Week 52: Atacama & Bolivian Deserts

Week 52 🤯. That is sooooo many weeks! That’s CRAZY! Anyway, on the first day of week 52 we had to go on two flights to a place called San Pedro de Atacama. When we had arrived there was an explosion of colours in the sky. Red, pink, orange, yellow and so many for incredible colours. This beautiful sunset was in the driest desert in the whole world! So when we arrived it was pretty cold (and annoying). It was annoying because there was only 2 taxis in the whole town. So it was quite difficult. Long story short we ended up in this random person’s car that we did not know. But after a few minutes in the car we had arrived at our glamping (a glamping that was very challenging to get to). And it was amazing.

Then when we woke up the next morning we were about to start our road trip through the small difficult town. We had this awesome ute for the next three days. We were definitely getting it dirty and dusty because we were in a place where nearly everything was made out of sand. We stopped at a place that said it had a broken bus…. There was just sand, no bus, just SAND. So then we headed to our next destination, some of the saltiest water in the world. We were going to swim in some of the saltiest water in the world! When we were in the water it felt like we were sitting in the most wet chair in the world. When mum and dad were in the water I could see at least half of their body above water. It was sooooo buoyant. When we didn’t move while trying to stand in the water we would just float back up again and again and again. It was crazy. Then when we got out of the water I think people from outer space could see us. We were so white. We were soaked in salty water. We were so salty we had to pour a bucket of water on ourselves to get the salt off. It was so funny.

Then we started to head back home to get ready for sunset. Mum made sandwiches for dinner and dad and I packed something to do while we waited for the sun to set. Then we set off for our next adventure seeing the beautiful earth go to sleep. We waited a few minutes until colours – I don’t think I have ever seen before – shot into our eyes making us jump. It was spectacular. Then someone pointed behind us and we looked around and there was a big bowl of milk 🥛. We saw the full moon 🌝. It was the most luckiest timing seeing the sun go down while the moon goes up. It was amazing. Then we sadly had to go home.

The next day we went on another road trip through the driest desert in the world. Our first destination was this deserted place with a volcano, vicuñas, flamingoes and a beautiful lake. It was extraordinary. Then after taking a few photo we were off again on the terribly made roads. Starting to see amazing mountains, more lakes, and more volcanos. It was so cool. There were so many people that asked us for our tickets when trying to get into an activity (but they only sold tickets 3 hours away from where we were). We had NO tickets. So we just pretended we were driving for the view not the activities. Then we started to head back home to get some dinner for sunset. The sunset didn’t have the moon behind us but it was still amazing. With a big bowl of gnocchi in front of us and the sun going to the next hemisphere it made it a magnificent day.

The next morning we were on our way to things called geysers. If you don’t know what geysers are read the next paragraph; if you do, continue reading this paragraph. The geysers were sooo cool. The air that it squirted at us was realllyyyyy warm (and stinky 💨). So it felt really nice to stand in the steam. Then we were back on our fun road trip on these dusty roads that I don’t think anyone knows about. It was soooo bumpy. Then after a wild trip back home we had some dinner and went to bed.

A geyser are these kinds of spurt holes that squirt out water or air. They also stink because it’s a gas that comes from a volcano. They’re pretty cool. When they have ran out of water to spurt, they suck all of the water that they squirted out before. Then that goes on and on and on over and over again.

The following day we went on ANOTHER road trip through lakes, sunset spots and so much more. The animals seemed to get better everyday. We were seeing the same things in different environments and taking even wackier roads to who knows where it ended up 🤔. We saw flamingoes and vicuñas. Same old same old. But they were so awesomely amazing. At the lakes we stopped for a picnic in the boot of our ute and had avocado on really delicious bread. It was so good. Then we were riding in our car again heading home to have some chill time at the pool. The water was so refreshing it felt like I was jumping in water a bit warmer than Antarctic water. It. Was. COLD! Then we had to scram out of the pool like there was a deadly hippopotamus in there chasing us. We had to go go go because the sun was not going to wait for us. We were going to a secret sunset spot that has the most magnificent view from the back of our car eating gnocchi. It was amazing.

The next day we had to wake up at 5:30 to go on a 3 day tour to Bolivia. If you take off the B it spells Olivia (that’s my name!). Anyway we weren’t there yet, we still had to go on a 1 hour bus, have breakfast, and get our passports out and cross the border from Chile to Bolivia. Then after that we were in Bolivia in very high altitude that was going to get worse. We were 3,500 metres above sea level. It was crazy. And in the afternoon it was going to get even crazier, we were going in 5,000 metres above sea level!!! We were going to see more geysers, beautiful views, and of course, vicuñas and flamingoes. These flamingoes were extra cool because we saw 2 mating and sooo many flying very high above the water. It was awesome. Then there was alpacas and llamas. They were so cool with their hippy necklaces and adorable faces. They were awesome. Then we started to head to our new hostel in Bolivia. It was an amazing day.

The following day we were on the bumpy road to our next destination on our road trip. We saw all sorts of animals; rabbits, vicuñas, llamas, alpacas, emus, and flamingoes. Our first destination was a rock that was shaped like the World Cup. It didn’t really look like it (at all), but it was still pretty cool. Then we went to this other rock that was shaped like a camel. This rock actually looked like what it was meant to look like. After a quick stop at the camel rock we went to a place that looked very similar to the Grand Canyon. The main view point was the scariest part. We were literally on the edge of a canyon (don’t worry Gram we were safe)! It was crazy. Then the next view point was also creepy. One wrong step and….! Luckily I am here and writing my blog. Anyway, our next destination was a really cool ghost town 👻. It was so cool.

When we woke up the next day we were going to go to a place called La Paz. But that was at 10:00pm so let’s rewind a bit back ⏮. In the morning we went to the salt flats. The salt flats are these places where the whole ground is just SALT! You can also do these cool photos to make one person small and one person BIG. It was so fun trying to figure out new ways to make an awesome photo. We put mum and dad on my arms, dad jumped on my hand and we did sooo many more awesome photos. Then we headed off to a town called Uyuni (u-n-i). It was a pretty cool town. We had lunch over there and walked around trying to find a cafe that we could sit at for 9 hours to wait for our bus. Then after a quick 7 hours we went to the bus station to chill for 2 hours then went on the bus. It was a super nice bus. The chairs were super duper comfy. Then we went to bed on the bus and woke up in La Paz.

Fun facts

How big are the salt flats?

Answer: 10,000 square km! That is HUGE.

How much rain does the Atacama Desert get each year?

Answer: 15mm per year 🤯. If we compare that to my home town (Sydney) we get 1175 mm per year. Wow.

What’s a vicuña?

Answer: Vicuñas (vi-cu-nya-z) are slimmer, bolder (compared to the alpacas and llamas) and the smallest camelid in the camel family (alpacas and llamas are a bit cuter too 😊).