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What’s There To Do in Chile's Atacama Desert, Anyway?

After his tasting trip through the vineyards of Chile, Jaunted Special Contributor Eric Rosen jetted to the country’s far north to visit the adventureland of the Atacama Desert, and here’s his roundup of the area’s best activities.

Ever since I first learned as a schoolchild that the Atacama Desert was the driest place on earth (some parts of it have not seen rain in 400 years!), I’ve wanted to visit what I assumed was a mystical wasteland at the end of the world. But on a recent visit to the region in Chile’s north—about a two-hour flight from Santiago—I found out just how much there is to do in one of South America’s best-kept secret adventure destinations.

While staying at the deluxe Hotel Alto Atacama, I got to take advantage of the hotel’s full schedule of planned guest excursions to explore one of the world’s most extreme environments and find out what a truly rich setting it is, with sights ranging from high-altitude geysers to hidden hot springs to ancient mountain forts. Here’s a roundup of some of the best experiences from my stay.

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