Day 13: Uyuni to Santa Cruz

This morning we packed up, enjoyed breakfast, and said goodbye to Uyuni lodge.

Last morning with a volcano view out the front door

We drove across the salt flats to get to Uyuni. Along the way, we passed one other car and saw one truck. Big traffic day.

Hexagonal salt pattern

There are a few salt hotels along the shore that are currently very empty. Apparently the rainy season is a more popular time. When we drove through the town, we met up with the main road to the airport.

First paved road we’ve driven on in about two weeks

Adios, amigos!

We reached the Uyuni Airport and said goodbye to Oscar and Abel. With time to spare, we sat at the one cafe in the airport until it was time to go through security. Finally THE incoming flight arrived and we were able to board the same plane.

Enjoying some coffee

Come on guys, the outdoor heater is a bit excessive

Bolivia loves armed guards as much as paperwork

Has the itinerary changed since we headed up these steps?

Fish Island, Volcán Tunupa, and Explora lodge all in the distance

When we landed in La Paz, we had plenty of time before our flight to Santa Cruz. We found the lounge and relaxed until it was time to board. Being lounge people is great.

This is how to pick the richest coffee in… Bolivia

Now boarding for Santa Cruz

It was another quick and easy flight. Due to all the Bolivian Airlines changes and the fact that we had to spend a night in Santa Cruz, they offered to provide us a hotel voucher. After getting our bags, we went to the check-in counter to figure out exactly where we will be staying tonight and how this all works.

Turns out it works well! They got us a taxi to the hotel where we got our rooms (yes, plural) along with dinner and breakfast. They are also sending the taxi to pick us up in the morning. Letting Bolivian Airlines plan our evening was accidentally a great plan. We settled in, had dinner, and got ready for our next day of flights tomorrow (AKA another rest day, yay!).

Rolling into Santa Cruz like this girl riding shotgun in a truck

Checking in

Sinister looking tower outside the Raddison

Be the slide

Day 12: Pastores & Pukara

As somewhat expected, Bolivian Airlines changed our flight times (again) for tomorrow (Friday) affecting our plans to arrive in São Paulo. To be fair, our connection times were already pretty comical, but not negative five minutes. Therefore, we spent some time this morning on the phone with Bolivian Airlines to change our flights and arrive in São Paulo by Saturday afternoon.

Ok, Bolivian Airlines, “here’s what’s gonna happen…”

Despite the delay, we were able to modify the explorations to do a number of really cool things. First up on the agenda was stopping by a church in a nearby town, then continuing to walk on the pasture to see the animals.

Optimus Prime lives in Bolivia

About to stumble into a religious rave

As we approached the church, we saw that some sort of celebration was going on. Oscar asked what was happening and if we could take some pictures. They explained they were celebrating a religious holiday and welcomed us to stay.

Some of the traditions included killing and cooking a llama on a grill made out of rocks. Also there was a lot of drinking and apparently the custom is to drink whatever someone hands you as a sign of respect. We were quickly handed beers, then shots, then more beers. Pachamama got a few extra blessings today. They also made sure we stayed to eat the llama, which was served with rice. Oscar explained that this type of party lasts not only all day, but goes on for a few days. He let the community leaders know that we had to leave and we were able to make our escape without offending the elders.

Drink! Drink! Drink! For some saints.

Avoid getting handed beers by helping cook

Hey, nice sweater

When we left, we continued on the walk we started and passed llamas and sheep. When we reached the end of the pasture, we met Abel and drove up a mountain to a short hike. Along the way, we had to stop to let the sheep pass.

Back on track and the other side of Volcán Tunupa

We climbed up a hill to Pukara de Chillema, a pre-Incan fortress. There were still remnants of food silos, eating tables, and bedrooms. After walking around, we found a path back down and drove to the salt flats.

