This week was a long 4 day weekend to celebrate Chilean Independence Day. So, we made the most of the time off and went to somewhere very special.
We travelled 740km from Santiago to the south of the driest desert in the world: Desierto Atacama. If you imagine the world’s driest desert, it is usually sand, after sand, after sand. Very little grows there asides from cactus. 
However, something magical happens in this desert and we got to see it. This phenomenon is called Desierto Florido (Flowering Desert). Every few years, related to El Niño, after very high and unusual rainfall during winter, the desert blossoms! As it doesn’t happen very often, we jumped at the chance to see it all.
This year was the best in twenty years, meaning everyone in Chile is talking about it, so we knew we had to take the trip and it was everything I expected, and more. It’s very hard to believe that you are in the desert because of all of the colours, and that just makes it even more special, as you know that this happens so infrequently.
There is one strip of Ruta 5 that is particularly special as there are huge areas of light and dark purple, created by these beautiful flowers. It really was a beautiful sight and one I will remember forever. The contrast of the usual desert colours combined with the flowers was just picture perfect.
The patches without flowers just remind you where you are: the world’s driest desert! We drove along the road stopping to admire the colours, record it with our cameras and take in the beauty, as well as the sun!
And just to add to the beauty of the flowers in the desert, we spotted a guanaco as we left, and it just happened to pose for my camera, too!
It was so worth the really long road trip to get there! The colours were just amazing and it really was nature putting on a show 🙂 Next week, I’ll be posting about a national park within the desert where we got to see a huge variety of flowers in a place that usually has very very little growth.
Where have you seen beautiful colours of nature?
Marcella xx
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WhatAWonderfulWorld 
Wow Marcella, it sure is hard to believe that is the desert with all those beautiful purple flowers!!
I love that pose by the guanaco too. Is that a relation to the llama? I havent heard of a guanaco before? Lorelle 🙂 #WanderfulWednesday
Isn’t it? I kept having to remind myself where we were!
Yes, the guanaco is related to the llama, it’s just slightly smaller 🙂 There are lots of guanacos in Chile!
👍🏼
Ooooh soo pretty! I’d definitely go there for those pretty flowers!! #WanderfulWednesday
It was worth lots of hours in the car! So so pretty 🙂
beautiful flowers!
It was amazing!
oh WOW how amazing that you got to see this in person! it’s something straight out of Planet Earth. just gorgeous.
Definitely! It’s one of those things you just read about! 🙂
Wild flowers this summer in Banff, Jasper, Waterton, and Glacier National Parks, in the U.S.A. and Canada!
Sounds great!
ooh! I’ve heard about it but I didn’t remember that it was in Chile. Very pretty flowers indeed! love the color.
I feel so fortunate that we got to see it all! Once in a lifetime, I think!
Those are such lovely flowers. I love the purple and there’s even a little yellow mixed in as well. Hard to believe that is the desert. #wanderfulwednesday
It was all so so beautiful! I can’t wait to show you the huge variety of flowers we saw in one part of the desert; so so many colours! I’ll be blogging about it next week 🙂
What an amazing long weekend trip and very cool you got to go see this phenomenon. I loved your photos, especially the ones with cacti and the guanaco (I would’ve said ‘llama’, hah). How long did it take to drive there from Santiago?
Thanks Cynthia! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. It was about 9 hours drive from Santiago – but worth it all!
Guanacos are related to llamas, they are just slightly smaller and less fluffy! I didn’t know anything about them before Chile!
Thank you very much doe sharing the wonderful photos Marcella. I have been to the Atacama several times, but never at the right time to see it in bloom.
Glad you enjoyed them! It was definitely a trip we couldn’t resist, and it was so worth it!
This is SO cool! Wow, I mean what perfect timing! That you get to see it for yourself! How long was the drive there? I remember you saying road trips can get lengthy in Chile which totally reminds me of Texas!
It was so so amazing! It took us 9 hours to get there so it was a long one! And it looks like such a short distance on the map: Chile is sooo long!!
So many beautiful flowers! #wanderfulwednesday
It was incredible! 🙂 The colours were beautiful.
You definitely made the most of your long weekend! This is absolutely stunning. I’m glad you didn’t miss it in full bloom, especially if it is the best it’s been in 20 years!
