TRAVEL MEMOIRS

The Day Natural Beauty Turned Me Into a Scoundrel

A Kafkaesque experience on the shore of two alpine lakes

Ahu Akivi in Napa Nui National Park, Easter Island, Chile, photo taken by the author

It was a beautiful February day, our final one in Chile. Over the past two weeks, we had wandered among the mysterious moai of Easter Island and hiked through the breathtaking landscapes of Patagonia’s Torres del Paine. Now, we were at our last stop, the Atacama Desert, hoping for something even more amazing.

Torres del Paine, photo taken by the author

We stayed in San Pedro de Atacama, a dusty little adobe town pulsing with an unexpected European vibe. One day, we visited the Tatio Geysers; another, we floated corpse-style in Cejar Lagoon — the Dead Sea of Atacama. There was a little hitch, however, when we attempted to visit Moon Valley.

At the entrance, we were told an online booking was required. We pulled out our phones, but the cell signal was too weak. We were then directed to a vending machine that sold online passes. But it was out of service. The repeated failures dampened our enthusiasm. We abandoned the aspiration to see the famed valley. After all, we admired it from a viewpoint the previous day. Instead of braving the blistering…