Days 39 to 41 San Pedro de Atacama and flight to Puerto Montt

Hello my friends

Day 39

San Pedro - in the driest desert in the world - Atacama. Sand sand and stones and much more.

This morning at 4:30 a.m. we go to the geysers with water. It's pleasantly fresh. We are waiting. We keep waiting and still waiting. We were finally picked up at 5:30. Works :D English guide - well good morning worked :D

2 hours on unpaved roads led us to our destination - geysers. Not much of the pleasant freshness remained. We stood here shivering at 2 degrees and wearing shorts. We're the only ones in these clothes. Oops.

We stood in the warm steam and didn't let it show.

After a good 2 hours we had breakfast - which was finally really good :)

Tired and exhausted, we arrived back at the hotel around 12 p.m.

Laura needed her eye cosmetics ;) and so we canceled the planned bike tour to Valle de la Luna.

We ended the day relaxing - gave the laundry a mere 30 euros to wash (5 kilos) and thought about buying new clothes next time, as a t-shirt would be significantly cheaper :D

Day 40

It started on time. We were picked up and taken to a canyon. The springs here should be 35 degrees warm. No one had said that we had a strenuous hike ahead of us and that the guide spoke English very well. He told us he was a mountain climber - we felt the speed. We kept up - but lost 10 more people along the way 😱

After about an hour the time had come - the pools were reached. Put on your swimming trunks and get in there - uhhhh yuck ahhhh cold - the guide said it was 20 a maximum of 25 degrees :'D

Well. It was stupid - I just wanted to have a bathing day. Nevertheless, it was nice and after an hour we went back. On the way back we met the Aussies again. We chatted briefly and asked about the evening - New Year's Eve was just around the corner.

The next trip started at 2 p.m. - off to the desert to the salt lagoon - swimming. 12 people were invited in a discarded vehicle and off they went along a gravel road far away. Arrived after an hour in the middle of nowhere, disillusionment - hiking again. Once around the lagoon. We should take photos. We are not allowed to use sunscreen - otherwise we will destroy nature here. After an hour's walk everything felt very crunchy. But then we were finally allowed to spend an hour in the water. In the middle of the sun - but now an empty lagoon - we jumped into the cool water. It was really super cold - and so salty that we felt like we could walk on water. The guide explained to us that there is more salt in the water here than in the Dead Sea.

Cool. Out of the water - shirt on - everything started chafing. At the car we were washed down with water and given a really nice snack of Pisco Sour. A nice ending. We were broken and tired. Showering and sleeping were Laura's favorite options now. It was your mistake to ask me - I said that I was knocked out, but that we could only celebrate New Year's Eve here so close to the sky once and that I was therefore 100% motivated to go to the Australians.

2 hours later we were with them in the hostel. So hot. It was so warm. We met Swiss people who were making the same journey as us, only from south to north, and had a good chat. Then things really took off at midnight. There were dolls on the streets - the locals lit them and had previously installed fireworks in these dolls. They celebrated with us, bought us drinks and danced with us in the street. Even the little ones were there. It was funny that suddenly a little girl with whom we had all been dancing in a circle didn't leave my side and wanted to be on my arm. The evening ended in such a heartwarming way. Thank you Chile for that! ❤️

Day 41

After 5 hours of sleep - but sober - we quickly packed our things and waited for the bus. Off to the airport and on the plane.

Everything has worked wonderfully so far and we are waiting for our connecting flight from Santiago de Chile to Puerto Montt.

So have a nice holiday - we'll spend it at the airport ;)

Freddy and Laura