Day two, hitting the desert gravel trail.
Click here for a video of our adventure trip from Bolivia to Chile.
Our driver Mario somehow managed to be both totally incompetent as well as being the guy who would get us through the roadless desolate desert, hitting up remarkable nature along the way. The jeep wasn’t tiny, but with all the bumps and pot-holes in the gravel road, we had to be attentive so as not to bump our heads on the ceiling. About an hour into our drive, we all saw a huge dip up ahead, consequently ducking in the car; all but Mario, ever-squinting (it’s questionable how much he could actually see) who carried on at his usual clip (too fast) and we plunged straight into the crater. The badly placed gasoline canisters and spare tire came crashing onto the windshield, and we spent the following two days looking through this lens.
One of Mario’s shortcuts was deemed too swampy to pass. Back to the road!
Ollagüe expulsing a mini-poof
The crew hanging out while Mario changed a tire
Lake of flamingos!
Luxury lunch; if there was one exceptional aspect to the tour (besides the landscape), it was the meals Mario prepared for us which were always tasty and copious.
Fox sighting
Desert bunny
Mario trying to reattach the fallen exhaust pipe…a second time. He offered comforting words such as “it is really bad to get stuck in the desert overnight” and “we are still really far from our destination for the night.”
Arbol de Piedra, Stone Tree.
Lago Colorado, red, Mario explained, because nature. He later added it was the copper in the water. Also, llama to the right.
Exhausted, but safe and sound. Four AM wake-up call to see geysers at sunrise!
Geyser Sol de la Mañana
We surrounded the gray, boiling sulfur pools.
Danger, do not move closer.
Natural thermal pools
Salvador Dalí Desert
A smile that says “just thirty more minutes in this car until we are dropped off at the Chilean border. And this landscape!”
The last site, Laguna Verde in the moon-like landscape. You can see the road off to the right.
Llegamos! Chi chi chi! Le le le! Viva Chile!
This Framerican Life 
Photos encore surprenantes et dépaysantes ! Cela n’a pas dû être une partie de plaisir apparemment ! Heureusement, vous en êtes sortis sains et saufs.
Les couleurs de la terre sont absolument magnifiques et si vous ne nous aviez pas mentionné les animaux du désert, nous ne les aurions pas vus.
Est-ce que l’eau des thermes naturels était chaude ?
Bisous.
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Merci Mom pour ce commentaire 🙂 L’eau des thermes était chaude, les geysers n’étaient pas très loin et donc il y avaient beaucoup de points chauds en sous-sol.
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It looks like you patiently waited for the resolution of the ride through the desert! It really looked dismal… but having one another (Anne & Julien) that is all is necessary. Was the water really hot? Did your group go in the water? I saw the llama right away, but never saw the fox… it reminded me f “Where is Waldo?”
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Me emocionan siempre sus fotos. Gracias por hacernos viajar.
El desierto del norte de Chile para mí siempre sonará con la música de la Cantata de Santa María de Iquique dez Quilapayún. Las imágenes son sorprendentes para los turistas del siglo XXI, otra cosa era para los mineros de principios del siglo XX.
Si tienes tiempo, (o quizás ya lo has hecho), escucha los lamentos de esta historia verídica.
un beso para los dos.
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Alors combien de temps a duré ce périple dans le désert? En tout cas c’est extraordinaire ces paysages! Et il aurait peut etre fallu choisir plutot luigi que mario bros comme chauffeur ! Biz
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Au final la traversée n’a été que de trois jours, avec environ 500km de Mario Kart sur sel, sable et gros cailloux. On en a encore des images plein les yeux.
Bisous
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oh the joy of drivers and their flimsy cars in remote areas, always great memories… at least enough space to not be worried about traffic ! 😀
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Haha ! Traffic was mostly composed of groups of vicuñas and a few other crazy drivers riding rusty cars. One of the best memories I have of this adventure. Anne judged it a little too unsafe to be in the top list of our adventures 🙂
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