Our World Journey

What We Have Been Up To...

This is the page where we put all our blogs. As we move around the globe you can follow what we are up to. If you are interested in a specific country just click on the link in the sidebar. All our date stamps are set to South African time (GMT +02:00). Only the most recent posts will show on this page. For previous posts choose from the list in the side bar or go directly to blogs of countries we have already visited.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

El Tatio geysers

Yesterday morning we were up at 4am to go to the El Tatio geyser field, some 95 km north. The geyser field is at an altitude of 4300m above sea level. We arrived before sunrise in -8 degrees conditions to see massive plumes of gas and steam rise from the earth. It is one large interconnected geyser field with boiling water. Water boils at 85 degrees at this altitude. We saw bubbling mud geysers and spitting water geysers all with different mineral deposits around them. The scenery were transformed into a magical place when the sun rose over the mountains...

On the way back we stopped at a village with only 40 inhabitants, high up in the mountains. Janine bought a llama kebab and a goat's cheese empanada (something like a pie) which tasted great. Llama meat contains no cholesterol, but the goat's cheese makes up for that.

On the way back we stopped at a cactus forest that is hundreds of years old. These cacti grow at between 1cm and 3cm per year!

We love our stay here - relaxed atmosphere, good food, great scenery.

Culture shock: according to our guide married couples choose to retain their original surnames in this area.

<< Home

Blogs

All Posts

  • Atacama salt lakes
  • Easter Island
  • Leaving Villarrica
  • On horse-back
  • Volcano Villarrica
  • My crazy bike dream
  • Villarrica hot springs
  • 4 nights on Navimag
  • Navimag boat delayed
  • "Los Simpsons" and wine