Our final day of activities required an 0445 wake up - luckily they had given us a tea tray the night before and some biscuits to keep us going until breakfast. We left at 0530 and headed north in the chill dark of a desert morning. Our aim was to get to the geysers before sunrise when it was still cold and their vents of steam and water were most visible. We arrived just before 7.00am, the temperature was -6 degrees centigrade and there was ice and salt crystals on the ground. Luckily there was no wind dispersing the steam venting through the cracks so we had great views of the geyser field. The largest and highest in the world 3.5 acres at 4300m. There was machinery indicating failed attempts to harness the geothermal power. One project remains but making it a reality remains difficult. We walked around the fields for about an hour listening to the bubbling of the boiling water ( due to the altitude water boils at 80-90c) watching and walking through the steam, looking at the spotted build up of minerals if the water spurted out or the layers of minerals if it adopted a more flowing delivery. Some even had early anaerobes living near them - oranges and greens depicted algae and microbial growth. Interestingly there was no sulphur smell like you get at some volcanic vents.
We then joined Pablo who had set up breakfast on the edge of the geyser field. It was fantastic watching the geysers in the morning light, majestically two vicuñas walked across the field while we were waiting for our expertly cooked scrambled egg - so I quickly grabbed a picture of them and the Andean gulls who patrolled looking for tourists leftovers.
As we left the activity was no less but the visible steam was diminishing due to the warming of the atmosphere.
Enroute back we stopped at a couple of wetlands - we had grey sightings of the puna teal ( with vivid blue bill), the great coot and the lesser coot, the crested duck, the Andean goose and the speckled teal. We also passed a quaint village where the locals farmed very attractive multi coloured llamas and made pasties for those returning from the geysers!
We got back at 11am; I decided to go to the pool and catch up on some sleep sadly that didn't happen until after lunch - clearly I needed my blood diverted from my brain to focus on my stomach! I then had my swim late afternoon while John did his favourite activity washing and packing - because of the dry atmosphere washing dries in a jiff - which pleased him!
Our final dinner was as great as ever - mmmmm- when we had finished we said goodbye to the staff as we leave before breakfast tomorrow so we had another tea tray left in the room to give us a kick start!