¡Chile Sí! ¡Eclipse No! Day #7 “Lucky 13th?” 12/13/2022

With today being the 13th I was hoping that it would be our lucky day but the morning did not bode well for that prospect. 

I had a wonderful night’s sleep so no complaints there but unfortunately sleeping in left me little time to get ready for our morning tour.  Breakfast was a buffet with very uninteresting choices. So it looks as if the Explora Atacama will not be providing us the same quality cuisine as the Explora Rapa Nui. 

After breakfast, we were driven to the hot springs.  It was a bit of a precarious ride with some bumpy roads and one narrow passageway.  Check out this video. 

Our morning tour guide, Ricardo, was not anything like the incredible guides we had in Rapa Nui.  One of our fellow travelers, Roger from England, described him as “a bit acidic”.  Por ejemplo.  Oops, I’ve been here too long.  I mean to say, for example, Roger asked him how old the cacti were.  Ricardo gave him a dissertation about the cacti’s growth rate in rainy versus dry seasons. He went on and on about this process but never answered the question.

We arrived at the much anticipated hot springs to find an adequate facility for changing our clothes with bins where we could leave our belongings but no locks.  I suppose the theory is anyone willing to make the long trek to get there isn’t interested in taking an old man’s underwear as their pirate’s booty.  

The water at the hot springs looked lovely but unfortunately, it was only lukewarm.  Similar to my bathtub at home. Certainly not worthy of such an effort as the one needed to get there. 

Our afternoon tour was much better and exactly what I hoped for when we booked this trip.  The guide was great and we got to see some flamingos feeding and in flight. Check out this video. 

We also saw some other interesting wildlife including a sandpiper and a lizard. Isn’t this a great look at the lizard?

Dinner was again a disappointment and certainly not worthy of any food pictures. We did run into our newest friends, Roger and his wife Ann.  We exchanged stories about our afternoon tours.  Roger told us he had the same guide (Ricardo) as we had this morning but as Roger put it, “He was less arrogant and less bumptious”.  Don’t you just love the British?  Patrice and my New Year’s resolution is to have many more British friends. 

Need to get to sleep. Our morning tour starts at 6:30 AM. I thought this was a vacation. It is seeming more and more like boot camp.

Hasta luego.