Chile’s Atacama desert: an arid 41,000 sq m expanse of desolation, little fauna, abandoned mining towns, and an 11m-high hand sticking out of the ground smack-bang in the middle of nowhere. Created in 1992 by Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal, 'Mano de Desierto' is now covered in the scrawls of visitors but still rises incongruously and majestically out of the sand. There’s an, ahem, handy guide here.