Hiking up to the pukara

Defending the fort

Probably defending the fort better

From the top with knife islands behind us

During the rainy season, the entire salt flat is covered in a couple of inches of water. But, this time of year, the flats are almost entirely dry and solid. Since there is water under the salt layers, there are some spots that are more wet and slushy that we avoided. However, there is an area that has been dug out to reveal the water underneath. We donned rain boots and had time to play in the water and with the reflections it created.

Really cheesy, but well composed

Final exploration complete

We headed back to the lodge to figure out the last flight change. Did you know it takes about 15 minutes to spell ‘Mittelstadt” over the phone with a bad connection? It seems that Bolivia makes it just as hard to leave as it does to get in. After a couple hours of internetting and calling, we finally got everything sorted out and enjoyed our final Explora dinner.

Lodge selfie

LATAM AIirlines’ turn – more timely, less helpful

P.S. In case you’re wondering, Bolivian airlines significantly changed our itinerary four times within a month of the trip (some within 48 hours). As a result, we will be taking two flights on Friday, staying in Santa Cruz, then taking two more flights on Saturday to arrive at Iguazu Falls in the evening. Fingers crossed!

Day 11: Volcán Tunupa & Bikes

Today is June 21st, the Winter Solstice. This is an important holiday and is the Aymara new year. It represents the lengthening of the days and the beginning of the harvesting season. The celebration starts on the night of the 20th and consists of traditional rituals along with song and dance, but mostly drinking and partying too much and waking up at the sunrise on the 21st to take in the sun’s energy. We opted for the sunrise only part, which we celebrated from our room.

Happy New Year!

After breakfast we hopped in the car to start the morning exploration. The lodge is located next to the Tunupa volcano, and we drove over to a lookout point to see the colors of the volcano in closer detail.

On the way to Volcán Tunupa

Is it good that the hood is open?

Driving up to 4,600 meters, we were pretty much at eye level to the crater. We walked up a small hill to get to the lookout point to enjoy the view. We tried to use the drone, but it was a bit too windy for it to be stable.

Excellent volcano views

The colors of Tunupa

Adventures in windy drone flying

Cool, twisty queñoa tree branches

We climbed back down the hill and drove back to the lodge, still taking in the views and the animals near the road. When we got back, we had some time to relax before lunch.

Lunchtime on the Salt Flat

We ate a traditional meal called pikue macho, which is made of beef, potatoes, and rice with a hot chili sauce called llajua. After, we got ready for our afternoon exploration of biking on the salt flats.

Lunchtime in the Salt Flat lodge

Ready for biking?

Matt and Oscar started at the lodge and biked down the hill to the salt flat while Jo got a ride to the start of the flats. We biked on the salt flat until we found a good spot to take perspective photos. Because the salt flats are in fact white and flat and vast, it is easy to play with perspective.

No, not that bike, these bikes

Fun with forced perspectives

More fun with forced perspectives

We made a quick stop to see the flamingoes before continuing on to one of the small islands. We left our biked on the salt and hiked up to the top of the hill for a 360 degree view. Since this is the shortest day of the year, we quickly went back down the island and back on our bikes.

Hey, we climbed another thing!

Trying to reach the bottom before the sun does

We rode out away from the shore and met up with Abel and the car. We had snacks and wine while we watched the sunset behind Volcán Tunupua. Without any clouds in the sky, and with a reflective surface, the colors changed rapidly.

Flamingo rosé wine and sunsets

Oscar still loves flamingoes

Once the sun went behind the volcano, the temperature dropped pretty quickly. We still stayed out listening to music and having fun until it was time to get back to the lodge.

Mini Bolivian dance party

Sunset with the moon and Venus

Heading back to the lodge

Day 10: Chituca to Uyuni

We woke up on our last day in Chituca to another glorious sunrise. We had a leisurely breakfast, packed up the land cruiser, and headed north toward the Solar de Uyuni —- aka. the Uyuni Salt Flats.

