Tatio Gaysers – Atacama
I have not been writing for a while, being so busy with finalizing the project with the kids, organizing the Global village event we did, planning my trip and travelling. During some of the flights, I was able to prepare a few of the many pictures I want to show you here, so today it’s the Tatio gaysers day. I will follow with many more amazing places to see, as meanwhile I have taken great pics around Valparaiso, traveled to Argentina, and spent more time in Chile, this time Patagonia, and now I am in Lima.
Tatio means “old crying man” in the language of one of the native tribes that live in the Andes in the Atacama region. They called this place like it because one of the mountain hills just above the gaysers looks like the face of an old man, and when the ice is melting, the water runs down exactly the site of his “eyes”.
Tatio was actually my favorite experience in Atacama – had to get up at 4 in the morning, ride up the mountain in a micro bus, to catch the sunrise above the gaysers, freezing my butt off (you’ll see the blanket I am coccooning in). They are actually strongest at sunrise, and as the sun warms up the ground, their strenght diminishes.
There were baby gaysers (you’ll see me warming my hands above one of these), which will mature and become large; there’re the kind that erupts evey once in a while, so if you don’t know and are not careful it might surprise you, there are the huge ones, which are now not accessible (you cannot get too close to them) because a japanese tourist slipped, fell and boiled himself to death in them.
Absolutely beautiful, it was a first in my life. Njoy!
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