Geysers

Tuesday morning, up at 4am to see the Geysers.  The tour takes you up into the mountains where there is a lot of thermal activity.  First thing in the morning is ideal to see that area because the cooler air makes the steam more visible, and also the rising sun creates a dramatic lighting effect.

There were larger geysers and also little tiny gurglers like this one.

We learned that there are 500 volcanoes in Chile, and 123 of them are active.  Villarica, towards the South, is the one that erupted just several weeks ago (there was no noticeable atmospheric effect in Santiago).

Just a short distance across the valley from the geysers is a thermal pool that you can bath in.   It turned out to not be such a dramatic "hot springs" as we expected.  The outside temp was a few degrees below freezing, so we were already cold.  You could see the steam rising from the pool, but it turned out that there were only a few small places where the water was actually very warm.  The temperature throughout the pool varied by at least 20 degrees, so there were places that were really cold, as well as a few spots that were tolerably warm.  We did manage to all get in the water, but we didn't stay for long.  

We saw more vicuña on the way down.

This is the site of an old Italian mine.  The miners apparently caused a scandal back in the day by bringing up prostitutes from Calama to keep them company.  

We stopped and explored the small pueblo of Machuca.  Historically herders and animal breeders lived here.  They would domesticate the vicuña (the domesticated animal is the alpaca) and the guanaco (the domesticated version being the llama).  The animals were moved and traded across the Andes mountains between what is now Chile and Argentina.  Currently the pueblo is mostly uninhabited, but is kept up for the purpose of tourism and preserving an historically important site.

The church at Machuca

I have an obsession with cool doors and Machuca did not disappoint.

Lots of volcanic rock around Machuca (and throughout the whole region).

Another building in Machuca.  The crosses on the top were to fend off evil spirits.  Some of them may have also appeared during the Spanish conquest when the natives were forced to take on Catholicism.  Putting a cross above your house was a way to show that you were at least playing along with the demands of the conquistadores.

On our way out of Machuca we saw some of the few animal herds that are still kept in the area.

We also saw some saguaro growing on the ridges.

In one spot there was a particularly lush valley (probably more so due to the excessive rain throughout the previous week) and the foliage down in the gully was vibrantly green, contrasting with the saguaros up on the edge of the ridge.

One of the funnest parts of the tour was when the driver stopped in a spot that looked for all the world like we were going uphill.  He came to a full stop, turned off the engine, and removed the keys from the vehicle.  Then when he lifted the brakes we started coasting, but forwards--seemingly up the hill.  It was the weirdest thing ever.  He got a huge applause from everyone on the bus.  It must have been an optical illusion, but a pretty darn convincing one!  

We got back to San Pedro de Atacama with just enough time to grab a final lunch and head to the hotel for our airport pickup.  As it turned out, that was the one time we actually got drenched (having been fortuitously indoors or under cover during all the other cloudbursts).  Once we got to the hotel we were furiously changing, stuffing our clothing (ranging from damp to soaked) into the suitcases, and trying to get dry and a bit less bedraggled for the trip back home.  

Sadly it was overcast all the way back to Santiago so we didn't have any mountain views.  I'm sad because in two weeks when we leave to come back to the States (it's only two weeks! yikes!), our flight is after dark so this really was our last chance for those spectacular from-the-air vistas.

Today in Santiago it remains primarily overcast, although the fog lifted long enough for me to see that there is a LOT more snow on our mountains than when we left several days ago.