It's freezing! Why, if I'm in the driest desert in the world, are my balls freezing? Why, world? Why are you so mysterious like this? "Why do we put in so much effort to try to reach other planets... when we haven't even finished understanding our own?" [Music] Good morning from Atacama, land of vicuñas and llamas. Northern Chile, here, there are very few reptiles. It's not hot; it's very cold here. Just as cold as your uncle's house. So, my frogs, join me on another adventure from Chile. We'll be a raptor bird. Oh! Good day, my frogs, good day, my pals. I greet you from northern Chile to the Atacama Desert region. And let me tell you, this experience has been very, very different from what I expected. When you hear about the Atacama Desert, the driest desert on the planet, you expect anything but what we've been experiencing. Truly, there are many well-developed communities here. This has been a very beautiful experience. Another thing that's surprising me, my friends, it's cold most of the day. Seriously, I haven't been able to take off my jacket. Mind you, it's worth noting that the Atacama Desert is enormous. It's about 900 kilometers long, 300 kilometers wide. It's incredibly massive. So yes, the experience we're going to see in this video will be solely from the northern region of Chile, this part of the Atacama Desert. It's likely to be very cool, very beautiful. Join me, let's go for it, my pals. [Music] The views here are stunning, almost as striking as the strong wind. Behind me is the Valley of Death. This is quite a grim, eerie name, and in my opinion, it does feel like the Valley of Death. I'm actually quite scared to stand there. Honestly, with the strong wind, you could get blown away, seriously. But it's actually called the Valley of Death due to a curious error. Let's take in the scenery. Let's observe this beautiful landscape. It could easily remind us of what movies and NASA images have led us to think about the planet Mars. We feel like we're on Mars right away. Well, it turns out that many years ago, there was a Belgian explorer in this part of Chile. He was Belgian, obviously, and spoke French, but not very well. When he saw it, he said, "Oh, this kind of looks like Mars, like Mars." And when they asked him, "What do you want to name this beautiful landscape?" He said, "Oh, I want to call it the Valley of Death. The Valley of Death." So people understood him, the Valley of Death. Yes, Death, Death. Okay, the Valley of Death. And that's how the name Valley of Death was literally transcribed for that reason. But nowadays, the indigenous people who are responsible for preserving this area are fighting hard to officially change the name back to Valley of Mars. What do you think? Beautiful, incredibly beautiful, as beautiful as it is windy, as beautiful as it is cold. The Atacama Desert has my head exploding into a thousand pieces." [Music] And just as there's a Valley of Mars, there's also a Valley of the Moon. It gets its name entirely because it makes you feel like you're on the Moon. Seriously, all the inclines, all the unevenness here looks like craters. I even feel like I'm starting to lose gravity, holy sky! Chul! Can you hear me? I feel light, Chul! We're on the Moon! The reason you can't cross over here, the reason there's a chain, is because that floor, that ground, that salt, because we're walking on salt, is impressive, much more fragile than this. This one, you can really step on it hard, and nothing happens, it doesn't break. It's strong, but that one, look, in fact, it looks like someone stepped on it or something happened there that broke it, so it cracks all over, everything, everything, everything. I'm curious if the salt here tastes as salty as the one in the Argentine salt flat. Where I licked a stranger's house, man, eh, I apologize for licking your house. There's a little bit of salt here. Mmm, okay, yes, yes, but it's not too salty. Well, the moon tastes like salt. Many romantics say the moon is made of cheese. I confirm it, the moon is made of salt. [Music] I'm not sure if you can hear anything because the wind is quite severe. Let's do something a bit extreme, a bit crazy. You see, this here is the Stone Lagoon, and it's known for its very high salinity level. It's estimated to be between 60 and 70% salt. The attraction here is that you float when you get in. It's somewhat like the Dead Sea, which we visited a few months ago, where you get in, and you float because there's so much salt that your body simply rises to the surface. The risk here is, of course, you can't submerge your entire face because your eyes will burn a lot. The other risk is that it's freezing, very, very cold. Considering that, you can see the strong wind, it's not exactly