The Atacama Desert of Chile is a vast, empty plain, as barren as the surface of Mars, and as mesmerizing. Anything can be imagined in that landscape. Going there would bring to the senses something primal and whole that exists for the most part free of the influence of humankind. Like going back to the beginning. And so will I go there, if time and fate allow.
This desert has figured in two things I’ve written, a screenplay titled “Masquerade, Anyone?” and a novel, Gene Pool. The screenplay is a caper about a private detective and thieves; the novel is about genetic engineering. In both, the Atacama Desert, the most arid desert in the world, is just a backdrop in short sequences, but in the backstory, it was a place that I couldn’t get out of my mind. It is in truth in a few locations the center of astonishing discoveries and research in astronomy and unmanned space exploration.
(Photos courtesy of Danielle Pereira)
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