4400m
Once again, welcome to South America where even the most organised of trips doesn’t go to plan!
I awoke at 5:30 which seems to be my norm for here and started packing and getting organised as our transport to the border was due to arrive between 7:00-7:30. At 6:18, not fully ready there was a knock on the door and the night watchman telling us that our transport was here. “But we were told 7”. Frantic rush to finish packing and race to reception to pay the bill (which we had asked to do the previous night). Reading the bill we were charged a flat 10% tip on every beer that we had ordered, and I had been charged for all 3 breakfasts. Not on. I managed to get the breakfasts removed (plus the 10% tip on all of them) and then noticed that he had added an extra 10% tip on top of the total charges! If our transport hadn’t been waiting I would have argued that one. Fran, as usual had an issue with her credit/debit cards but this was soon resolved. Get on bus, apologise to couple who had been waiting for us. Checked voucher, definitely 7:00-7:30. Drive through a very sleepy San Pedro and on the outskirts of town we pull up at a petroleum station and our driver gets out and walks off. He does arrive back about 10 minutes later and another bus rocks up. All change. Apparently this new one is the one taking us to the border. Check time, 7:03. Now the voucher makes a bit more sense. The drive to the Chile/Bolivian border took well over an hour and we climbed to around 3800m.
Get out at Chile border post, get passport stamped. Drive 1km down the road and get out at Bolivian border post. Apparently Bolivia doesn’t open until 9am so we spend a good 20 minutes out in the cold waiting. Bolivian visa stamped, look for our local contact. A driver pulls up and grabs our bags and puts them in his boot. “Ackermann?” We ask. “Si”. Ok. We have a Spanish speaking driver. Drive along for about 10 minutes, in Spanish the driver tells me to get passport and mobile phone. Ya wat? Walk into new border crossing and find we have to take a photo of a QR code and fill in our immigration form. Any signal? No, of course not. Luckily the driver points to wi-fi account. Fill in new form. Are we done yet? No. Walk another 50 m to another building where we have to buy our ‘national park’ passes. 150 BOB (just under $40).
Then the trip begins. We are taken to Laguna Blanco (White Lagoon) and go for a walk along the edge, admiring the landscape and the lagoon with the several flamingos on it. From here it was a short drive to Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon) where the algae gives it the green colour. Again, stunning landscape. Continuing on we saw several of the elusive vicuñas and had to stop to take several photos. A bit further on the driver saw a Fox do again, out with the cameras. A short drive and a ride of around 400m took us to the Salvador Dali Desert, so named for the surreal colours of the sands. Our driver then informs us that we will now be visiting the hot springs and have lunch of meat and Coca Cola. There were a lot more words involved but these I could translate. We arrived at the hot springs, paid our 3BOB and went and tried the 35 degree water (Celsius not Fahrenheit). We were allowed 1 hour to remain here but after around 40 minutes we had all had enough and after getting changed, went and looked for lunch. Wow. So much for what we were expecting from a ‘packed lunch’. We had lamb chops, a form of chorizo sausage, potatoes, rice, steamed vegetables, salad, bananas and, of course, Coca Cola and water.
At this stage we met our English speaking guide and explanations became a lot easier. We visited some geysers with no safety lines or borders around them and then moved onto Lake Cerrada, a lake coloured by iron giving it a red hue. We got a chance to walk along the shore and take photos of the 3 different types of flamingos; Chilean, Andean and James. From here we visited the Stone Trees, a group of volcanic rocks sticking out of the sand which had been massively eroded into interesting shapes. The next stop was not listed on the tour but our guide told us he knew of a spot where the local (insert correct name), a form of rabbit linked to the chinchilla family were. As soon as we stopped they came out cautiously and allowed us to feed them some lettuce leaves and bread.
On to Tayka Del Desierto and despite its remoteness and bare essentials proved to be an amazing rest stop. However, getting out of the shower onto a cold stone floor is not ideal. We were served quinoa soup, beef with a reduced red wine sauce and a form of fruit flan with a caramel twirl on top. Very agreeable.