Bolivia - Atacama Desert

This morning we woke early to start our journey into the Salt Flats of Bolivia. A few metres out of San Pedro de Atacama was the Chilean immigration office which was relatively uneventful. After this we travelled for an hour, still officially in Chile but really not in Chile, towards the Bolivian border. The Bolivian border sits at 4200m in the middle of the desert surrounded by volcanoes, and the occasional land mine. It was one of the most picturesque border crossings we have been through this year.

For the rest of the day we drove through The Andes and were treated to some absolutely spectacular landscape. Our first stop was Laguna Blanca (The White Lagoon) which is a salt lake and is particularly interesting because it has ice in it all year around. The second highlight was Laguna Verde (The Green Lagoon) which has its colour due to the composition of the water, namely Arsenic, Magnesium, Potassium, and Ulexite. It was spectacular! We then drove over a 5100m mountain pass and stopped at the top for some photos. On our way up we were able to try our first Cocoa leaves which is the traditional South American Altitude Sickness prophylaxis and treatment. It was an interesting experience. Brii gagged quite considerably at the very strong hay flavour but chewed on for a little while before having to spit them out. Jack on the other hand chewed his for quite a long time to ensure he would benefit from all possible effects :-). Unfortunately or fortunately the cocaine component was very small :-). They did work though. The effects of 5100m were not at all like we remembered from Nepal.

We stopped for lunch at Polques Thermal Springs which was beautiful. There was the option to go for a swim but we couldn’t quite bring ourselves to change into bathers when we were standing around in long pants, boots, and jackets. The temperature of the water was a warm 35ºC and those of our group that did venture in thoroughly enjoyed it. After lunch we drove to Laguna Colorada (The Red Lagoon), which, as the name suggests, is red in colour. It is coloured by the mineral composition of the sediment, Tin, Ochre, and Iron. On the way to The Red Lagoon we also visited some geysers in a volcanic crater. This was really awesome as we could see the different stages of evolution from pre-eruption to old and burnt out.

Our accommodation tonight is in “The Barracks”, which is literally a little rectangular building in the middle of the desert. Quite basic but very cool!