Driving 2,700 miles through the Atacama Desert | Chile (road trip vlog)

I never knew a place like this existed on earth look at that deep blue hole there I wonder what's inside excited to see the flamingos there was stuff walking around our 10-day night yeah we out here we're deep we are we're deep in the desert yes [Music] miraculously the car still drives for now after picking up the rental car we went to the supermarket to get enough food and water to last us for a week we left Santiago and drove North up to the coast towards the Atacama Desert the coast was Rocky and rough and we saw hardly any vegetation our plan was to spend seven days driving 2 700 miles around the Atacama Desert sleeping in a tent and preparing most of our own food we couldn't find a good safe place to set up our tent so we slept in the car for the night [Music] after making breakfast we continued Our Way North [Music] [Music] in a weird little town it's kind of freaky looking pitch oh it just ends [Music] foreign along the way we passed several huge mining operations they looked like something out of a dystopian movie complex Machinery spilling smoke into the air trains and 18-wheelers fueling hauling and transporting and a spider web of metal and wire sprawling out over the dry flat land something what's for lunch [Music] oh my God oh my God [Music] [Music] it's important as a co-pilot to be the hands of your drivers [Music] you're against these hands that was too big [Music] an apple tea thank you it feels so nice the Mano Del desiardo or the hand of the desert is an art installation by Mario Ira razabel who built the structure in 1992. stands 36 feet tall and represents a symbol of human suffering helplessness and vulnerability in the face of adversity and Injustice across the world what is this should we get up close and fall in a well in the middle of the desert [Music] foreign [Music] aside from the occasional mines and volcanoes the desert landscape looked endless in all directions the road going on forever with the closest mining towns off and hundreds of miles away and no cell phone service we got a sense of just how fast and expansive the desert is [Music] not wanting to drive at night for safety we found a good camping spot out of view of the road and watched the sunset before stargazing because there is no light pollution and rarely any clouds the Atacama is one of the best places on Earth to stargaze [Music] in the morning we packed up camp and made our way through the desert to a place that looks like the Moon okay [Music] [Music] the Atacama Desert is the driest place on Earth receiving no more than one millimeter of rain per year which only occurred during three of the last 15 years [Music] the landscape formed more than 200 million years ago as a result of oceanic continental plate interactions which produce deformations in the land and then was sculpted by water and wind erosion [Music] foreign this area was a lush tropical Basin with rivers and large amounts of seasonal rainfall and is where the earliest known well-preserved dinosaurs are found [Music] geologists have determined that some areas of this desert haven't received rainfall for over 23 million years for scale humans have been on Earth for only 6 million years and Homo sapiens have been here for only the last three hundred thousand years [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] over an hour away from the nearest town and seemingly in the middle of the desert we stopped to check out a little town called San Pedro de Atacama well I thought that was a real person [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] streets and filling up on fuel we stopped by these salt pools on our way out of town sometimes it felt like I was looking over the edge of the Earth into space and sometimes like I was peering into the depths of the open ocean this is so cool back in the car and on the search for a green Oasis in the middle of the desert we sang a lot of power ballads but because of copyright laws I had to Overlay other music on top so unfortunately you can't hear us belting out the notes as if we're singing to twenty thousand plus but hopefully you can see our dedication to our screaming fans [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] like you [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] back on the road we were looking for salt pools that you can swim in but instead we found ourselves in the middle of a vast endless expanse of jagged salt rocks with an entire range of volcanoes in the background yeah we out here we're deep we are we're deep in the desert yes we are very if anything it is so inhospitable out here yeah the car would get stuck yeah you can't walk like look at you it's spiky they own like the only place saltier on Earth oh my god dude like [Music] [Music] well that sucks we can't go I never knew a place like this existed on Earth there is so much salt everywhere as far as you can see and then there's the Andes in the background with the volcanoes it's pretty crazy place [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] after driving several hours back in the direction we came we pulled off the road and set up camp foreign [Music] spot again is a good spot though I'm pretty sure there was stuff walking around our tent at night probably a llama but still scary foreign taking a different road than yesterday we eventually found the saw pools in the middle of the same inhospitable landscape millions of years ago this whole area as far as the eye can see was an ocean [Music] millions of years ago it evaporated leaving behind all the salt forming these super salty pools which makes it really easy to float [Music] it's a little bit cold actually oh oh Jose Frio it's pretty chilly why hmm Oh weird Oh weird oh this is weird laughs oh it's so cool so I'm essentially walking on and looking out at the bottom of the ocean which is crazy to think about Deep Blue [Music] foreign you never know when it is [Music] until the morning [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] these salt laguns are in a basin the lowest part of the region which used to be a lake and also evaporated millions of years ago the flamingos are using their feet to stir up the sediment which enables them to find and eat brine shrimp their main source of food and the reason their feathers are tinged pink [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] the Landscapes are with salt flats turning into ground fertile enough to sustain vegetation which then in turn can feed herds of guanaco and other wildlife foreign [Music] the contrast of the yellow grasses and shrubs with the snow-capped volcanoes is just stunning foreign [Music] ER of just how far out we are and how huge and vast this landscape is [Music] driving way up into the highlands we came to a place located at over 12 000 feet known for its Red Rocks colored by the oxidation of iron the incredible colors of the mountains rocks and water makes this place seem magical and otherworldly Blown Away by the astonishing Beauty and frigid wind [Music] it's lunch time [Music] I learned about this from the Chalino cowboy who gave us a ride hitchhiking and let us stay at his house Merkin it's really good he's foreign [Music] thank you making our way back towards the main road we found our last camping spot before heading back towards Santiago in the morning [Music] to the best desert camping spot yet Cheers Cheers [Music] foreign [Music] wanting to take a different route on our way back than we took in the beginning we set off across more endless desert hoping this wasn't a terrible idea [Music] foreign [Music] hours into the drive and seeing no signs of Life anywhere the road unexpectedly took a turn for the worse the road dissolved into terrifying sand pits thinking the worst thing to happen would be to get the car stuck in the sand and then being forced to survive out here until someone randomly drove by and rescued us I decided to hit the sand pits with speed to try to make it through the best roads but we survived and miraculously the car still drives for now operative word for now after about eight sand pits and a few tiers we came to a large mine we stopped at a gas station where we assessed the damage to the rental car the metal bracket holding up the radiator had broken causing it to hang down on one side these miners saw we needed help and managed to tie the radiator up so we could limp our way out of the desert and drive the 1200 miles back to Santiago um Another Day in Paradise we drove cautiously for several hours before stopping in the same place as the first night to sleep in the car once more our last day driving to Santiago we have 550 miles Car Works it's kind of a long drive for a broken car but it's the adventure travel baby I decided to wash the car before returning it hoping the radiator wouldn't look as bad if it was cleaned thank you [Music] just filled up in La Serena we are a little bit less halfway to Santiago the car is doing great no problems really happy 3200 wrong surprisingly there were a lot of toll roads and we ended up paying over 60 dollars in tolls during the trip however the tolls meant we were on a paved Road near a city which meant that if anything happened with the car we would be able to get help [Music] yes yes [Music] we made it to Santiago which is fantastic because the car held up wonderfully the whole way bad news is we're sitting in traffic but I will take traffic over getting stranded in the desert so yay [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Brooke on Foot

Views: 7,076

Keywords: Brookeonfoot, Brooke on foot, solo female traveler, solo female travel vlogger, travel blog, travel blogger, travel vlogger, travel vlog, female travel vlog, solo traveler, travel, vlog

Id: BFc26pXE8AI

Length: 34min 5sec (2045 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 17 2022