and flourishes in niches.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The long history of human presence in the Atacama (spanning from the Chinchorro in 7000 BC to the the nitrate towns of Santa Laura and Humberstone abandoned in 1961), and the artefacts that the dryness of the desert preserves make it an interesting place for archaeologist, anthropologists &#8212; and the\u00a0 casual tourist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The telescopes at ALMA, Paranal, and La Silla spewing out new discoveries in a weekly rhythm thereby changing our understanding of the universe bit by bit. Maybe these are not relevant for daily life. Society as a whole and also\u00a0 a sustainable economy that relies on inventing new products require these investments in basic research in my opinion. And I feel my tax money is better spend in building and operating these giant machines that solely exist for the purpose of enhancing our knowledge than in saving bankrupt\u00a0 banks that no longer serve their overall economic function.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Discovering the surrounding area of San Pedro using tour operators rather than a rental car does not allow to go at ones own pace. On the other hand it ensures meeting many nice, and interesting people with many different stories and backgrounds. I enjoyed it!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_918\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-918\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DSC_0247.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-918\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DSC_0247.jpg\" alt=\"Atacama: The Desert\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-918\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: The Desert around Cerro Paranal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_935\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-935\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DSC_02701.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-935\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/DSC_02701.jpg\" alt=\"Mano del Desierto: This could be a picture from Mars\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-935\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Desert around Mano del Desierto<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1420\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1420\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0101.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1420 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0101.jpg\" alt=\"Laguna Chaxa: Landscape\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1420\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Laguna Chaxa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1416\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1416\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0091.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1416 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0091.jpg\" alt=\"Laguna Chaxa: Landscape\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1416\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Laguna Chaxa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1433\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1433\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0122.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1433 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0122.jpg\" alt=\"Laguna Miscanti: Vegetation around Laguna and Mountain\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1433\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Laguna Miscanti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1501\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1501\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0007.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1501 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_0007.jpg\" alt=\"El Tatio: Geyser Field at Sunrise\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1501\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Geyser Field at El Tatio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1576\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1576\" style=\"width: 3216px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_01781.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1576 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/DSC_01781.jpg\" alt=\"Valle de la Lune\" width=\"3216\" height=\"2136\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1576\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Atacama: Valle de la Lune<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2177\" style=\"width: 1648px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150524_0508_Atacama1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2177\" src=\"http:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/20150524_0508_Atacama1.jpg\" alt=\"The Atacama\" width=\"1648\" height=\"1004\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Atacama<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>So what do I take back from the Atacma ? \u00a0Just putting pictures of\u00a0 Laguna Caxa, Laguna Miscanti, Valle de la Lune, the Geyser at el Tatio, the desert around\u00a0 Paranal, and Mano de la Desierto next to each other makes one realize that the desert may always look meagre but at the same time &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/?p=2174\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Atacama Desert<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2174"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2325,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2174\/revisions\/2325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloetzner.net\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}