Most of us have done Maui.  A lucky handful have done Paris.  A few maybe even ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. Truth be told, there are a few basic boxes on everyone’s must travel list, and most of us don’t tend to venture beyond the ordinary when it comes to vacation because we like things simple.  We like to know there will be little umbrellas in our drinks, that room service is available when and if that midnight chocolate cake craving hits, and that rest and relaxation are as assured as a brilliant sunset.

But if you want to get a little bit dirty, experience something vastly different, all without sacrificing luxury or basic amenities, explora, a company that has built its reputation upon the unique and extreme, will take you places well beyond your travel aspirations.

At explora, they suggest a new way of traveling to remote areas in South America, based on what they call in-depth explorations of the surroundings.

They have three profound and remarkable locations, and offer lodge-based accommodation at all three.

Their Hotel de Larache, explora’s base lodge in the Atacama Desert, located in the extreme of southern Peru, is smack-dab in the middle one of the most unique physiographic locations in the world.  It will knock your socks off, and not just because the desert is nearly devoid of all moisture.

The first humans arrived in the area over 10,000 years ago and is still today, surrounded by diverse and unique forms of wildlife, including salt flats and hot springs, unparalleled sunsets, high volcanoes, lagoons, and ravines.

Check out their website at http://www.explora.com/ to get a feel for Atacama and their other locations and make the choice to travel outside the box. You may find an adventurous traveler in yourself you never knew existed.

-Arianna Schioldager