AM – El Tatio Geysers
Another early start, after a coffee in the lobby, we set out at 4.45am for our 100km journey up to the mountains to view the El Tatio Geysers. When Max the local ‘know-all’ picked us up there were 16 others in the group. The drive was purely on unpaved mountain roads and the full moon illuminated the desert scape till our first ‘loo’ stop when the first rays of the sun just about caressed the upper reaches of the ranges. And hold your breath (literally) the climb was to 4320 metres where at 6.45am the temperature was -10 Celsius!
A Field of Geysers - El Tatio
From a distance we could see the smoking columns in a vast clearance and knew exactly what they were. Max gave us a safety briefing about ”stuff not to do’ as the ground we would be walking on was an active geothermal bed. It was where the volcanic activity some 6000 metres below the ground was transmitting the heat to boil the water trapped in the higher rocks. The steam thus created pushed its way up and through fissures found a release above ground. This field of geysers had more than 100 openings and condensation of the steam in sub-zero conditions was what one takes the trouble of going there. The early start is to ensure viewing as once the atmosphere heats up after sunrise the spectacular effects seize by about 9 am. As we enjoyed this visual splendour, Max suddenly asked us to focus our cameras on a small fissure. It started to gurgle and there was a a small release of steam, suddenly it started growing and within 45 seconds the discharge had risen to a 40 feet steam gushing column! We were then told about one of the geysers which has been christened ‘the French one’ (literal translation from Spanish) and was so called as a French man trying to explore the mouth of the fissure was steamed to death only about 3 years ago.
The Geysers Against the Rising Sun
Breakfast was announced at 7.20 and local cheeses, salami, bread, coffee and cakes were laid out. Water was being heated by the geysers and so were packets of milk – quite an experience.
Our descent was now more interesting as the sun brought the valleys to light together with its animal life. Not a single human habitation in sight though. The first village of 25 people ‘Machua’ was a loo stop on the way back. This where we mingled with the Llamas and I had a skewer of Llamo meat – must say it was tasty. This meat is not public fare as the animals are protected – but for the locals at thus altitude it serves as daily food – and I was accepting their hospitality – no crime committed!
The Valley On Our Descent
Back to the hotel around 1.00 pm, and after a pounding on the body from 200 kms of travel over extremely bumpy terrain, the body needed a break – and so after a shower , two chilled Escudos (local cerveza) and a sumptuous meal of local risotto I vanished between the sheets for an hour. The next trip was to Salar de Atacama at 3.30pm.
PM Toconao and Salar de Atacama
It was Max once again who picked us up at 3.30pm sharp and we drove through the dust blown streets on San Pedro de Atacama towards a typical village of indigenous ‘Atacamenos’ whose hsitory goes back to pre-Inca times. This village is an example of an oasis that gets its water from the melting Andean snows and how these people have developed their own system of irrigation through locks.
The Oasis of Toconao
Toconao is an orchard of quince, plums, oranges and other local fruits and vegetables including lettuce. A walk through this village built on volcanic ash led us to the town centre. The locals believe in genders for everything and this is highly visible in their daily lives – their resident volcano is Ticancabur which due to its conical shape is a ‘male’, while the other volcan right across in the Gemeyko range called Khemal is female due to its rounded appearance and hence is considered Ticancabur’s partner!
Toconao Streets
From here it was an hour to the Salar de Atacama salt flats, well known for its Flamingo sanctuary and is a national park now. These salt fats are the third largest in the world after Bolivia and the US. We spent more than an hour watching the flamingos, the changing colours of the Andes and the salt flats with the setting sun and simply soaked in the nature so barren yet so breathtakingly colourful! Highly recommended.
Flamingos in Salar de Atacama
On our back, Max suggested we have dinner at the Bendito Disierto just outside the San Pedro de Atacama town centre and we very obediently followed his instructions. Brilliant atmosphere and creative food! We had Lechon Altiplanic roast suckling pig (Chilean style) on a bed of mashed potatoes and Salmon ‘poached’ in a seafood sauce (oooh) and weren’t we happy? What about the Pisco Sours that added to our pleasures.
Sunset at Salar de Atacama
Its time for bed now and we have another early rise tomorrow – onward to Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales– the end of the world! The Patagonian journey begins.
Amazing, I did not heard about that till now. Thanks!