Puna de Atacama, northern Argentina 08 Feb 2019
About this photo
La Puna originates from the Quechua dialect (a dialect native to the Andes in western South America) meaning 'a region of high land'. The Puna de Atacama lies between the latitudes of 8° and 30° south, spanning northern Argentina (where this photo was taken), western Bolivia, northern Chile and central and southern Peru.
The area of La Puna in northern Argentina is a desert, or dry puna, located at high altitude; it has the largest thermal amplitude in the world with temperatures of 30° throughout the day and -30° that same night. It is unique from other areas of dry puna, instead of being flat land at high altitude, it is broken up by mountains and depressions, the height varies from 3,700 metres above sea level down to 3,200 metres.
Updated 8 February, 2019
