The Atacama sits between the Andes Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Both of these neighbours actually keep rain away - the mountains block rain clouds, and cold ocean air makes clouds form low over the sea but not enough to reach the land. That is a double block that leaves the desert almost completely dry.
One of the most magical things about the Atacama is that, once every few years when a tiny bit of rain does fall, millions of wild flowers suddenly bloom across the desert floor all at once. Scientists call this the 'desierto florido' - the flowering desert. One week it looks like brown rock; the next it is a carpet of pink, purple and yellow.
Because the Atacama air is so dry and there are no lights or clouds, the night sky is extraordinary. Astronomers from all over the world have built huge telescopes there to study stars and galaxies that are almost impossible to see from anywhere else on Earth. Children living nearby can sometimes see the Milky Way every single night.
The Atacama also has giant salt flats - flat, white, crunchy areas where ancient lakes dried up long ago. Flamingos wade through shallow salty pools feeding on tiny shrimps. The salt crunches underfoot like fresh snow, and in the midday sun everything glitters white as far as you can see.