Atacama Desert Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau in South America covering a 1000-km (600-mi) strip of land on the Pacific coast, west of the Andes mountains. The Atacama desert is one of the driest places in the world (the driest being the McMurdo Dry Valleys ) , as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than the polar deserts. According to estimates, the Atacama Desert occupies , or if the barren lower slopes of the Andes are included. Most of the desert is composed of stony terrain, salt lakes ("salares"), sand, and felsic lava
In the Desert larger purpose of the narrative. They do not hold importance due to their individual characteristics. "In the Desert" presents an ambiguous state of mind, but affirms a stance toward God and the Universe. In this poem, no particular sin is pointed out to the reader; instead, Crane shows that human nature is inherently sinful and corrupt. Max Cavitch writes, that "In the Desert" is well-deserving of a permanent place in American literature along with Crane's "The Black Riders". In the Desert "In the Desert" is the name given to a poem written by Stephen Crane (1871–1900), published in 1895 as