Giants, geysers and grim border towns

Kevin in a prickly situation ( he knew nothing about Bolivia)

Thursday 27th December

We set off from Iquique, stopping only to take a photo of the city from the parapenting mirador.

We filled up at Pozo Almonte, where they were selling fruit from a lorry.

At Huara we turned eastwards towards Colchane. After a few miles we saw Cerro Unitas, an isolated hill that has the world’s largest geoglyph on it – the Gigante de Atacama. Unfortunately you need a helicopter to appreciate it. Nevertheless we took a photo of his legs.

Then we headed steadily uphill into the Andes. The roads here are strange. One minute you can be driving on a freshly tarmaced road, and then the next minute you are on loose rock and stone. There was quite a bit of traffic on this road, apparently shipping used cars to Bolivia. It seemed much further than on the map. We stopped at a mirador to take a picture of the arid valley below.

Some of the colours of the mountains were amazing.

Eventually we reached the turn off for the geysers of Puchuldiza and headed into the wilderness. We saw some guanaco who ran off when we tried to photograph them.

There were these strange rocks covered in green growth.

The geysers are very isolated and we were the only people there. They were not as spectacular as the ones at El Tatio, but seemingly they freeze in the winter.

Back on the main road, Colchane turns out to be a town that never had a horse. It is a few buildings with a couple of food cabins, not the town the guidebook describes. We found a hostel that was basic but clean, to say the least. The electricity didn’t come on until 8 pm, and there was little hope of an internet connection, as there was not even a phone.

We ate a meal of gruel, or something like it, followed by rice (with fried eggs for Kevin) with lettuce and tomato. We had brought our own wine. There was a multinational troupe of folks who were doing a trip staying at the hostel as well. They had brought along some coca leaves which the locals chew to combat altitude sickness, but which are also hallucinogenic. We stayed well clear!

Tomorrow morning decides our fate. If we can buy petrol, then we can stay up here another night. If not, then we have to roll down the hill and hope we make it back to Ruta 5.

Writing this by a solitary flickering lightbulb, with the wind gusting outside, it feels very isolated. Colchane is 3,730 m above sea level and we can tell.