Today I had the earliest start of my whole trip. We left San Pedro at 04:00 in the morning, heading North for the El Tatio geyser field. The drive took us up to an elevation of around 4300 meters and lasted for a bit more than two and half hours.
Temperatures were freezing on arrival (I obviously took advantage of my Antarctica gear) – though with those low temperatures the steaming water just looked even more impressive.

With time moving forward, also the sun did come out and it got slightly warmer. Our guide gave us some explanations on the geysers, we also had plenty of time to check the area out by ourselves. After our walk, a simple – but good – breakfast was served; we also had the opportunity to take a swim in a pool fed by the hot water (obviously cooled down enough) – making this the second swim in the caldera of an active volcano for me on this trip (the first being in Deception Island).

On the way back we had a number of stops to take pictures and to explore the surroundings – or all the stuff we had missed out on during our drive in earlier in the morning and in the dark.