Tasty, cozy breakfast

Along the way, we stopped at a place called Los Galaxias, a geologic attraction on the outskirts of the salt flats (think Wall Drug in the middle of the desert). The site features calcified coral (that look eerily like cactus) as well as a cave which houses calcified algae formations from a Paleolithic lake. The algae hangs from the ceiling and walls like spider webs. Los Galaxias is named both for the two people who discovered the caves, and because entering the caves seems like you’ve been transported to a different world.

Calcified coral looks a lot like cacti

Do you see the elephant? How about the Witch King of Angmar?

Walk in fridge turned tomb

There was also a second cave which had holes around the edges and near the top originally used as food silos. People would store their crops in this cool, dry cave to keep them fresh for longer. Eventually, the silos were used as tombs.

Finally, we walked up to a lookout point and saw the many fields of quinoa in the surrounding altiplano as Oscar explained how the plate tectonics of how the area formed.

A very regal lookout point

After driving a little further, we made it onto the Uyuni Salt Flats. Over 4,000 square miles, it is the biggest in the world. The flats are also expanding each year as the salt continues to take in water and expand. We got out of the car to walk on the salt and take in the dramatic view.

Salt selfie!

The next stop was Isla Pescado in (nearly) the middle of the Uyuni Salt flats. The island is named Pescado because from above, it looks like a fish. One of the largest islands on the salt flats, Pescado is composed of volcanic rock and used to be almost entirely covered by the lake. Because of that, the bottom of the island has calcified coral along with metamorphic rocks. When we arrived, we opted for the longest (best) hike. We started at one end of the island and scrambled our way to the top without a trail.

Getting ready to hike

We need to find our way up to the top

Hiking towards the top

Sitting on a dead cactus bench on the summit

From there, we walked along the top of the island and across all five peaks to the other end. After making sure to collect all the cool rocks on them way, we descended back down to salt level for lunch.

Heading down

So many gneiss rocks to chose from

Pretty sure we just found some Zonaite.

Easy to forget that you are not actually on a beach

Our final stop was the Uyuni Lodge – our home for the next three nights. Unlike the lodges in Chituca and Ramiditas, the Uyuni lodge is named for the salt flat it overlooks, not the name of the town. The actual town of the lodge is Jirira, while the town of Uyuni is about an hour and a half away. We settled in to our room and relaxed. Just before dinner started, Oscar told us that Mars, Venus, and the moon were aligned. Of course, we had to go take a look.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads

Another good window view

Mars, Venus, and the moon in alignment

PS. As we write this blog in the Uyuni lodge, every 15 minutes or so, we can hear the ice maker working perfectly. Ya hear that Whirlpool?

Day 9: Volcán Irruputunku

Our quest to climb all the volcanos in Bolivia continues today! We started the morning with a quick breakfast and a two hour drive to Volcán Irruputunku. The volcano sits on the border of Bolivia and Chile. We had to pass through Bolivian a military checkpoint because part of the hike may technically have been on the Chile side. The Bolivian soldier was probably only gonna see two or three cars use this road today, so our visit gave him a reason to move the pile of rocks serving as the gate.

Ready and Abel

As we got closer to the volcano, we drove through the lava rock field that had queñoa trees throughout the landscape. This type of tree is able to live in dry conditions and high altitudes.

Volcán Irruputunku is both large and active

We started the hike on the south face of the volcano, hiking up ~2,400 feet to an overlook of the caldera and sulfur fumarole. The first part of the trail was steep, but relatively easy to walk on. The next part was also steep, and became a bit more rocky as we got closer to the rim of the caldera. We kept on hiking to an overlook of the crater, then had just a little more to go.

Climbing into Mordor

Gradients and Chile

Navigating around the caldera

View from above

We made it up the final section and reached the top of the volcano! We took in the views and thanked Pachamama. We could clearly see the surrounding altiplano, the mountain we just hiked up, and the crater with the sulfur fumarole steaming in the very windy conditions.

Made it to the top!

I can’t believe I held onto this flag

For our descent, we took a slightly different path. Remembering our scree-skiing skills from Volcán Ascotán, we slid our way down the volcano, aiming towards the caldera, eventually getting a close up view of the fumarole.

