Salt Flats Day Three

Saturday November 6.

Up and out by 4:30 to drive across more desert to some geysers. The temperature was minus ten! The geysers are water that is superheated underground that explodes up out of the ground. Not as good as Yellowstone but, neat nonetheless. The air was full of steam sounds and smelled like sulfur. We watched the sun come up, in this very stark place.

From there we drove to another lagoon, that had a hot spring in it. Some people went in for a ´hot tub´but I didn´t. Remember the temperature was below freezing and I didn´t feel like trying to dry off after. Brendan and Giovanna did though.

I went exploring and watched the flamingos as they waited for the ice to melt so they could eat. All the groups of 4x4´s had breakfast there. Then we headed to the Bolivian border and the crossing into Chile. Very remote and basic crossing.

James, Simon, Sogo and I and others from other groups, were loaded onto a bus that took us to the actual Chile passport checkpoint. There they checked all of our backpacks.

Then back on the bus for the ride to San Pedro de Atacama. It´s all down hill and the temperature went up considerably.

When I arrived I spent a couple of hours trying to find my hotel, carrying all my stuff. Much warmer here and I was working up a sweat. No one knew where it was but they were willing to send me off in every direction. Finally found a hotel guy who helped me and got me a ride to my hotel. Nice little place, in the middle of nowhere, with no wifi (arggh!).

Went for a walk back into town to get some Chilean pesos (500 to 1 - I got thousands!) and had an empanada for dinner. Pretty little town, but not much here except touristy stuff, as it´s the south end of the salt flats and the entrance to the Atacama Desert. Spent the evening relaxing and reading.