warm. On top of all this, the water is icy. I can't give you an estimated temperature, but I'll let you know. So, let's go for it. In theory, I'm going to let myself fall backward and float. Let's see what the physics of this place or the salt level has to say about it. Let's see if it's true. Just not with too much force because it might splash into my eyes. And well, I'd be blinded. Not for life, but for a few hours. And friends, I like to see. I don't know about you, but I like to observe. Let's do it! Okay, ready. No way! It's ice cold! I'm used to it, I'm used to the climate. It's supposed that if you pedal, you get hot because the temperature below is hotter. A little bit. Not so much. No, this is awesome. The coldest thing I've ever had in my life. I feel like I'm in the glaciers, but I'm in the desert. This is really amazing. This trip has allowed me to see that the planet is a place full of very mysterious wonders. Why am I in the driest desert in the world? My balls are frozen. Why, world? Why are you so mysterious? Breathing is hard. But I've already acclimated. And I'm going to float. Ah! There it is! Uh! You really feel more alive. Wow! I feel like my body is burning, seriously. I feel that... Yes, my skin feels burnt, but from the cold. Oh, this cold I felt outside a little while ago now feels quite nice, so... Ah, the warmth! Heh! Summer has arrived! Do I have salt on my face? -Yes, it's on your face. Really? I'm salty! It's also supposed to be good for your skin in moderate amounts to bathe in saltwater. So, it's all good. You know, the Stone Lagoon, or "Laguna de Piedra," in the Atacama Desert, an icy place, almost as cold as Antarctica, right in the heart of the driest, most arid desert on the planet. [Music] We're exploring Laguna Chaxa, I hope I'm pronouncing it correctly. What's really fascinating here is that, look, all of this is salt, and suddenly we can see pinkish patches. These are stromatolites, which are some of the oldest forms of life on planet Earth, with an estimated age of over 3 billion years. It's mind-boggling to think that all these water formations, these pink things here, evolved in a way so that billions of years later, you can be watching a guy recording it, narrating with a camera, broadcasting it over the internet, reaching your homes, your houses, your bathroom, wherever you might be watching me. It's crazy; it blows my mind to think that we started like this. That's how those pink things began oxygenating the Earth, and oxygen eventually led to the development of roots, which turned into plants, which turned into other forms of life. The planet is truly ancient, and it's thought-provoking; we can ponder on these topics. One of the things that makes stromatolites so special is that they are the foundation of the food that eventually gives flamingos their distinctive pink color. Flamingos, these beautiful pink birds, or "flamencos," as you might call them, start out white when they're born, they're little white chicks. As they grow and feed on crustaceans and other foods with stromatolites as their base, they gradually turn pink. For example, look at this one we're seeing; you can tell it might not be very old because its midsection is still white. That one over there must be young too because, look, its neck and head are still white. In contrast, this one here, you can see, is much pinker. So, it's possibly a much older bird that has been eating crustaceans and other things that have given it its pink color. Flamingos can live up to 60 years. What a crazy fact, right! They're practically like seniors. But yes, when they're born, they're white, and over time, they turn pink. Did you all know this? That's wild! And it's fascinating to think that life that has existed for over 3 billion years still plays a very, very important role in various ecosystems on our planet. [Music] Okay, things are getting wild here in the Atacama Desert. My guides, the good Iván and the good Mau, are telling me that if I ever find myself in a situation where I'm stuck in the desert with nothing to eat or drink, I can always turn to these reliable plants called "cachiyuyo." A "yuyo" is a bush, a little shrub that grows in the desert; that's what they call it in this region, a "yuyo" or a "yuyito." This is a "cachiyuyo," which is pretty much like a "yuyo." So, to choose an appropriate "cachiyuyo," you grab, break, take a little leaf, and let's go. "It doesn't taste bad. It tastes salty. Well, yes, everything here is super salty. There's plenty of saltiness and such. All the water here is salty. Yeah, not bad. I could eat it. Luisillo el Gordillo, wilderness edition. You know, if you get lost in the Atacama Desert and have nothing to eat, Cachiyuyo is our salvation. Another