Woke up this morning, and luckily, feeling a lot better. The medecine is definately working! I decided not too do any excursions in the morning, as I was not sure how I would feel when I woke up. Made it an admin day and caught up with all of my blogging, facebook pictures etc. Had a very nice steak at one of the restaurants in the main road, delicious! You can already feel the difference betweem Bolivia and Chile!
28 October 2010
Getting very excited about Stephanie joining up with me one of these days (not that I was not before, but now it just seems like more of a reality). Doing 2 excursions for the day, and I must admit, they are the weirdest times that I have come across. Morning one is pick up at 4:30 am till lunch time and then afternoon is from 16:00 to 20:00 - very weird. So I had to wake up at 3:30 am to be ready for the sunrise, as we were going to the Geysers del Tatio (best viewed at sunrise). It was pretty similiar to Bolvia´s, but since I had my stomach incident at that stage, decided that I wamted to do this again (and the fact that we did not have a very good guide before). Our guide on this trek was tour was very good and first one that could speak proper Eglish (although all of the other tours I have been on before atvertise it).Great sight seeing the boiling water come out of the ground and then also all of the smoke up in the air (coming out of the ground). It is a continous process that just keeps on repeating itself, water boils, then spoils over, cools down and then starts boiling again...... I also managed to do my swim in the hotsprings, which I could also not do at Bolivia´s side (and the water was a lot colder than it looked). The trip was also very nice in that I sat on the bus netx to this old American guy, Bill, who was very chatty and introduced me to his wife and their travel friends. Just before lucnh time, we visited this old little town and then some cactusses that grow out in the desert. At the cactus area, there was this very nice hill that you could climb and then you had this amazing view of the mountains and also the canyons (with the lava marks). Bill (out of the blue) made this remark that really stuck to me. When I returend from climbing the hill (I was the only one out of our tour group that got to the top), I tolded him that I climbed to the top and he said "that is great, as you only had one chance to do it"........ Similiar to other advnetures that lie waiting ahead of me......like a little cycle trip..... Very nice FB messaging between Stephanie and myself over lunch.
Afternoon was off o the Moon Valley, and yes, it does actually look like the moon. It is made up of very cool formations that look brown, but it is actually made up of salt (the brown colour is due to the dust). But when it rains, the dust washes away and it looks white, like the moon.........It ows its different stratifications and salt formations to naturual environmental factors. The tour started off at Death Valley and we learnt about the 3 tehories of why it is called Death Valley (nothing that grows or lives there). Then off to the Moon Valley. Part of this trip was also that we saw the Great Dune Path (as you climb to see the sunset) and the Amphi Theatre (opposite side of the Great Dune Path). And there was the Three Maries, which are formations that are the result of the intense erosion process. As the sun goes down, all the mountains get this red colour for a few moments.
Went to the same restaurant in the evining as the night before, to order another fillet. Only problem was that when i was finished, i was still hungry and had a salad, loaded with oninions (not good for the stomach, whcih was still very sensative and recovering). Cannot remember when last I was so bloated and windy...... Very excited about meeting up with Stephanie now, cannot wait. In all, it is a great experience travelling alone as well, as it forces you to reach out to people (and out of my comfort zoen in Cayman). Chile is a great place and SO much more advanced than Bolvia (similair for me to South Africa).
29 October 2010
Stomahc still feeling a blit bloated, but main thing now is to get to Rio.Took a mini bus from San Pdero to Calama, from where I would fly to Santiago and then off to Ri (plance stopped over in Sau Paulo as well). Learnt again that it is a very small world, as while I was walking around in the Santiago airport, I bumped in the German guy that I met on the bus from Copacabana to La Paz, Thomas, and this time, I got his contatc details (I was quite annoyed with myself that I did not get his details the previous time). So off to Rio and I arrived at around 1 am the Saturday morning.
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