So, I’ve recently figured out a lot about myself. For starters, I’m a sucker for rice terraces, any kind of non-English pop music always sounds better to me for whatever reason, traditional dancing of any kind will mesmerize me, and my newest personal factoid: I dig weird landscapes.

I recently found some amazing pictures of Chile’s Atacama Desert and, literally, an hour passed before I got back to what I originally came to do. First, I was roped in to the area by the Mano de Desierto (Hand of the Desert), reminiscent of our friend and guest contributor, Hal’s recent “Top 10 WTF Statues” post. 75 kilometers from the nearest city, this statue of a hand emerging from the ground looks like a bad result to the Jack and the Beanstalk story.

Then it was pictures of the Valle de la Luna which kept me bouncing around the photo blog. Even the name suggests its other-worldliness, “Valley of the Moon.” I can’t vouch for its moon-like authenticity, but  it didn’t look like it belonged anywhere on this planet. I half expected to see creatures from “Where The Wild Things Are” in half the pictures.

Looks like I need to fatten up my travel resume to Chile.