Article: Out of the classroom and into the Andes: in an effort to rekindle his passion for the physical world, geography teacher Peter Lewis swaps an inner-city school in Birmingham for the Chilean Andes.

The sun has only just risen, but already I can feel its warmth. A white-sand beach curves away into the distance, a solitary set of footprints crossing it to the azure sea and back. There is no human sound--no voices, no cars, no boats, no planes--just the distant cramp of waves breaking in the bay and the occasional whirr of a desert cicada on its territorial rounds.

Normally, at this time of day I would be setting off to teach geography in inner-city Birmingham, as I've done for the past 30 years. Instead, I'm sitting on a beach on the edge of Chile's Atacama Desert, savouring the solitude and enjoying a bivouac breakfast.

I teach geography because I ...

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