David was up at 4am to go on the Geysers tour to El Tatio with Andy and Carlee. Maria had been on the same tour when she was travelling in Chile 7 years ago and decided staying in bed was a better option because "Geysers won't change much".

Once on the bus, it was a 90 minute drive up to the altiplano so it was an opportunity for a bit more sleep. It was still dark too so there was nothing to see out the window. The tour starts so early because there is a better chance of larger eruptions due to the larger variation in temperature at dawn i.e. the water is still as hot but the air temperature is a lot lower.

El Tatio is the highest geyser field in the world, sitting in the altiplano at 4,320m above sea level. In the morning therefore, when the tours arrive for the sunrise, the temperature can be minus five or even lower.

There were 60 odd geysers and about 100 fumaroles spread across the small field and Alan, our guide, walked us through them while the sun rose from behind the mountains. Breakfast was included in tour and by the time we walked to the far side of the geyser field, a table had been set up with hot drinks, ham & cheese rolls and boiled eggs. There was even cartons of hot milk and hot chocolate which I think were heated from hot water in the ground.

Meanwhile, back in San Pedro, Maria was tucking into her own breakfast at the hostel. There was a big bowl of fruit salad, eggs, cereal and most surprising after Bolivia, normal 'non-sweet' bread.

Up in the altiplano, with breakfast finished, it was time to have a soak in the thermal pool. The pool was fed by a small stream of boiling water (only 85c at this altitude) at one corner so there was maybe 30 people squeezed into one corner leaving the rest of the pool empty. David and the others managed to manouvre themselves into the warmest part because the water was otherwise really chilly. How wise this was is still debatable because the water temperature fluctuated in random. One second it would be comfortably warm and the next, the boiling water would be enveloping your body making you yelp like a girl!!

We had to brave the cold to get out the pool and the intermittent scaldings were soon forgotten, wishing we were back in the pool. With all our warm clothes back on, we piled into the bus for the drive back down into the desert.

We hadn't seen anything on the drive up because it was dark (ok, we were asleep). Up on the higher antiplano, we saw some vicunas, some small viscachas and even some pink flamingoes. It seemed exciting for the rest of the bus but after the Uyuni tour, we had seen way more and much closer up.

The bus stopped at the small village of Machuca, it is one the highest and first settled places in the altiplano. There are only a few permanent residents left now and the village is more of a tourist trap where you can either have your photo taken with a baby llama or try eating llama from a barbaqued skewer.

Back in San Pedro, Maria had been busy sorting out accommodation for La Serena and cleaning the desert dust off the bags, shoes and jackets etc., basically everything that couldn't go in the laundry.

David and the others arrived back in San Pedro at midday and we all went out to find a place for lunch. Despite there being quite a few choices available, nothing seemed to measure up to Grado 6's choice and price. It was a completely different menu to yesterday and everything was equally delicious.

We had booked ourselves on the 4pm afternoon tour to Valle de Luna followed by a sunset over the Atacama desert. It was the same guide, Alan, as in the morning tour so we knew that it would be full of interesting information.

Whilst San Pedro de Atacama, to give it it's full name, is not actually in the Atacama Desert, it still lies very close to the driest and most arid place on earth. The Valley of the Moon is only 15km outside San Pedro and full of interesting rock formations.

The area was named by Gustavo Paige, a Belgian priest, who first visited during full moon and not because it looks like moon. Although NASA did test the lunar vehicle, Pathfinder, in the area before sending it into space.

The area was formed by wind and rain etc. and pushed up into the higher altitude by the tectonic plates. We walked through a dry riverbed with lots of interesting rock formations and salt crystals and then through a cave. We stopped at one point and the group was asked to be silent so we could hear 'Pachamama' talking to us. The creaks and groans we could hear was the contraction of the rock as the late afternoon temperature began to drop.

A little further up the road was a rock formation "Tres Marias" (The Three Marys), named again by the Belgian priest, because the rocks resembled the Virgin Mary praying in three different positions. The third 'statue' is now missing its head after it was knocked off by Chilean tourist who climbed up for photo.

We walked down the road from Tres Marias through the area called Crater of Moon - there was a huge rock amphitheater on the left, a great view of Volcan Licancabur and the Andes mountain range straight ahead while there was an enormous sand dune to our right.

We hopped back on the bus and drove to Death Valley for a quick stop. There are different theories for the name but the true version comes from the priest, Gustavo Paige again, when he said in Spanish that it looks like the planet Mars (Marte) but the locals didn't know about Mars and thought he said Muerte (Death) which sounds pretty similar to Marte.

Back on the bus, we drove for 10 minutes to get to the highest lookout point in Valle de la Luna for sunset. The sun dropping behind the mountains was a bit of an anticlimax but after it disappeared, the mountains to the east turned pink which was quite amazing.

Back at the to hostel, Carlee and Andy had sorted out some wine, cheese and crusty bread for a late evening snack, a perfect way to finish the day.