A hot tub on route to Chile

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We woke up at 4:30am to get ready to leave around 5. We saw the lights of many other vehicles driving in the same direction as us taking their passengers to see the same sights as well. It looked like a pilgrimage of Landcruisers all heading in the same direction through the desert. Our first stop was to see geysers. Dan, Ralph and Chica all went for a walk through the steam sprayed air, whilst Tina, Nat and I made the decision to stay warm and out of the strong wind inside the vehicle. The sun was rising, but was not high enough to supply any heat at the time.

We continued on to the hot springs, and were advised by our guide to have breakfast before entering the water to ensure that we got a table inside due to the high number of tour groups that would soon follow us. We sat down to cake and tea, before we all dared strip off in the freezing cold to sit in the hot water outside. We were glad that we ate first, as the sun had more time to rise higher and provide a little more heat to the day. The water felt like it was burning our coldly, numb skin upon entering it, but once we were in, we melted into the clear water. It was nice to feel truly warm, as we had been in the cold for the last few days. It was also nice to have feel clean, as we also hadn't showered for the last 2 nights. Our main dilema was when to get out! Every now and then a huge gust of wind would blow over us pushing the steam from the water this way or that. Tina and I made the mad dash first, closely followed by Nat. We had to strip off and change into our dry clothes in the open. But us Aussie girls know the modesty clothes exchange trick fairly well, so we had no trouble getting out of our bikinis into our dry clothes and underwear. The boys stayed in the water the longest enjoying their time there for as long as possible.

After all loading back into the Landcruiser, we headed out to see the small Salvador Dali desert. We were all hoping to see some special scene with crazy rock formations dotted around the landscape, but we disappointed to see a flat sand desert with a few rocks scattered around. There was nothing really that interesting about it.

The next sight in our schedule was Laguna Verde (the Green Lagoon). It is located right next to Laguna Blanco (the White Lagoon) and it was easy to see why they were named the way that they were. The water in the White Lagoon definitely looked white next to the greeny blue water of the Green Lagoon. We joked with our driver that the muddy pool in between the 2 lakes was called the Brown Lagoon. He understood our broken Spanish to get the joke. We braved the wind and the cold to take a few shots of the scenery before heading off to the Bolivan fronter on the border of Chile. On the way, we stopped at the National Park office to get our tickets punctured, where a guy came out and had a serious chat with our driver. Afterwards, our driver tried to explain to us in rapid Spanish what he had found out and we all misunderstood his meaning. We were thinking that there was a problem back in Uyuni, possibly with the strike starting again or with a military nature. Tina and Nat were really worried as they need to depart Uyuni tomorrow to get back to catch their flights in La Paz on time.

Once we got to the fronter, our French friend Oliver was there waiting for the bus to Chile and we asked for his help once again. He interpreted that a wounded soldier wanted a lift back with our vehicle when they return from the fronter on they way back to Uyuni. The girls were extremely relieved and we were happy that nothing serious was happening back in Uyuni to allow them to travel on.

We said our farewells to Nat and Tina, who we had been travelling with for a month, and to a new tour group friends before departing on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, our entry point town in Chile. Dan had to eat the rest of his olives and I had to throw out my coca leaves, as fruit and vege and coca were all not allowed into the country. We noticed differences as soon as we entered Chile, as we suddenly were on bitumen roads (after driving on dirt roads for 3 days) and we now had strick customs rules to adhere to.

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Photos

Dan freezing whilst visiting the geysers.
Most of us didn't get out of the car, because it was so cold outside.

Laguna Verde
(Green Lagoon)