High desert in Northern Chile

Fellow travelers warned us that parts of northern Chile could be a tad boring...

Guess we really don't need the GPS here. 

 It got a little more interesting as we passed the military bases...

Just keep swimming....

We stopped over in the City of Iquique, which was unremarkable except for this GIANT sand dune looming over the city. It dwarfed the high rises and neighborhood below. We almost drove off the road trying to take it all in. 

Those are high rise buildings below the dune

Heading for the high desert we went seeking snow capped mountains and the Geysers del Tatio. 

Sunset in the high desert. 

The desert features the one of the highest geyser fields in the world. Geysers del Tatio is a geothermal field at 14, 1110 feet, high in the Andes mountain range. The fumaroles of these geysers are produced by the high temperatures of their watery craters and offer a unique view in the desert. We camped at the El Tatio Geysers Park. While it was very cold, the geysers are most active in the dawn so we hauled out of bed at 5:30 am (brutal!) and walked the geyser fields. 

The field as day breaks

This geyser burst every few minutes, spewing hot water and deliciously warm steam 

 

Did we mention, it was cold??

We found a small natural lake teeming with Vicuna, flamingos and ducks. It seems incongruous that what we thought of as tropical birds, live in high altitude, cold places. 

We spent two days camping in the remote area, hiking, exploring some volcanic rock formations and settin' stuff on fire. 

Home sweet home

Large rocks of magma with burst volcano behind

The volcanic field was large enough that clever shepherds used them to make night pens for llamas and sheep. We had fun checking out the stone huts and pens.

Melanie is at the very top of the rocks.

Oh, and we finally let the Chinese lantern go. 

At least we won't start a forest fire here...

Night time was cold enough to freeze and burst the water tank's ball valve. In the morning, Justin noticed the tank was leaking precious water in the desert. Panicked at the thought of losing the hot shower, we brought the valve to the town's small hardware store hoping against hope for a replacement.  

The store had an exact replacement and 

viola! High altitude repair complete! 

Taking photos is really, really helpful. 

Because Chile and Argentina are long and narrow, we will heading south via a zig zagging east-west route touring both countries. So, the land of wine and cheese is is next...