There were no neighbors. Just piles of rocks and holes in the ground. The fart smell of steam, the welcome scent of gas cans in orange pyramids on top of the jeeps. The Atacama Geysers.
This morning was cold, as I mentioned before, and nearly lightless. The geysers that had drawn us out of bed at around 4 a.m. As you can see I was still a little bit punchy.
All the cold and steam and early morning lead up to an amazing sunrise over more wild landscapes.
Driving through the wilds of the Atacama, we were promised a reward of natural hot springs and a delicious breakfast. The hot springs, we were told, had changing rooms built around them to shelter you fromt the wind and cold while you suited up and down. it was a beautiful sight.
The food had been getting better the whole trip. The first day was a little lackluster but had been improving the entire time. Today was no exception, though there is only so much you can do so far from what passes for civilization in Bolivia. From here it was off to the Chilean border. A border crossing that was notorious for not allowing anything resembling food or drink across. Everyone, myself included, was divesting themselves of food items, handing them over to people traveling into Bolivia or just throwing them in the garbage. The border was something of a minimalist statement. Yes, that dot in the distance is a guy on a bicycle. Yes, there are people crazier than me in the world.
For some reason, another girl who had to make the crossing with us thought she could sneak a llama fetus through the border. For a peek of what these look like, check this out. My first impression is that if they are stopping Pringles cans, they may balk at letting dessicated unborn animal carcasses. 😀
The border was pretty tame as far as crossings are concerned, other than waiting around for a while. One thing to note about crossing into Chile, by bus there is no fee. If you are flying into Chile, there are reciprocity fees totaling around $135 USD for a U.S. citizen. Since this whole trip is el cheapo, I’m glad I made it by bus. 🙂