The Altiplano Landscape
The other day I posted about my trip to ALMA - Atacama Large Millimeter Array - Observatory, the largest radio telescope in the world. The tour I went on was fascinating but it was only at the control base which sits at 2,900 meters above sea level. This was the tip of the iceberg, this time I wanted to go one step further!
The actual antennas of ALMA are located in the altiplano at 5,000 meters above sea level. Up there the oxygen levels are extremely low so I would have my work cut out. This was not an official tour but as a guide here in Atacama I was on a scouting mission to include the views of the ALMA Telescope in one of our future explorations for guests.
At nearly 5,000 meters above sea level oxygen is precious
So up we climbed to get to our starting point of the trek into the mountains. As always it was a slow start at this altitude but after two years my body has adapted well. Before we got anywhere near the sight of the telescope we had to trek through an unforgiving landscape which looked closer to a martian landscape than anywhere I'd seen on earth. Check in tomorrow to see how I got on....
The intense red colour in the rocks is due to a high level of iron