Sunrise and Sunst and Steam and Sand

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I hauled myself out of bed at 3.45am to catch the 4am bus out to El Tatio, a vast geyser field 4300 metres above sea level. It is a two hour drive from San Pedro, so tried to sleep, but the unfortunate combination of ancient minibus and unpaved dirt track full of huge chunks of rock meant I wasn´t sure if my head was pounding because of the altitude or because it was being constantly smashed against the window of the bus.

As the night sky began to lighten we approached El Tatio, and saw the steam rising into the icy air. I was frozen, despite my six layers of clothing, though apparently today´s temperature of 2ºC was much more pleasant than the typical -12ºC.

At 4321m above sea level, I was delighted to discover I had not a whiff of altitude sickness, and was able to enjoy the bubbling, boiling water spurting out from the ground. It´s amazing to see what the planet is capable of. We had a breakfast of eggs boiled in a bag by lowering them into one of the geysers, and coffe with milk heated in the same way. I gladly peeled my boiled egg as by this point I had lost all sensation in my hands.

The sun hit my face quite suddenly, and we moved on to bigger geysers, around three metres across, and learned that those who do not obey the tour guide´s instructructions have been killed by falling into the boiling pits.

On the road back we took a detour to an indigenous village called Machuca, population 20, where I tucked into barbecued llama, which was actuallt rather enjoyable, despite the fact the llamas were just a few metres away and have rather sweet faces.