We really did! The long weekend came at the perfect time to catch it flowering! 🙂
Wow, it’s crazy to think those guanacos are just running free where you are! I’d be terrified, haha. So cool. Desierto Florido – I love the sound of that. So beautiful. The pops of purple are so gorgeous!
Aww, but they are harmless! They are definitely more scared of humans. So cute 🙂
I loved all the purple everywhere, it was gorgeous!
I never would have guessed that was the desert! I’m so glad that y’all were able to get out and experience this for yourselves! It’s just so beautiful and colorful!
Isn’t it amazing? We got to see such a great variety of flowers that I’ll be sharing next week, it really was spectacular!
Wow! Those desert blooms! Soooo beautiful and how awesome that you were able to see them live in person. Just loving all the purple and also, that guanaco looked ready for his photoshoot haha. So poised. 😉
That guanaco really was working the camera, and loving it 🙂
It was a great weekend, I’m still dreaming of the colours!
These pictures are absolutely gorgeous!! Love the purple flowers, but there’s such a wow factor when you add the color of the sky!! Absolutely stunning. 🙂
Thanks so much! I was in my element as flowers are one of my favourite things to photograph! It was all just so so beautiful 🙂
Gorgeous field of purple! I love all your close-up shots of the flowers, but my favourite photos have to be the ones with the guanaco 🙂
Thanks, it made me think of the lavender fields in France, that I’ve only seen in photos! And yes, I loved that guanaco 🙂
This sounds exactly like the super bloom we had in the California deserts this year. The only thing is that our deserts have tons of orange flowers, so, the carpet of flowers is different. But, this is awesome! So nice you had the opportunity to visit. #wanderfulwednesday
That’s amazing! It’s such a pretty view when it’s a block of one single colour, I’ll never forget it!!
hermosas fotos! colores intensos, un regalo de la naturaleza. En el desierto tambien hay mucha vida!
Muchas gracias Pati! Fue muy muy lindo 🙂 Amo la naturaleza en Chile!
Wow what a spring wonderland!!! This beats any botanical garden I’ve ever been to!
Totally! Nature at its very best, with no human intervention. It really was special!
Bellisimo!!!
🙂
This is so cool! What an opportunity to see such a rare event. It really is so striking, and the colours are absolutely beautiful. And check out that guanaco! What a dude. Definitely worth the road trip, I say, and I’d be doing the exact same thing 🙂
Yep, was worth all of those hours of driving (poor Carlos!), and yup! That gunaco was seriously strutting his stuff!
Wow wow wow – this looks incredible!! So glad I got to see this through your blog 🙂
Yay, so happy I could share it! I love getting to learn about these places that are way less known about 🙂
Wow!! I can’t believe a desert would have such a huge mass of beautiful flowers like this. What a treat to see it, especially since this only happens every few years. Totally worth the road trip! How long did it take to drive there?!
It was so beautiful, I’m sure I’ll remember it forever! It is a 9hr drive from Santiago, but it was worth it!
Wow – my jaw dropped at these photos, what a stunning sight! I love the contrast of the purple flowers, the desert sand and the blue sky too… just beautiful.
Thanks Jessi! It was so so beautiful and I really was in my photo taking element!
Oh my gosh that is such a sight! One of my cousins went to the desert when this happened maybe 7-8 years ago and he showed me photos, but this is definitely even more beautiful!
It was amazing! We were so lucky to have seen it at its best in 20 years!!
Wow, what an amazing sight and you are so lucky you got to see it with your own eyes!!! So so beautiful. xx
Indeed! I’m so glad we made it there 🙂
Reblogged this on Ostendnomadography and commented:
Last year went three times to Chile… Atacama Desert, Valparaiso, Santiago and the south. Chile is such a lovely country, so much nature. Pure nature. So nice to see that the owner of this blog, Marcella, experienced the “Flowering Desert”. Enjoy her awesome photogallery and be inspired:).
Thanks so much!!
Excellent photos. It’s a beautiful country, and wonderful people.
Yes! I loved this trip 🙂
Beautiful photos. I was in Chile in 1984 and on the Independence Day then there were protests and in Santiago, where I was staying, there were heavily armed military and tanks . I would rather have seen your lovely flowers!
I can imagine! That was a very tough time.