Boiling pools of water,gassy fumaroles, mud volcanoes, sulfurous fumes, bubbles and spouts, jets of steam, all these and more, are to be found in a land of Geysers.

 

Ten million years or more ago the South American continent gradually collided with the Nazca plate.  Over expanses of time beyond mans ability to comprehend, this collision led to many great events. The Andes reared upwards into the sky and deep deep in the depths of the earth, the red hot inner core was ruptured, forcing incandescent heat to the earths surface. Volcanoes were formed from Tierra de Fuego (the land of fire) to the Caribbean. The surface of South America was crafted in a cauldron.

 

There are a many places along this ring of fire where small amounts of heat causes geysers and pools of steaming water.

 

The geysers are highly photographic, but to see them at their best one needs to be present at dawn.

 

One of the most popular areas to find geysers is close to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile the El Taito geysers.  From this town it is about a two hour drive to the geysers.  Visitors have to leave at 4.00 am to catch the geysers at their best.

 

Paula and I are fortunate as we have our own vehicle, which we use for our ‘Living Wild in South America’ expeditions. We were able to drive up the day before, and sleep overnight, this meant we did not have to get up at a silly hour. Though camping at 4000 m is no fun either, headaches, shortage of breath and cold being just a few of the disadvantages.

 

If you do have the opportunity to go, make sure that you take breakfast with you.  No food or drink is available on site, and its very cold, when you are not close to the Geysers.