San Pedro de Atacama 2 - Geysers, vicunas and flamingos in great company

- November 09, 2019

'Hi Carole, it's Maritza. Have you already been to the Geysers del Tatio? We are going tomorrow, would you like to come with us? We have a jeep and we know the way. We can pick you up at 5am'. Yes! I'm in and I'll be ready at 5am!

Earlier that day, I met Maritza and Sergio as we were on the horseback ride together. And since I had lots of pictures of them on their horses (or actually of their backs), we exchanged numbers so I could send them the pictures. And a few hours later I received this super nice message from them inviting me to go all the way up to the Geysers del Tatio with them, how perfect! I was almost about to book an organized tour to go up there but was hesitating to go on a tourist bus and be driven around with lots of people following a guide among hundreds of other tourist buses all doing the same route. And at the right time I got this invitation!

Maritza and Sergio are both Chilean (all the messages we exchanged were actually in Spanish), from the town called Iquique about 5 hours away on the coast. The main occupation of most people in these northern regions are the mines, mostly copper mines. From what I could understand, huge amounts of soil are excavated from the ground, put through chemical reactions mainly with sulfuric acid to separate the precious metals from the rest and then processed and purified. There are mines everywhere, but mostly in very remote places. Maritza and Sergio both work on the mine industries and, like most employees, have a 7-day shift on the site, 12 hour days, sleeping in hotel-type accommodation, then 7 days of vacation. And 1 month vacation once a year. They were taking advantage of that week off to visit San Pedro de Atacama. I have to say I have never met a couple that is so nice, respectful and sweet to each other after 6 years together, role models!

So there they were the next morning, punctual at 5am picking me up at my hostel in their clean 4-wheeler! And up we drove into the night under a starry sky, all the way up to 4500m elevation! About 1,5 hour later we reached the entrance of the park, were hundreds of other cars and tourist buses had already arrived and we parked were everybody parked. But, oh was it worth it to face the crowd and arrive at the top! Where steam was coming out of everywhere around us, boiling water splashing around in soft flushing sounds. And the sunrise through the steam! Look how beautiful!
I realized that it was really worth it to get up so early to see this scenery in the freezing cold (-4°C! when we arrived at 6.30am!). As soon as the sun comes out, the steam starts to lower as the temperature rises and the effect is no longer as impressive, they even seem 'turned off' later in the day. The water that comes out of the ground is actually around 87°C but at this elevation it already boils. It was really a beautiful scene and didn't feel that crowded after all because the space is so wide. With Maritza and Sergio we were strolling around, taking our time and enjoying the scenes, taking pictures. It was very relaxed and pleasant.

After that, every tourist bus when a bit farther to the natural hot baths, people got in the water! We just put our feet in, how nice and warm!

My favorite part was driving back down: now it was daylight, and the moment I was waiting for came very fast: spotting lots of vicuñas along the road! How graceful, delicate and dainty animals, just love watching them stare and walk! We also spotted 2 nandus, large birds a bit smaller than ostrich but quite similar. And further down a few lamas and wild donkeys!

And another surprise (that we could already peek at in the twilight of the morning sunrise on the way up): flamingos! Thousands of them!

We got back round 2pm, had a nice lunch then I went back to my hostel for a rest. Later in the evening I was just strolling around the little town center, soaking up the nice atmosphere at this time of day, when the atmosphere is more laid back and relaxed.

Waow, what a day, thank you Maritza and Sergio!