Today we went to El Tatio Geisers about 100km from San Pedro. All I can say is WOW!! Just an amazing day. All the tour companies in San Pedro obviously got together at some point and decide to get some of their own back at the stupid tourists by deciding that you just have to be at the Geysers at sunrise. This means getting picked up at 4am and waking up at 3:45am (that seems more like a time I should be going to bed on holiday, not waking up!!). Every single tour company only runs it at that time. Definitely a conspiracy. So the night before we dutifully tried to go to bed early, meaning we weren’t tired enough to sleep and we were both so worried we would miss Jason’s rather subtle watch alarm that we kept waking up all night. When it finally did go off we stumbled out of bed into some clothes and onto the street to wait. The other person from our hostel who was waiting and wearing a lot more clothes then informed us she had been told it’s around -10 at the geysers. WHAT?! We had been told to dress warmly, but it’s rather chilly at 4am in San Pedro and no further explanation had been given. Jason quickly rushed back in and put on trainers rather than sandals, and grabbed a thermal top which I put on underneath the two jumpers I was already wearing. We were as ready as we were going to be and on our way.
Nearly 3 hours of very bumpy twisty mountain roads later we reached the geysers just as the sun was beginning to light the sky. It was indeed around -10, if not colder. We fought over who should take photos as neither of us wanted to risk frostbite from holding the camera too long. “No, you take it… you’ll do a much better job.” Our very thin travel pants didn’t give much warmth to the legs either and we began to wonder how susceptible legs were to frostbite. But enough about the temperature… onto the geysers. The whole area looked like something from another planet. We were at 4320m but it looked like we were in a depression as the area was surrounded with volcanoes and snow covered mountains that top 6000m. The ground was issuing steam all around and as you got closer you could hear the boiling water under the ground that would suddenly burst forth and threaten to scald those standing too close. The minerals from the water had left interesting shaped and coloured deposits which further led to the alien feel. Words can’t really do it justice but hopefully our photos do a better job.
Following an hour or so wandering around the geysers we went for a quick dip in a hot spring. Only 15 minutes was allowed though as otherwise the minerals start to do nasty things to your skin. After this we thought the tour was over, but the drive down was just amazing. Looking out from either side of the bus you could be mistaken for thinking it was two entirely different places. One side would be covered in snow rising up to volcanoes or mountains whilst the other would be a typically desert scene with sand dunes and cacti dotting the landscape and bizarrely no snow in sight. We were constantly snapping pictures out the window and almost as frequently stopping the bus to have a proper look. The scenery was kind of expected, but we weren’t expecting a wildlife tour as well! We saw herds of guanacos, vicuna and llamas (all closely related), multiple bird species and some very weird looking rabbit type animals that I’m pretty sure are called vizcacha.
1 comment:
That's a very early start! Think of it as a once in a lifetime thing. :)
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