The high-altitude route is one of the most spectacular and inhospitable on the planet.
Other than my guide, David Torres, I was the only human around to witness this extraordinary spectacle.
Nevertheless, I knew that the journey could be physically grueling.
A flamboyance of James’s flamingos on Bolivia’s Laguna Colorada.Credit:Nick Ballón
A faint smell of sulfur filled the air.
In some parts, the river had veins of brick-red bacteria snaking along its surface like licks of fire.
This one looks like a portal to the underworld, Torres said casually, stepping around a steamy cauldron.
The view from a guest room at Explora’s Ramaditas Mountain Lodge, in Bolivia.Nick Ballón
Even in my half-awake state, I knew that I wasnt looking up.
I was seeing it reflected on the lake like sprinkled glitter.
At the bottom, streams of water cut through the salty white ground.
From left: The Licancabur Volcano looms over Explora’s Atacama Lodge, near San Pedro de Atacama, Chile; a chef prepares breakfast in Chituca Mountain Lodge’s open kitchen.Nick Ballón
It would be a mass-extinction event that would end life in the Americas as we know it.
These nomadic tribes lived from 2,000 B.C.
Behind us, volcanic boulders the size of cars sheltered yaretas, chartreuse cushion plants that smelled like pinecones.
The lounge at Ramaditas Mountain Lodge, in Bolivia.Nick Ballón
The dark green building looked like part of the landscape, surrounded by rock and scrub.
The nearest big town was three hours away.
The isolation wasnt like what Id find in a jungle or on an island or amid dense forest.
A sunrise breakfast on the salt flat.Nick Ballón
I was up-in-the-clouds apart.
Not that it scared me; I was thrilled.All that space.
It felt like one of the greatest luxuries on earth.
From left: The Chituca Mountain Lodge on Bolivia’s Altiplano, with its views of the Andes Mountains, is a stop on Explora’s travesía expedition; inside Bolivia’s Las Galaxias Grotto, once used for Indigenous burial ceremonies.Nick Ballón
Torres yelled, incredulous.
Our driver, Cruz, was surprised, too.
Theyre even harder to spot than the puma, Torres said, offering me his binoculars.
Descending the slope of Irruputuncu Volcano.Nick Ballón
But the cat had disappeared into distant shrubs by the time I could focus.
All I could see was its prey: viscachas, rodents easily mistaken for rabbits.
But I also knew these aches were worth the chance to see what lay ahead.
From left: Hiking the Irruputuncu Volcano, in Chile, amid its yellow sulfur-rich gas; bathing in the Puritama Hot Springs at Atacama Lodge.Nick Ballón
As Torres had taught me, I moved slowly, breathed with intention, and drank water greedily.
Two hours later, we cautiously crested the lip of the active volcano.
A fury of pungent smoke spewed from competing vents.
Stopping for lunch on Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni salt flat.Nick Ballón
At times, the air became so thick it seemed to block out the sun.
Turning back, we slid-jumped down Irruputuncus sandy slope as if we were descending a giant dune.
The color wasnt the bluish white of snow and ice, but rather a radiant, pink-hued ivory.
It rippled like the ocean and felt, as I walked across in my boots, like broken glass.
After a quick photo stop, we climbed back into the Land Cruiser and raced northward through the emptiness.
It felt liberating to accelerate after days of slow walking.
We hiked to the top.
For the first time in four days, we were no longer alone.
We watched as 4x4s containing other visitors appeared to crawl like tiny ants across the salar.
You completely lose perspective here, Torres explained of the illusion.
Its something thats always been present in our lives.
But who knows what will happen in the coming years?
We climbed up terraced fields of quinoa peppered with scarecrows.
I was feeling chipper, too, finally at ease with the elevation.
The color wasnt the bluish white of snow and ice, but rather a radiant, pink-hued ivory.
Our hot breaths were like cloudbursts in the thin Andean air.
We were the only souls for miles around.
Slowly thestars dimmed and the moon plunged.
What followed was an operatic daybreak.
explora.com; seven-night private itineraries on the Travesia Atacama-Uyuni route from $8,400 per person, all-inclusive.
