Last week I posted about the start of the latest youth expedition from impossible2Possible, the organization that connects with classrooms to educate young people through the use of adventure. At the time, the five youth ambassadors were just preparing to set out on their journey, which was a long distance run across the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Fast forward one week, and the team has now wrapped up that journey, covering an impressive 219 km (136 miles) in just 6 days.
The video below gives us a sense of what their final day was like out on the trail, as they ran through the driest desert on the planet. Caught in a rain shadow between Chile’s Pacific Mountain Range on the west, and the Andes on the east, almost no rain clouds are able to clear those peaks, and bring water to this part of the world. It is so dry there in fact, that there are places in the Atacama where it hasn’t rained in recorded history.
While on this expedition, the team interacted with various classrooms, presenting them with lesson plans based around the origins of the Universe, the creation of the planets, stars, black holes, and other celestial bodies. You might ask what that would have to do with the Atacama, but the desert has some of the clearest skies on Earth, making it a fantastic place to observe the heavens. It is for that reason that there are several powerful observatories have been built there.
Congratulations to Jesus Perez, Alessandro Aime, Valerie Gagne, Stephen Lambert, and Florence Reyonolds for completing the expedition. Excellent work all around.
i2P Atacama Expedition May 19, 2014 Daily Summary from GOi2P on Vimeo.
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