The Atacama Desert
Climbing out of Iquique in the desert heat we pulled off the road to allow our engine to cool. Sitting on the edge of a cliff were three paragliders, waiting for the right thermals, for which Iquique has become famous as a top destination. Soon there were about twenty paragliders, and following the cue from the vultures circling above they started taking to the air. I spoke to a glider called Sune from Sweden, who had been the first to arrive, but was still waiting for the right clouds to appear above the mountain. His plan, if the lift was good enough, was to glide half an hour´s drive down the coast and slightly inland to a little restaurant famous for its fish, stop there for breakfast, and then ride the thermals back to his summer home in Iquique, where he spends the rest of the day painting.