Today was our last day on the tour and the last day in Bolivia. We had to wake up very early - 5am so that we could leave at 6am. This was horrible. It was the first night that we had been in a shared room, this was not the issue at all. It was the supreme cold! It was impossible to get warm, even after the help of a cup of coffee! We headed out onto the dirt road for the excitements of the day. As we went further we encountered more and more icy snow, more daylight and other cars doing the same thing as us. By 7am we had reached our first destination; geysers. I'd never seen hot gas and air shoot out of the ground in such a way before. There must have been about 40 sites across the valley of similar sites. Nevertheless everyone was trying to get a photo with them.
Our next stop was a thermally heated lake (in parts), the parts that weren't heated were just ice, I even tested the strength of a few. On the side of the lake in a man-made structure was hot springs. Here people could enjoy a freezing outdoor temperature by submerging themselves in warm water. I dipped my hand in, it was warm but not boiling hot. As a result of this I decided not to pay to get in.
We continued on before reaching the green lake. Most of it was frozen but you could still see how green it was. Next to the green lake was the white lake. This lake had even more ice on it! Surrounding these lakes were picturesque mountains once again. Many volcanos once more. It's very difficult not to be mesmerized by some of the volcanoes.
After all of our adventures we then reached the border. Not only the end of Bolivia but the end of a fun tour pretty much. We stood in the cold waiting for our passports to be stamped. As if that wasn't enough we were forced to wait for an hour whilst a group going the other way had breakfast and went through passport control. We were swapping vehicles. From 4x4 to minivan. The feeling of boredom and just wanting sleep kept wafting over me but i fought it off.
We only had maybe an hour in the minibus before it dropped us off at the Chilean passport control in our location - San Pedro de Atacama. This time we were much warmer at over a thousand metres lower in altitude. We had to go through scanners to make sure we had no fruit, animals or drugs. A slightly strange combination but who am I to object to the wishings of the people letting me in the country. We spent all afternoon sorting out tours in the local area for the following day. It should be a fun day; sandboarding, exploring the moon valley before having a lesson in how to observe the stars in the desert. With one door closing in Bolivia we have opened more in Chile, just a shame the Chilean doors are more expensive. In other news the Chilean waiters seem more professional with their service.
