TATIO GEYSERS IN THE ATACAMA DESERT, Chile, by Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist

Tatio Geysers, Atacama Desert, Chile

In December 2009, Art and I spent five days in the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile, staying at Tierra Atacama in San Pedro de Atacama. Each day, our hotel arranged tours to sites in the area.
Our last excursion was to the Tatio geysers, a high altitude equivalent of Yellowstone Park in the U.S. At 14,000 feet, the Tatio geyser field in the Andes is the highest geyser field in the world. El Tatio covers an area of 12 square miles, with geysers, boiling water fountains, fumaroles, hot springs, mud pools, and mud volcanoes seeping steam across its surreal expanse.

The Tatio Geyser Field is the third largest in the world.

Recently, it was declared a protected area and helpful signs in both Spanish and English are being installed.

On the walkway to the geyser field.

The optimal time to visit is at sunrise when the cold air condenses the rising steam into small dense clouds. Since the drive from San Pedro is about an hour and forty minutes, we met at 5:15 a.m. for our departure. Fortified with a cup of coca tea (which tastes just like any herb tea and is said to combat altitude sickness) we dozed in the van for the ride up.

The crust of the geyser field is fragile.

It was pitch dark when we left our hotel, but by the time we arrived the sun was beginning to shimmer through the mist. I was worried about being light-headed at the high elevation, but, as long as I didn’t move too fast, I found I had no trouble walking around the geyser field.

Steam from vents in the geyser field condenses in the chilly morning air.

We had been advised to wear warm clothes because dawn temperatures are often below freezing, so I bundled up. All around us geysers spurted, hot pools bubbled, and steam puffed dramatically out of dozens of vents.

Bathers in the heated pool

Near a spring, a pool had been excavated that mixes cold spring water with the nearly boiling geyser water to make a giant hot tub. It was filled with bathers, although we didn’t try it ourselves. Instead, our guide set up our breakfast overlooking the geysers.

Breakfast of bread, meat, cheese and avocado

By the time we finished our meal, most other people were gone, and a group of vicunas moved in to graze on the tough grasses that grow at the edge of the geyser field.

Vicuna

Vicunas, valued for their unusually fine wool, are the delicate and extremely endangered wild relative of the llama. (The other wild relative is the guanaco.) As the sun climbed higher in the sky, we left and the vicunas had the mountains all to themselves.

A full report of our visit to the Atacama can be found in these posts from May 2011:
Chile: Atacama Desert, Part 1, Flamingoes, Oases and Volcanoes
Chile: Atacama Desert, Part 2, Ancient Rock Art, Llamas and Geysers  

 All text and photos, copyright Caroline Arnold.  www.theintrepidtourist.blogspot.com