The ‘driest place on Earth’ is covered in pink flowers after a crazy year of rain

The Washington Post

By Angela Fritz  October 29

The Atacama Desert in Chile, known as the driest place on Earth, is awash with color after a year’s worth of extreme rainfall.

In an average year, this desert is a very dry place. Arica, Chile, in the northern Atacama holds the world record for the longest dry streak, having gone 173 months without a drop of rain in the early 20th century. In another Atacama neighbor to the south of Arica, the average annual rainfall in the city of Antofagasta is just 0.07 inches.

The end of the gold rush: Amazing pictures show police destroying an entire TOWN including grocery stores and a nightclub that had sprung up to support illegal miners in the Peruvian rainforest

• Peruvian government has launched a massive crackdown against the 55 illegal mining settlements in the country
• The destruction of the La Pampa settlement, in the southeastern Madre de Dios region, made hundreds homeless
• Food shops, brothels and tarpaulin nightclubs had been set up to service the mine workers and their families
• Illegal mining is one of the leading causes of deforestation in Peru, which is more than 60 per cent rainforest 

By IMOGEN CALDERWOOD FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 11:54 GMT, 25 July 2015 | UPDATED: 16:10 GMT, 25 July 2015