Getting up early is worth it

May 30th

The early bird catches the worm.
I think that's how an old saying goes, right?

But somehow deep in my long-term memory it sounds a little different.
If I remember correctly, a few years ago my mother showed me the original version of the saying in the form of bedding.

What was it again?

The early bird can kiss my ass! That sounds more reasonable to me.

If Sarah and I had followed the original, we would have missed out on a lot of great moments.

We were already ready at the hostel at 6 o'clock in the morning. The downside?

The outdoor area was open! Yeah, no staying indoors in the warm. Nice and cold outside, and as you know, it's cold in the desert when it's not daytime.

So we waited and waited, but our guide didn't show up. It wasn't until three-quarters of an hour late that our tour to Piedras Rochas and Laguna Altiplanica finally started.

Freezing half to death, we started to warm up again on the bus and get to know our 2 new guides.
Nicolas (guide) and Flavio (driver) seemed extremely likable from the first minute.

Nicolas was motivated and cracked jokes one after the other to get our somewhat sluggish travel group moving.

After a short drive, we stopped at a larger salt lake. Nicolas explained to us how the ecosystem in this region is interconnected and that even small changes can cause big changes.

It's a strange feeling to walk on salt 😅 But before we went for breakfast, we had the opportunity to observe flamingos up close.

A little highlight for me! For the first time in my life, I saw flamingos outside of a zoo.

It's also worth keeping in mind that there are only 6 species of flamingos in the world, and 3 of them live in Chile.

Simply beautiful animals!

But somehow, as has happened all too often before, our stomachs slowly began to revolt a bit. So quickly for breakfast!

Cheese, ham, biscuits, coffee, tea, and rolls. What more do you need? 😀

After our travel group also took care of the last cookie crumbs, we continued.

We went to higher levels.
To Laguna Altiplanica.

One reason for this tour. From a small hill, we could take photos and simply enjoy the landscape.

It was incredible!!! Many different shades and the lagoon in the middle.

Here we also started to get to know our guides better. We found a particularly good connection with Flavio, our driver, and it would be rewarded more often.

At various stops on our tour, Flavio took Sarah and me aside and explained things to us in more detail.

After a, in my opinion, very delicious homemade lunch, we drove to the small village of Toconao.

A beautiful, modest village with a green plaza, which looked funny in the middle of this huge desert. Also worth seeing was the church door, which was not made of wood as usual, but of cactus.

Apparently, you can also use it for doors. So if you want to annoy your next visit 🤔

Here we experienced one of the situations where Flavio specifically took us aside. We followed him through a small store into a backyard. Beautifully furnished with an old loom and in one corner... a llama!

A llama in a small enclosure.
Somehow llamas always look very deeply relaxed to me. Half-closed eyes, chewing on a straw bale, and looking slightly bored at the tourists.

As the conclusion of our day tour, Sarah and I treated ourselves to an ice cream. I unfortunately forgot what flavor it was, but something exotic.

How crazy that the second day of our adventure in the driest desert in the world is already over.

With a big thank you to Flavio and Nicolas, we made our way home.