survival lesson from Luisillo, tough as nails. In the midst of the Atacama Desert, you can come across small water pockets. Not entirely freshwater, as it has a high salt content, but it's clear water. Water that, if you drink it, okay, it might give you a bit of discomfort, but it won't give you a deadly diarrhea that dehydrates you in the desert. So, if you happen to get lost and are very lucky, you might stumble upon an oasis like this, which we're not at right now, with freshwater. The way to identify one of these small freshwater oases is primarily through its vegetation, well, here we see very green vegetation, and also by its surface. If you see it has a slightly whitish layer, like lumps, that's salt, my friend, salt in large quantities. In this case, we see that this water doesn't have it, so you could potentially drink it. I'm not going to drink it because I don't want to get a stomachache, but if I were lost around here, of course, I'd take a big, nourishing sip. So, it's very interesting to know that the animals that live in this area, well, their life's mission is to search for these small oases. In this area, you see a lot of wild donkeys, for example. Vicuñas aren't as common; they're a bit higher up, about 500 or 1000 meters above sea level. But yes, the little donkeys and the vicuñas that are further up take care of finding this little bit of water and licking it. It's quite magical to realize that we're in a place where we see wildlife. Like, we're driving along the road, and we see wildlife. Behind us here, there are a couple of owls, for example, just chilling out, and you see a lot of little donkeys. We might even come across a snake around here that bites us. Another survival lesson from Luisillo, ready for anything, from Atacama. We're witnessing something very beautiful; look, it's a crossing of goats or llamas. Here, they call goats "llamos." So, look, they're crossing the road, those over there already crossed, okay? And these ones here are going to follow them. So, look, the whole procession of goats or llamas is walking, following their leader, and the idea is for them to cross the road and join the ones already on the other side. And there are so many, really, look, it's a big, big procession of llamas, of little goats. This is where it all begins, I mean, there are a lot of goats here. Wow! How many are there? Fifty? Sixty? A hundred goats? But how lovely, look, there go the little goats, ready to cross the road and catch up with their friends who are already quite ahead. They've gotten ahead of them by quite a bit. Look at how many llamas we've come across! There are several, maybe fifteen, twenty. All of them have owners because you can see little ornaments and such on their ears. So, they are domesticated. Most llamas are actually domesticated. Vicuñas, on the other hand, tend to be wild because they are highly protected by the law and such. Hey, I think she has a problem with me messing with the llamas. I might have to call the police and tell my guides, "Hey, what's that guy doing there? Inside." Oh well, I better go. Sorry, excuse me. [Music] And with these beautiful, multicolored Chilean landscapes, it's tempting to have a "piscolita." I've learned that Peruvians prefer to have pisco in a pisco sour, and Chileans enjoy it in a "piscola." So, in honor of these beautiful landscapes and this beautiful country, we're going to have a "piscolita." Just as it sounds, no complications, it's pisco with cola soda and ice. Refreshing and intoxicating. An exquisite Chilean "piscola." And to the departed, my friends. Cheers! Ah, delicious, a tasty way to enjoy pisco. And this is how we come to the end of this day in the Atacama Desert, this marvel of the planet, located in the beautiful territory of Chile. I am more than surprised, especially because this experience is much different from what I expected, from what I had in mind. You read about these places on the internet, in books since you're little, and it's not until you're in them or can see them transmitted in a slightly more precise, a bit more personal way, that you can really know what the experience is like, and I must say I'm fascinated. The whole journey has been entirely worth it. My weones, my sapos, thank you for always welcoming me so warmly to these lands. I'm eager to explore more and more of Chile. Truly, the fact that I meet people on the street and they say, "Luisito, how have you not been to this place, and that place, and the south, and now this place?" I'm eager to explore in more detail and capture it, as always, in the best way with my camera, for all of you. Thank you for joining me on this adventure, friends. See you in a few days with a new video. Goodbye, pimpollo, desert explorer.