Let’s go get a closer look at this active, smoking, sulfur volcano

Is this close enough?

Sulfur selfie

From there, we continued our rock slide shuffle until we met up with our original path. We continued until we reached the van in the same place we started.

Looking back at summit and fumarole

“Carefully” sliding down another volcano

Can you see our van lunch yet?

Waiting for us at the van was our celebratory lunch. We then drove back to the lodge, stopping once again at the military checkpoint. This time there were a couple more Bolivian soldiers with guns and the commandant who wanted to “meet us” (Abel and Oscar) to ensure we weren’t smuggling something or whatever. After returning to the lodge we had some time to relax and enjoy the views.

Driving back to Chicuta… I think I see a Bokoblin fort over there

Back to the lodge — backyard view

Back to the lodge — front yard view

Day 8: Ramaditas to Chituca

Today we left our lodge in Ramaditas to drive to the lodge in Chituca. To break up the drive, we made a few stops and went on a short hike along the way.

Good morning, Ramaditas

Two things that are hard to find in the desert: clouds and internet

Heading out!

The first stop was Laguna Honda, which we were able to see from Volcán Ascotán yesterday. While the lagoon is shallow, the shape if it makes it look like a deep bowl, hence the name Honda, which means deep.

That camper van on the shore is going to have some issues

From there we went to Laguna Hedionda, also called Stinky Lagoon, where we saw two of the three varieties of flamingoes found here. To distinguish them, look at the tails, legs, and beak. James flamingoes have pink tails, red legs, and yellow and black beaks, while Andean flamingoes have black tails, yellow legs, and black beaks. They are able to live in the cold weather by constantly regulating their heart rate and body temperature. They do this by lifting one leg, cutting off circulation to that leg, and allowing more blood flow to their core.

Swinging to our next location

Andean and James flamingoes

Coming soon to the Allstate Arena: Flamingoes on Ice

Scouting for phytoplankton

Laguna Cañapa was our next stop. We walked along the shore of the lagoon taking in the desert views and the James flamingoes. This was a very popular and crowded spot with four other tourists.

Looking at Cerro Coquella

Last view of Volcán Ascotán from Laguna Cañapa

The next stop was Laguna Turquiri. Here we took a short hike around volcanic rocks, into a wetland area, and around a lagoon. There were a variety of rocks including igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. Some of the big volcanic rocks had holes in them due to gas bubbles getting trapped when the rock was still molten. We also saw pumice rocks — compacted volcanic ash with many air pockets — that floated in water.

Starting our afternoon hike

Walking through the front door

At this lagoon we also saw multiple types of birds including Andean geese (the friendly geese), giant coots (which sound like they are laughing), and anaspunas ducks (with blue beaks). After the walk, we enjoyed a slightly windy lunch overlooking the lagoon.

Oscar loves other birds, too

We left a seat open for the birds

After lunch, we continued straight to the Chituca Lodge. All of the mountain lodges are designed exactly the same with the intention of making the guests feel at home and not have to re-learn a new lodge every two days. We settled in quickly and had some time to relax before dinner.

Crossing the Solar de Chiguana

The Sol de Chiguana is a mini salt flat

Made it to Chituca!

Nap with a view

Before dinner, Oscar explained the male and female Chicana, a cross like shape that represents the solar and lunar calendars, respectively. The four points on the solar calendar represents the two equinoxes and the two solstices. The points between each arm represents important holidays such as Dia de los Muertos and Southern Cross day. The four main points on the lunar calendar represents the four weeks in a month, with the steps between indicating the days of the week.

Oscar explains the Chicanas and Andean “cosmo-vision”

After dinner, Oscar led a stargazing session where he told us about the important constellations in the southern sky and their history in Greek mythology. He also pointed out the dark spots of the Milky Way, and their corresponding shapes, much like how stars create constellations.

