Translation of thrive in Spanish

I am trying to learn Spanish because Spanish is becoming more and more important in the USA because of immigrants. Especially here in Texas. I used to live in Nevada for many years. Boring place, gotta tell ya.
We drove to the next spot exactly at noon. We were told that this spot would not be crowded at all during the lunch hour and we were not surprised to find it completely empty without anyone else.
We caught the last bus leaving from Calama to San Pedro the Atacama in the Atacama desert, the driest place on earth. Even NASA is using this place as a live moon simulation area. It was night though.