The alarm went off at 3:30 in the morning. We had to be outside our hostel by 4:00 am to wait for the tour van. We had booked an early morning tour to El Tatio geysers. Again, the reservation was made by our hostel through Layana Tours. It cost 16000 pesos a person. It includes breakfast. The 5,000 entrance fee is separate.
The geysers are located about 90 kilometers north of San Pedro. We are dressed in long underwear, long pants, sweaters, jackets, gloves and scarves. It is about 15 degrees Fahrenheit. It is still. The sky is clear and star-filled. The moon set long ago. We can see Orion which was not visible in the early evening.
The van picks us up around 4:15. Our enthusiastic guide is Ozzie. We take off in the dark on the one and a half hour journey. We arrive at the park 's Refugio at about 6:00 am. It is till dark and cold. The park is at about 4400 meters above sea level. We duck into the Refugio for breakfast. There is coffee - Nescafe, of course - and crappy bread. Ross and I start laughing about the bread. The two German young women on the tour also understand. The start laughing about it. Ozzie prepares a large pan of scrambled eggs. We use the crappy bread to scoop up the eggs from the communal pan.
It is growing lighter. We leave the Refugio, hop in the van and travel the few minute drive to the geyser area. There are many your groups already there. Ozzie tells us to stay in the paths because the earth is very unstable. Some listen to him, others don't. The sky grows lighter. The mist from the geysers is everywhere. The morning air immediately grows warmer within minutes of the sunrise. The smoke for the geysers, the sky and the landscape all grow more vivid in the early morning light. Bubbling water erupts all around you. An amazing sight.
We spend about an hour at the site. On our way back we stop at a tiny town with an old Jesuit church. Blue door, white stucco walls and a blue cross in its front yard. All typical attributes of these rustic colonial churches. We buy some freshly made goat cheese empanadas. Then head back to town.
In the late afternoon we take a walking trip out of town to a pukara - an old fortress. It is about a 3 kilometer walk. It is hot and dusty. When we get to the site we don't climb to the top. Too little energy. Besides, how much more beautiful can the view be than the views that we have already seen. We walk back to town.
No comments:
Post a Comment