This year’s remarkably strong El Niño has actually brought an unusual present to Chile’s Atacama Desert: rain. In among the driest put on Earth, that uncommon wetness has actually awakened countless seeds and bulbs that can stay inactive underground for many years, changing the landscape into an incredible carpet of color.

Understood in your area as “desierto florido,” or “flowering desert,” the phenomenon is among nature’s most impressive changes. Patches of purple, pink, white, red and yellow now spread out throughout hillsides and plains that for much of the year appear nearly entirely lifeless.