Last week we read about the 19th century war between Chile and Bolivia caused by a dispute over some land including the Atacama Desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest (non-polar) place on earth. It literally almost never rains there.

A couple days after we learned about that war, we learned something else about the Atacama Desert. This year they got rain. A whole lot of rain. And beautiful mallow flowers have bloomed. The pictures are gorgeous.

It’s just amazing that the seeds for those flowers can lie dormant waiting for years until rain comes and then the desert, with terrain that has been compared to the barrenness of Mars, suddenly bursts into color for all to enjoy. This earth is amazing.