Thar She Blows… On Land
Geysers… not whales. I went to Geyser del Tatio today. We left at 4:00 AM in order to be there by 6:30 when enough light allows you to enjoy the show. We were at 4300 meters in an ancient caldera where there is an active geyser field. They warn you about how dangerous a geyser can be (no kidding) and then let you walk around the field on your own (no kidding).
The geysers are not big like in Yellowstone, but they are very active on a cold morning like we had today (freezing is more like it) and they certainly are dangerous with water temperatures well over boiling due to the altitude. The field is covered with constantly steaming, bubbling and blowing geysers as well as those that are just holes until they suddenly go. People have been injured and even killed there. I love the rest of the world because in America they would have had us all lined up behind a fence many meters away while in the lands of no lawyers… beware is all you get!
We drove across the field to the biggest geyser which is constantly blowing a few meters into the air. This is also the location of the pool they have built into the earth for “swimming”. I took my suit, but it was freezing out so that did not look like fun. Of course, some real northerners arrived and they went in. I surmised Russians, but I ran into one later and she said she was just (!) Canadian. On the drive back to town we saw quite a few animals from Vicuna (llama cousin), llama, rheas and other high altitude birds, and a rabbit-like animal with a big tail and green color (I kid you not). By the way, the Rhea (or Zuli in native tongue) is an interesting bird. It is a relative to the ostrich albeit much shorter. The male has about fifteen females to mate with. Sounds great, right guys? Not at all. The females lay their eggs in a community nest and then cruise leaving the male to take care of the eggs and babies. Now that is payback for you!
Tags: Chile, south america, Travel
vagabondrick
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