Southern Cross (on the right) and the llama dark spot (to the left)

Scorpio (middle) and the fox dark spot

Day 7: Volcán Ascotán

One of our missions in Bolivia was to climb some high-altitude volcanoes! Our first chance is Volcán Ascotán, location directly behind the lodge here in Ramaditas. Volcán Ascotán lies on the border of Chile and Bolivia and its peak is almost 18,000 feet high. Explora labeled this hike “expert level” due to the total elevation, elevation gain and terrain. But were game to try it, and Oscar approved of our enthusiasm.

We started at the lodge — 13,370 feet — and made an offering of cocoa leaves to Pachamama (Mother Earth) which is a traditional way to start and end hikes in Bolivia. The first section was somewhat rocky, but mostly full of desert plants and holes in the gravel from a burrowing animal. We had to stay vigilant so a foot didn’t end up in a hole.

There’s the volcano

The lodge disappears quickly

Watch out for burrow holes!

The next section of the mountain had a road that was used in the past to transport Yareta, a tough green plant that grows in the high desert that can be used as a fuel source. However, we did not take the road, instead traversing the switchbacks and climbing up directly towards the summit (probably because the road would have been 3x as long).

Vastness of the area, including views of Lagunas Ramaditas, Honda, and Chiar Kkota. Can you spot Jo?

Once we passed the roads the terrain steepened drastically and became a crazy scree with loose rocks and loose gravel. Without any trails, it was very difficult to make headway. Every step slid backwards. We finally came to a point near the final rise to the summit that was impossible for us to pass and we hit the wall — literally!

Live look at the executive decision this loose rock gradient at ~5200m was no bueno

New direction!

Instead of retracing our path down the mountain, Oscar decided we could take advantage of the scree and slide our down in a direct line back to our destination. After a little explanation of the “safest” way to do this, we “carefully” slid all the way down the volcano.

Perfect shield-surfing terrain!

Scree ski instructor Oscar

It’s not exactly skiing in the Alps, but similar form

Eventually, we made it down the rock scree section and back to the more manageable downhills. With our new as-the-crow flies route, we ended up passing thru a small ravine. Oscar reassured us by noting that “I’ve never actually gone this way before!”

Golden hour on our way back

Discovery! Ramaditas Ravine.

This rock looks like a bear. Rawr!

We slowly approached the lodge that looked closer than it was and finally made it back.

Ahh, sweet lodge

We climbed that (mostly!)

Tomorrow we head to Chituca with a few scenic stops along the way. We are grateful to
have a rest day.

The Ramaditas Lodge office with our plan for tomorrow.

High-altitude blogging

Day 6: Atacama to Ramaditas

Today’s agenda was an early wake-up call at Explora Atacama followed by a drive across the border into Bolivia heading north to the Ramaditas Mountain Lodge. The drive takes about eight hours, including a few stops. No problem! However, when we met Carlos and Nico, they told us that the border control office was closed and we would need to go to the downtown Atacama location to get our papers checked and stamped. We arrived at about 7:15am, and waited in line with the other tour groups until they opened at 8am.

What’s worse, Chilean border control or gloom hands?

We finally stepped up to the window at 9:20am and got the all-clear to proceed. Matt was ready to contribute a blog rant about Bolivia’s continued efforts to kill our time trying to get into the country, but as it turns out, this one was on Chile. We believe they closed their (indoor) border control due to “high winds.” After departing San Pedro de Atacama, it was a 40 minute drive to the border.

“Goodbye, thanks for nothing!” – Carlos

We said goodbye to our Atacama team and met our new guide, Oscar, and driver, Abel. Oscar helped us get our entry stamps and show the friendly Bolivian officials all the right paperwork in all the right places. Finally – three and a half hours after leaving – we were in Bolivia!

Bolivia, what more do you want from us?!?!

This part of Bolivia is located within the Andes mountains, a volcanic range. Our first stop was at Laguna Blanca. The lagoon is white due to the boron deposits. This area is also interesting because the rocks show both underwater coral and volcanic basalt. Other tourists not from the Midwest looked amazed to be walking on the frozen lake.

