Day 101: Villa Mar, Bolivia

7 o'clock. We are standing in front of our hostel, shivering with packed backpacks. We were told that they would pick us up between 7 o'clock and 8 o'clock. The streets are empty, it's quiet. A stray dog patiently keeps us company. Today is the first day of our three-day tour through the desert to Uyuni, Bolivia. Around 7:50, our bus arrives. We get on and drive to the border office to get our exit stamp, just like about 200 other adventure seekers. Tired and impatient, we stand in the cold. After about 30 minutes, we continue to the Bolivian border. We get off the bus and find ourselves in the mountains. The wind is icy cold and uncompromising. In the middle of nowhere is a small house, in that small house is a grumpy Bolivian who has the task of stamping about 200 stamps in about 200 passports. With the stamp in our passport, we finally get breakfast and then we are assigned to the jeeps and drivers in groups of six. So now we are in Bolivia. That means we have to say goodbye to Chile.

Although we have only seen the northwest of Chile, we had a good time. Chile has a lot to offer. From dusty deserts to snow-capped mountain ranges to blue seas and white sandy beaches. Except for the border officials who go completely crazy because of the introduction of a single fruit at the border, the people here are very nice. The food and drink culture is very interesting. The dishes mainly consist of corn products and meat, or like 'Chorrillana', a unhealthy heap of fries, meat, onions, sausage, cheese, and fried eggs. The drinks, like the 'Pisco Sour', are either very sour or like the 'Terremoto' (earthquake), dangerously sweet and strong. Drinking alcohol in public is forbidden, so the local beach visitors like to run into the sea with their drinks when the police show up (because they are under the jurisdiction of the Navy here).

The first day of our trip was packed with sights and scheduled like speed dating in the military. We were driven from one place to another on a tight schedule to take our obligatory tourist photos. The landscape of the Eduardo Avaroa National Park is impressive. The jeep stops and we run frantically with our cameras. We are so busy capturing everything on camera that we almost forget to absorb the breathtaking scenery in our long-term memory. From colorful lagoons like the Laguna Verde (green) and the Laguna Blanca (white), we first went to the Salvador Dalí Desert. So we are standing in the 110 km² stone desert and quickly realize why the desert has this name. It wouldn't have surprised me if burning giraffes or elephants with stilts-like legs had walked past us. As surreal as the scenery, as real is the icy cold wind. We continue driving. Our next stop made us feel a bit of wellness in the beautiful uncompromising landscape of the desert. In front of the snowy mountain peaks, we were able to immerse ourselves in the 30°C hot water of the 'Termas de Polques' for half an hour before lunch. An incredible moment. After a reasonably decent lunch, we continued. Our next stop was a challenge that not everyone is necessarily suited for. Breathing is already difficult at 4,850 meters. It is even harder when you find yourself in a geothermal area of about two square kilometers between boiling mud holes and sulfur geysers. The highest geysers in the world, 'Sol de Mañana', may not spray water fountains meters high, but still it offered us an incredible show with its gases, bubbling mud holes, and colorful rock formations and provided us with some beautiful pictures. Our last drop-off point for today was the 'Laguna Colorada'. When we arrived, we were greeted with an incredible sight. Baby blue sky, dark blue mountains with white peaks, a deep red lake, and a huge population of pink flamingos. Of course, despite the frosty wind, we all immediately ran to the shore to see the flamingos up close and take a selfie with these rare animals for us Central Europeans. Then we went to our accommodation in Villa Mar. Our hostel was more like a two-family village with unfinished buildings and bathrooms that had holes in the walls instead of windows. The evening ended as the day began: freezing cold. We had an incredible day, admired picturesque scenery, and experienced breathtaking moments. Tired, half frozen, and full of hope that tomorrow would be warmer, we crawled under our four woolen blankets in our cozy sleeping bags around 9 p.m.