Atacama Desert

Today we approached everything very slowly. Our tour today didn't go over 2,500 meters in altitude either. I have to cope with the altitude first. In the morning I had coca tea, which helps with headaches and altitude problems.

After our breakfast we strolled through San Pedro and picked up some souvenirs. I bought some coca candies in a small supermarket. I should take that too. These things are completely disgusting, but as the saying goes, "medicine shouldn't taste good, it should help"... woe betide you if it doesn't!

The car first went to a gas station. There is no self-service here (unfortunately), you get refueled and that may have taken a long time. After the tank was finally filled, we went over a bumpy gravel road to the first lagoon. Unfortunately, this was closed shortly after our arrival as it was only open for tour groups from 2 p.m. Okay, so we took some photos and continued on to the next stop.

This was another lagoon where three different species of flamingos live. When we arrived Daniela got out to buy the tickets and I parked the car. As she left the car, Daniela called out to me to please reverse park the car. Please what? The parking lot is completely empty. Of course I asked why. The answer I got was, if the volcano erupts, we could leave straight away. I asked Daniela if she wanted to marry me. No, she didn't want to. The girls at the ticket counter had explained to her that there was an active volcano nearby and that you had to park the cars like that - for a possible quick escape. Okay, then I'll just park again ;-)! Just for your information, the volcano didn't spit today!!!

The lagoon was huge and beautifully situated. There were tons of flamingos in the water. Salt deposits could be seen everywhere because the lagoon is located in the "Salar de Atacama". Some stones were really thickly coated with salt. Looked absolutely gigantic.

After the lagoon we kept making smaller stops and marveling at nature. A few donkeys suddenly stood next to us. There was also a young boy who had been drinking from his mother. Totally cute, we were blown away. Many alpacas could be seen again in the forest area "El Tambillo" :-)

What really bothers me here are the nasty gravel roads. They're so hard and bumpy, it's just uncomfortable to rumble over. There are huge potholes here, actually they aren't potholes, but more like potholes.

After many stops we returned to San Pedro. We had a delicious meal there and are now preparing for the evening. We want to go stargazing today. This should be a good place for that. Well, I'm excited.

Kind regards from both of us :-)