Checking out the basalt and coral

But Ice skates were not on the packing list!

Next stop was Laguna Verde, appropriately named for its green color. The bacteria in this lagoon is green and becomes more vibrant with the sun and wind. A little later down the road, we stopped at an area called Salvador Dali mountain. We did not see melting watches, but we did see a variety of colors and vast spaces.

Rocks and green lake with Oscar

Desert road, take me home

Warping to the desert level (Chalviri Hot Springs)

We then drove into Sal de Mañana, a caldera on an active volcano. We saw fumaroles, which are vents that release gas and steam. Unlike geysers that need time to refill and erupt, the pressure release of a fumarole is constant. We walked around many fumaroles of different sizes and bubbling.

Watch out for fumaroles

The final stop was Laguna Colorada, commonly known as Red Lagoon due to its – you guessed it – red color. Similar to Laguna verde, the color is caused by the type of bacteria that thieves in extreme conditions. This is also where three types of flamingoes live. We walked along the shore and then stopped for lunch.

These flamingoes are not stuck… yet

Our lunch stop next to Laguna Colorada

Lunch with a view

All sorts of colors in this area

Atacama parking lot

With another two hours of desert to cross before reaching our final destination, Oscar and Abel appointed us DJs. With this vital task, we turned to the two best playlists on Matt’s phone — Adam and James’ high school playlists. Oscar and Abel are both ~40 years old, so it was a smashing success. Well done.

Dusty, dry road makes for dirty cars

Finally, we drove the last hour and half to the very remote mountain lodge. The only people here are us, one other family of three (who will only be here tonight), the guides, drivers, and lodge staff. We all had dinner together (family style) before getting ready for the night.

Home for the next two nights

Room with a view — as always

As always, the internet may or may not be available over the next week. Keep checking back!

Day 5: Volcán Blanco

We left early again this morning to drive to the Volcán Blanco hike. Along the way, we stopped to see flamingoes. Because the temperature was below freezing last night and this morning, the water in their pond froze, and the flamingoes got stuck in the ice. As the temperature rises throughout the day, the ice melts and the flamingoes are free. Though they tend to repeat the cycle.

Sebastian makes killer playlists

Stupid Stuck Flamingoes

Ducks failing at sticking their head underwater

We continued up to the 4,000 meter in elevation range and made a stop to walk around geysers. We got to get up close to each one that were located in close range in a paved area and Carlos explained how geysers work.

Geysers steaming in the distance

More geology geeking out

Queen of the geysers

Just a hole in the ground with 190 degree water erupting out

Those rocks are definitely going to stop people from getting closer

After viewing all of the geysers, we drove a few minutes further to start the hike. The very first part was a 200 rise in elevation, only to go right back down. The downhill consisted of switchbacks on a fine gravel path all the way down about 500 feet. Located within the Andes Mountains, this area of geysers is the 3rd largest in the world, so we saw many geysers all along our route. We stopped at one that takes about 30 minutes to refill, hoping we wouldn’t have to wait too long. Luckily, we saw the eruption, which lasted a couple of minutes.

On the way down

You can see the switchbacks on the hill in the distance

Waterfall – Andes edition

The next pit-stop was for lunch. We found an area near a stream and enjoyed our soup, sandwiches, and canisters. Once we were full, we continued on to the next part of the hike.

A little climbing, a little shadows, a little geyser bacteria

We arrived at Volcán Blanco and learned that it is not an actual volcano, but a large hill with a geyser on top, which caused white deposits on the side of the hill. As we continued, we were out of geyser range, and into wildlife range.

Happy hikers

There was a large expanse of flat land with plants and streams. There were plenty of birds, vizcacha (similar to rabbits), and vicuña (similar to llamas) around, giving this area the nickname of Pumas’ Restaurant. Multiple herds of vicuña were all around the area, and we got very close to some as we passed. The vizacha were also abundant and sitting on the rocks along the edge of the water.

