Up at 4 am – way dark – grabbed snack bags at reception, and off we went to El Tatio geyser for a sunrise viewing. Not too many people on the road, and those that were headed north on the single dirt highway had the same destination. Lance drove – no coffee and no sleep would make me more dangerous than usual behind the wheel! – and the almost-full moon was up, with a planet just topping the ridge of the mountain range. We were really surprised to see all of the fog out. Our drive took us up and up, to about 14,300 feet (gave new perspective to the Colorado 14ers), and we were about the 3rd car to have arrived.
Paid our 5,000 pesos each (about 700/US$) and found a parking spot. Still pretty dark out, but Lance got his set up all ready, and I pulled my wool hat over my eyes and snoozed for about 30 minutes. By the time I sat up, there were more than a dozen cars and quite a few vans/tourist buses and people walking around everywhere. I was able to get a few without other people:
As you can see (or not), some were spewing hot water (the top one) and some only smoke. Large rocks cordoned viewers off into safe zones. It seems that a couple of months ago a tourist fell into one of the geysers and though taken to the hospital, died a week later.
The sun continued to rise, and as we snapped our final shots and drove away, there was a great perspective from the hill above it all:
I would really like to figure out some way, which there is none, to capture for you how grand this land is. The views are spectacular, filled with (after last night) snow-capped volcanoes, mountains, rocky terrain, bushes and guanaco, goats and wild donkeys, hill and dale. And when I say volcano, you look at that peak and say “dang, that’s just how it looked in King Kong movies” or whatever your childhood frame of reference might be.
Other shots on the drive out:
You can see the guanaco feeding in the foreground and some white birds, whose songs were the only audible on the windy plains. More:
Then back to town where I hit the hay for about an hour, showered, then headed out for coffee (we finally found a place called Roots that makes GOOD coffee) and lunch.
Then I strolled around town a bit to snap some street shots:
And of course, the 2015 fully restored town church, the original of which dates back to 1550:
Around 4 pm, we headed for La Valle de la Luna, so named because of the geological patterns that created an area so vividly reminiscent of a lunar landscape. However, when we pulled up to the admissions office, it looked more like a tailgating party: buses, vans, cars and trucks all disgorging the hordes who arrived at the appointed hour to take advantage of waning sunlight’s ability to make the land look even more eerie. Lance and I looked at each other, then hightailed it out of there. He had seen a “back door” on the map, and we headed around to be sneaky, but that, alas, was closed. As we slowly headed back to town, the grey clouds and occasional lightning had erupted into a full force storm, with rain pounding and incredible contortions of lightning all around us. We pulled over to watch the effect of the deluge on the dry, rocky, salted area, when I erupted with a colorful phrase immediately after and incredible clap of thunder. We looked out the window to see massive streams washing over the road and cliffs:
And as we inched back to town, saw one waterfall that seemed more like a mudfall (a bit hard to see because of coloring):
You can see at least the lower portion coming out, but it starts up kind of between the two big rocks.
And as you might imagine, the hard rain pushed not only streams of water, but also rocks and assorted detritus into the road. The view through our windshield:
Luckily, we both had our raincoats with us and enjoyed the flooded streets and so many people taking pictures of the aftermath with their phones. There were men on roofs patching holes – they were mostly adobe, so were drooling and leaking a bit. But as you can see, the intrepid traveler moved through it all with a smile!
A bit of relaxation and cleanup, and we headed to Le Estika for a lovely dinner.