World Run II / Reports

The map shows the position of which the pictures for the day are taken (if any). The start and finish markers are placed at the first and last valid registered position. This is not nessesary the actual start and finish position, if GSM or GPS signals was not available.

Goto: 2011-05-09 2011-05-11 Chile West

2011-05-10:

19
Distance today: 30.0 km (Accumulated: 25366.0 km)
Elapsed time: 02:33:51
Country: Chile West

Start 10:20am, 8c, dense mist and l. wind, at green km-marker "km 775" on hwy.5. Finish 13:28pm., 22c, allmost clear and same, at small green km-marker "22" on minor road C386.

Desert or ... rainforrest ?

The Atacama Desert certainly still has some surprises for us. The last two mornings we have woken up in our tents with the beautifull view of the open ranges and mountains exchanged for a dense fog which sourrounds us with a thick white-grey layer of moisture - as close as you can get to rain without it not actually raining. Therefore; I reserve my right to begin to doubt that the Atacama is the world dryest desert ;-)

Btw. the dense fog is created when cool air (due to the cold Humbold current out in the Pacific Ocean) is pressed up over the mountains to the West of the Atacama; creating a thick moisture filled fog which locally is called "la Camanchaca" and certainly gives us some unexpected troubles with soaking wet tents in the morning !

But its also a desert with some right out amazing views; and, perhaps due to the morning-mist: with a few but very beautifull flowers suddenly sticking up amidst the vast distances of brown, grey and yellow rocks and sand.

I've again today uploaded some pictures which hopefully gives an impression of the sceneries out here and how it is to run in this desert - a priveleague which I much Enjoy at the moment :-)

Obviously internetconnections is even more scarce than flowers in the desert so I hope for your patience with the updates while I am running through this 'ocean of sand and rocks'. In a day or two I'll upload the last few days reports and pictures along with the ones from the beginning of todays stage which shows the "Camanchaca". But for now this is all the connection would offer ;-) And... time for what I am here for: Running !