Chile’s flowering desert, while absolutely amazing to all whose eyes fall upon it, I feel can only truly be appreciated by those who live here or have at least passed through before, knowing its usual panorama.

I can’t even fathom this place looking like a big, dry desert with only cacti dotting the brown hills and red rocks. So many times I had to reaffirm saying, “Wait, so usually, none of this is here?” Pero normalmente, ¿no existe esto?

No, literally, none of this is here.

And what is here, is fleeting, lasting maybe three months, which amazes me once again; some of these plants are quite large and look as if they’ve been around for much longer, however they just sprouted in early September.

But you see, I still cannot truly grasp it all, something so exotic, and as I said about day one, simply mystical.

And then, there are the crazy, cool cacti: