Text and images by Daniele Matterazzo
UNLIMITED HORIZONS
In northern Chile, among vast mineral expanses where the world seems to come to an end, my journey began. It is a land that offers few reference points, no real distractions, where everything is reduced to the essential: water, breath, nature, silence, yourself.
Atacama is not just the driest desert on Earth; it is a primordial space, suspended between sky and land, where the light is sharp and the shadows feel eternal. Mountains rise like solid mirages, and the wind carries stories as ancient as the rock itself. It is in this fragile yet relentless landscape that I chose to pursue my journey, aware that it would not simply be a physical or geographical achievement, but a profound inner exploration. Because in a place like this, you don’t go just to reach a summit.
ATACAMA
Entering the desert means crossing an invisible threshold. There is no exact moment when you realize you have arrived: at some point, the landscape simply stops resembling anything you’ve seen before. Vegetation disappears, and the ground turns into dust, salt, and rock. Everything feels bare, as if time had stripped it down to its core. It is a geography of extremes: endless plateaus, isolated volcanoes, and salt lagoons that suddenly appear like splashes of color in a world dominated by ochre and brown.
Moving through these vast spaces, you feel as if the horizon stretches endlessly, deceiving the eye. The sun strikes with an almost harsh intensity, amplified by altitude and dry air, and every sip of water becomes precious. Then, as the sun sets behind the mountains, the heat vanishes within minutes, and the cold quickly takes its place. Even the wind plays a precise role in this fragile balance: it moves through the stones and constantly reminds you that this place is alive, despite its apparent stillness.
THE VOLCANOES
The landscape is defined by vertical presences that break the flat horizon of the desert: the volcanoes. They rise from the mineral expanse with a quiet, almost solemn naturalness, as if they have always been there, guarding the silence. Many exceed 5,000 meters, and some peaks rise well above 6,000, tracing a stark profile against the clear sky and forming the most extensive mountain chain on the planet.