Sneaking up on the vicuñas

Climbed up for a better view

After 8 kilometers, we made it to the van and celebrated our last hike in Chile. Tomorrow we cross the border into Bolivia and will have to say goodbye to Carlos, Nico, and Sebastian as Bolivia only allows their citizens to work as tour guides and drivers. On the drive back, we ran into more road construction along the way.

Cheers!

Road paving trucks

At the hotel, the guide manager wanted to make sure we had all of our paperwork in line for the border crossing (we do) and had us fill out the customs form needed to enter (we did). We then had some free time to shop at the store one last time in search of any clothing with the Explora logo on it, fly the drone, and get a drink at the bar.

We leave early tomorrow to cross into Bolivia and to the first stop in Ramaditas. We may be without internet for about a week as we spend our nights in remote mountain lodges.

Day 4: Hot Springs & Rocks

This morning’s exploration was to Puritama in the region of Guatin. Since we were scheduled to leave at 7:30, we were able to catch the sunrise, the moon, and Jupiter before breakfast.

Good morning, moon

Both Carlos and Nico were our guides and Sebastian drove us to the trail head. We started with an ascent up a rocky path in a volcanic canyon and followed the Puritama river. Yes, there is a river in this desert sourced from geothermic springs. Along the way, we saw volcanic rocks, rica rica plants, fox tail plants, and cacti. We also saw rock structures that were animal corrals and tambos – shelter for people tending to the animals.

Pre-hike calisthenics

Everything the light touches is Explora’s

Desert views

Desert waterfall

We continued to ascend to 11,555 feet of elevation (958 of which were on the hike) and arrived at the Puritama Hot Springs. The entire area we hiked and the hot springs are part of Explora’s conservation reserve. Explora owns access to the hot springs and anyone can buy a ticket, so there were people in the 6 of the 8 pools. The final (and best, obviously) pool is reserved for hotel guests on this hike, so we had the hot spring to ourselves.

Of course, they also had snacks and drinks for us, which we enjoyed before getting in the hot spring. Carlos and Nico also told us about a Fanchop, a popular drink that is a combination of Fanta and a lager beer. With both ingredients available to us, we tried it and agreed it was very tasty.

Fanchop!

The hot springs are full of sodium sulfate waters, which has been known to ease arthritis, stress, and fatigue. We can agree, it was quite peaceful and relaxing.

Very peaceful and calming

Refilling our heart containers

Drying off and enjoying the heat of the sun

When our Survivor Reward ended, we took the van back to Explora. There was some road construction on the way back which created the most traffic I’ve seen here yet. There were like, 12 cars. Also this road is apparently already the “good road.”

view on the way back

Won’t somebody support President Hudson?!

Back at the hotel, we had a leisurely lunch and relaxed before our afternoon exploration of hiking in the volcanic Domeyko mountain range. This is a unique area as there is a combination of the older Salt Mountain Range geology of clay, salt, and gypsum, mixed with the younger Domeyko volcanic range with igneous rocks. The hike started just outside of a canyon that we hiked into. Throughout the entire hike, we saw evidence of the geologic history.

Welcome to Mars

Top to Bottom: Igneous volcanic mountain, Salt Mountain, river bed

Carlos explained that millions of years ago, a subduction zone with a magma chamber created the land, Then a plutonic intrusion pushed up the land to cause the hills, tilts in the land, and created new rocks. Also millions of years ago (but not quite as many) and this area was covered in water. Over time, erosion carved the canyon to what it is today. Finally, the canyon became the driest place on the planet and all of the water left behind dry waterfalls and riverbeds.

Just two geology nerds geeking out

Hey, Adam, it’s an Atacama waterfall

Bouldering down the canyon

We stopped multiple times along the way to look at cool rocks and admire the geology and view. The hike ended just as the sun was setting over the Atacama salt flats. We made our way back to the hotel for dinner and relaxation.

Heading back