January 22nd and 23rd

Dear Obiwan,

The next two days were both relaxing and exhilarating.

On Tuesday, January 22nd, I rested and chilled in the desert. I went to Barrios Cafe for the second time for breakfast, the food is okay but, the place is beautiful…I didn’t realize till today that they have this gorgeous upstairs!!! Also, they ONLY play Beyoncé, I hope Bey visits this place one day and feels the love.

I also did a family tradition Obiwan, during our family trips to Sedona, Arizona(another beautiful desert!) we seem to start hiking at the hottest and hardest part of the day, at high noon! And today, I walked to get a bus ticket to get to Bolivia and successfully went at HIGH NOON. Legit, just like in ‘The Rugrats’ it was “no shadow time”…the sun was directly above me, melting my soul. I finallly gave in and bought a hat, I don’t like hats Obi…but…I had to get one. What do you think?

I returned to the hostel and my dorm room completely DEAD. As I collapsed I met my new roommates, these 2 women from Buenos Aires- Ely and Iris. And Obi, these women were incredible! They were so nice, warm, funny, and goofy! They had me laughing so hard in seconds.

A little later we were all relaxing in the hammocks and Jimmy joined as well. Ely and Iris made tea and we played Uno. Also, they taught Jimmy the Cumba dance- LOOK:

A few hours later I was ready for bed because I had to wake up at 4am tomorrow for my last tour- the geyers! Also, Francis was going on the same tour! Once we found out we were going on the same day, Francis made sure to ask them for us to be together, and not divide us like they did last time!

I slept HORRIBLY awaiting this early wake up.

Not too much later…it was Wednesday, January 23rd!

Time for the Tatio Geysers tour!

So today, I woke up around 4:00am for the Geysers tour…and Obi…NO ONE came for me and Francis.

Also, while we were sitting next to each other, and I am aware that sometimes I suck at whispering, but I was ACTUALLY whispering and this different hostel worker would tell us to shut up and would give us the STINK EYE if we would breathe too loudly. Calm down dude!

Anywho, after a half hour of waiting and watching many vans go by, I asked the hostel worker and he said he will text them, then told us “they said they are on their way.”

Then we waited…and waited…for another hour only to ask the hostel worker again…and he said he actually NEVER messaged them…honestly WHAT THE ACUTAL heck.

Then he proceeded to tell us that he was sorry and he will try to get us a refund and that we can try to go tomorrow…but I leave tomorrow!

Then a struck of good luck happened…a group of 3 people who rented their own car were leaving FOR THE GEYERS that moment! They overheard our upset and offered to take us! How lucky are we Obi!?

Moments later a van pulls up and boom, we were on our way! Our new crew was Jodi, Yan, and Simon. They were German and British. And this truck was so nice! It was a big Toyota pick-up truck with 5 seats!

Then…so oddly, at 6am…a whole 1.5 hours late, the tour company arrives. They go, “we always come this time,” which is a lie because I met so many people who went with this group and it was 4:30. Me and Francis looked at each other and both agreed non-verbally, NO WAY, refund and will go with these awesome people!

Finally, we were off. The road was dark and bumpy and fun and in about an hour we were there and we were able to watch the sunrise, it was beautiful Obi!

The group of friends we were with were obviously old friends and they were hilarious to be with.

We arrived at the Geysers and had to pay the 10,000 CLP (about 15 USD) fee and we saw the geysers! The first geysers of my life Obiwan, and they are so cool! There were so many and they were all different sizes! New ones, baby ones, big ones, and HUGE ONES. There was only one that was going super high.

Here are photos and videos!:

Also, I forget why but to see geyers at full awesomeness you need to get there at sunrise, something to do with the temperature changing from nighttime to sunrise makes them EXPLODE!

After this we chose to go to the hot springs here instead of the other ones because these were included in our fee and were also closer, they were hot, not too hot? But it was nice. But…getting out Obi…was FREEZING. We drove up super high to get here, so higher altitude means it is colder!

Then on the ride back, we got to see the landscape that we couldn’t see on the ride over (due to it being dark) and man, it was gorgeous! We stopped a bunch for pictures and also, Simon had a DRONE! He filmed us driving around this crazy desert dirt road AND THEN SHOWED US AND IT WAS SO. COOL. Now…I want a drone? But, I need money and that eye that photographer’s and videographer’s have…and I just don’t have that. So nevermind, I will just continue getting excited and watching others play with drones.

Oh we also stopped at some beautiful marshes that had birds and the famous PINK FLAMINGOS! There were a million of them. And they FLY OBI. I didn’t know flamingos flew for some reason?…but now that I think about it…they fly away in Aladdin when Iago is pretending to be Jasmine and he goes “I’m in the menagerie.” I think that’s the scene.

OMG, a fox came up to our car! (Sadly, probably because tourists feed him) but he was so cute Obi!

Anywho. We got back to the hostel and we were relieved to get our refund from the agency. After eating lunch I was beyond exhausted since I pretty much didn’t sleep last night.

But, just my luck, right when I tried to nap in a hammock they started to construction with a chain saw, so, that was a fail. Also it was just on hot to nap mid day.

However, I still was able to relax and I got some good advice about Bolivia from a fellow traveler, they told me not to book Copacabana in advance and do it when I get there, they also told me I could sleep on the famous Isla del Sol if I wanted too!

Now it is finally quiet and cooled off enough for me to sleep Obiwan,

Love you! Miss you!

Tú Madre,

Carly