Early to rise

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Thursday, our last day of formal, planned activities in Atacama started early, 5:30 AM. That's not normally much of an issue for us but after last night's dinner, which I've promised not to talk about, and the wine, which our guide instructed us to go light on and for every glass of wine drink a glass of water (it probably was good advice, but . . .), it felt like the middle of the frigging night. We shuffled from our room to the front desk, bundled up against the morning chill and walked by the 4 resident llamas which we could smell before we could see, toward the front desk and coffee. One cup and the fog in my head began to lift.

Our trrp was to the Andes geysers. Geezers to the geysers. An hour and a half ride in the very well used van. The trip took us from our hotel at 8,500 feet to 14,000 plus feet over deepy rutted and washboard roads. The hotel has a fleet of relatively new Ford vans, but they seem to have gotten prematurely old due to the constant zzzzzzz, ratttle rattle rattle, bang bang bang, they are put through every day. Our driver, Sandro, knew how to avoid the major holes, but no one could avoid the ravines and vibrations of the road to the geysers. Glad we had no breakfast before departing. At 6 AM it's totally dark, but the stars and the moon, even in its crescent phase, lit the landscape. Along the east horizon the entire moon was visible, lit by the crescent. We've never been able to see that so clearly anywhere else. As we bounced and bumped along a soft glow of light began appeared on the right side of the van and we started to see small groups of Vicuna. Vicuna are like Llama (Llamas?), but smaller and with much more expensive wool. Unlike Llama, who are all domesticated and used for meat and wool, Vicuna are wild. They only live at high altitudes, above 13,000 feet. So how do the Chileans get Vicuna wool? Wild Vicuna don't just sit there and let people sheer them. The easy way is to just, well, you know. That's how it used to be done. Now they have figured out how to trap them in temporary coralls take their wool and them set free. Better. Smarter. They look quite cute from the van.

As the sun crossed the peaks of the Andes, we arrived at the valley of the geysers. These guides and drivers have their timing down just right. We left the van for a short pit stop and whoa; freezing up here; minus 7 centigrade (I'm too lazy to look it up but I know that zero is 32 so this is seriously cold). After a few steps we both felt the altitude. We were dizzy, light headed, and unsteady. We bundled up (see photos - Fran is looking quite fashionable in a hand made Chilean poncho made of first cut llama, hand died and hand woven). My also first cut llama, hand died and hand woven hat was purchased in the same place by my always thoughtful wife. We do make a dashing couple. There are hundreds of geysers here and these are the highest in the world. They are different from those in Yellowstone. They do not erupt at intervals. They bubble all the time and they don't erupt in high plumes. The big ones are just maybe 3 or 4 feet or less and some of them are just pools of boiling water. The authorities put rock guides around them as tourists have, in the past, gotten too close and the ground has given way and into the boiling water they have fallen. One of the geyers even has a name, "Muerte." Not a good way to go and bad for the tourist industry too. At an air temperature of below freezing the steam created clouds. The landscape was eerie. Joel explained it all, by rote. Andes run off, volcanoes, magma, lava, and techtonic plates. If you're interested look it up.

We hiked around a bit, slowly, and saw a funny looking rabbit, Vicuna tracks and some beautiful plants and vistas. There was this bright green algae, moss or lichen on this rock and Fran took a picture. It was like an alien rock on Mars. And then we headed back. We went back a different way, on a smaller and less beat up road, which was good since just a few minutes before leaving the geysers we had a bit of bread and cheese and coffee still hot from the thermos. There were Vicuna everywhere, eating this beautiful yellow grass that grows in clumps and colors the entire landscape. After about 30 minutes the road began to follow a river, which in the developed world would be called a stream or creek. All around and in it there was a fairly wide variety of plant life, almost tropical green in color, contrasting with everything we've seen these last few days. It was so good to see. I guess I had missed this color. There were Andea geese in pairs, they mate for life. But when we got close to one of the pairs, I could tell the male was looking the one of the geese (or the gander) in another pair. Couldn't help himself. We saw Coots and baby Coots and more pink Flamingos.

We stopped at Joel's village to meet his aunt and maybe buy some handicrafts. We weren't the only one. Apparently Aunt Isabel has a lot of nephews, all of them guides. This is a village of shepherds and this is where Joel spent the first 6 years of his life. Not much to it. A Catholic Church made of volcanic stone, a few other buildings also made of this lightweight brittle stone and a house or two made from a combination of clay and volcanic stone. Clay is much better for insulation from the cold but is harder to work with. The roofs are either corrugated tin or made of the same grass that the Vicuna use as food. Remember, it doesn't rain so watertight is not the highest priority, insulation is. A man was cooking on a wood grill and we were offered shish kabobs of onions and llama. Fran immediately said, no carne, but we don't get to Chile everyday so I said sure. I took a bite of meat. My mouth froze up. My jaw wouldn't move. The taste was "surprising." Think of any sort of game meat you have ever tried; venison, elk, wild boar or grouse. They all differ from our domesticated beef or lamb or pork because they have this "gamey flavor," a sort of intensity that our palates aren't used to. Ok, so this Llama meat is gamey - on steroids. It was as if added to the gamey flavor there was this shock of flavor of decomposition or rotten meat. I tried to chew but my mouth wouldn't cooperate. I couldn't stand it in my mouth any more but, having good manners, I just took a gulp and swallowed it hole. Then I smiled bravely. Fran took a picture of my face with the Llama in my mouth before swallowing. It doesn't do the experience justice. But llama is a staple of the indigenous people around here. I guess it's an acquired taste. I had that taste in my mouth for the entire day, even after brushing my teeth and having lunch in town. Fran reminded me why I should not comment on the food at the restaurant at the hotel. They don't serve llama.

We returned to the hotel and ditched our guide. We got a ride into San Pedro de Atacama, walked around, found a restaurant, Adobe, and had lunch. It was our first meal outside the hotel. On the menu was pizza. i knew better. Fran, though, was optimistic. San Pedro pizza it turns out is a one-sided quesadilla. But hey, it was a lot better than Llama.

Last night we were treated to an astronomical adventure. We climbed to the top of a hill, the hotel's observatory, where Roberto guided us through the millions of stars visible. The streak of the Milky Way was clear. In the telescope we could see Jupiter clearly, it's bands of color and several of its moons. And we were instructed on how to find due south by looking at the Southern Cross constellation, measuring two times the distance from two of the stars in the constellation and then going verticle to the ground. That is always south. Very cool. And he showed us some other constellations, Orion, some dragon, and a dog, but I could never see the figures in the stars.

Tomorrow (now today) we head home. It was fun writing this blog if a bit self-indulgent. I hope you enjoyed it and Fran's photos. This has been truly a great trip.

David

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Comments

[Tom Drum]

My Back
My back hurts from just hearing of the van ride, forget about what would have been in my tummy. We had something similar in South Africa, and a Morphine Drip was definitely needed! Have a safe trip home after an action-packed vacation! Llama-less Tom