Welcome to the Head Roam Current Project, which in late March 2022, is our Atacama Desert Travelogue.
Here’s a quick guide to what you’ll find in this post; feel free to jump down the page:
- Why We Went to the Atacama Desert
- Current Project Status
- Writing Lesson: Dominant Impressions
- Atacama Desert and Chile Reading List
The Atacama Desert Travelogue: Why We Went
Steve and I journeyed to the Atacama in 2019. I had read about it in a New York Times 52 Places post back in 2017. Since we were stopping in Chile before and after our 6 weeks in Buenos Aires learning to speak Spanish, we decided it would be a cool place to stop.
Starting with the Atacama Desert Travelogue as my first project posed a particular challenge that I think a lot of travelers may have: I wrote a page of impressions after we arrived at our hotel and before we left for our first excursion to the Valley of the Moon.
Then?
Nothing.
I figured I’d get to it soon after we arrived home, when I wasn’t too tired from the day’s activities to write. I never did.
So I painstakingly went through my photos, dumping the duds, mapping and labelling the others, retouching the best ones, and posting them to a Facebook album dedicated to the Atacama, which I invite you to visit. Like your favorites, and please leave a comment or two.
I’ll have an upcoming post on that process. I won’t lie: It requires a block of dedicated time and may inspire a little hair-pulling as well. It’s also very rewarding; Steve and I have had a lot of fun revisiting the trip and comparing notes.
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The Atacama Desert Travelogue: Current Status
I continue to work on the Atacama Desert Travelogue ebook, “Long Shadows in the Late Afternoon: A Journey to the Atacama.” Coming soon to a website near you, i.e., this one.
As I went through the process of recreating the trip, I realized that there had been things about my approach that bothered me, namely:
- I didn’t do enough research.
- Thus, I fell into herd mentality.
- Additionally, I wasn’t prepared for the challenges of the Atacama’s extreme light, and therefore got a lot of crappy photos with my phone.
- I didn’t make sure our hotel had a place to look at the stars, which are the best part.
You, my friend, can benefit from my mistakes. Check out the Atacama Desert Travel Tips here.
The Atacama Desert Travelogue: Writing Lesson
How do you write about the parts of a trip that you don’t love?
Don’t get me wrong.
I am deeply grateful for my time in the Atacama.
I just wish I’d done some things differently.
So how do I write about my mistakes, the things I didn’t like?
I looked to my travel writing hero, Jan Morris. She spoke in interviews about her affection for Australia, yet her portrait in her essay collection Journeys focuses on warts and wonders equally. Morris has a knack for leaning into dominant impressions of places, a technique to emulate.
I’m rewriting my initial draft of the Atacama Desert Travelogue to build a dominant impression. Soon, in the Write category of this site, you’ll find a post highlighting what I’ve learned.
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The Atacama Desert Travelogue: Further Reading on Chile
Finally, I’ve been reading and rereading books on Chile, some by Chilenos. Find the complete list of books by our favorite Chilean authors and about Chile here. If you buy any of them via our links, you help support this site at no extra cost to you, and also support independent booksellers.
Thanks for reading!
Please leave comments, send an email to Nan, and share this post. Take care!
