Santiago

As a circle of bohemians chant and pound on the drums in the Calama, Chile, airport, I purse my chapped lips and reach for my 1.6-liter water bottle. Chile’s Atacama Desert, the driest place in the world situated in the northern part of the country, has left its mark on me — mainly in the form of dehydration and sunburn. After a long weekend of mountain biking, swimming in salt lakes and taking in the vast dryness of salt flats, I couldn’t wait to get back to the central region of Santiago and regain all of my water weight.