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The Atacama Desert is found between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It stretches from Peru to the middle of Chile.
The Atacama is one of the driest places on earth, receiving less than 1 mm of rain per year. Some places haven't seen rain in 400 years! Unlike more familiar deserts, like the Sahara desert in Africa and the Mojave in California, the Atacama is actually a pretty cold place, with average daily temperatures ranging between 32°F and 75°F.
The map to the right shows the area most commonly defined as Atacama is yellow-orange. In orange are the outlying arid areas.
By cobaltcigs - South America (orthographic projection).svg by Luan, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11716750
One reason the Atacama is so dry is that winds and moisture blow west across the rain forest, but it gets blocked by the Andes Mountains in a way. The mountains are so high in altitude that the air cools and rains (or snows) on the mountains. As the air descends the other side of the mountain range it warms, holding in its moisture preventing rain from falling on to the ground below.
Although it is tough to find anything living in the Atacama there are isolated pockets and small patches of plants, which support life for animals and insects. Some plant species have adapted well to this dry environment by developing tap roots that run very deep into the ground gathering water from below. There are flocks of flamingos that live in and around the salt lakes feeding on red algae that grows in the waters. There are even people living in the Atacama.
Liolaemus nitidus, a lizard native to the southern reaches of the Atacama DesertCC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=163757
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