El Tatio stirs before dawn — an otherworldly high-altitude geyser field above 14,000 ft in Chile. Over 80 vents send steam and boiling bursts into the pale sunrise.

The Atacama — the driest place on Earth — unfolds a surprising, otherworldly beauty: shimmering salt flats where pink flamingos gather, rust-red rock sculptures carved by time and jewel-toned blue lagoons that glow like hidden mirrors at Laguna Chaxa, Piedras Rojas and the Altiplanic Lagoons.