I had another long day ahead of me today - but luckily it started at 8 and not 5! My first stop was Valle Arcoiris, or Rainbow Valley. Even though the two sites that I visited yesterday are the ones that are much more popular and touristy, I absolutely think that Valle Arcoiris is better! It was as expensive as the two from yesterday combined - I think it has to do with the fact that there aren't as many people interested in it, as our group saw maybe 2 other vans compared to the dozens at both the Geysers of Tatio and Valle de la Luna - but I'm so, so glad I came here!
The colors of the rocks here are apparently formed not only by some different minerals, but also by differences in the temperatures of the magma/lava that make them up. Over time, minerals attract other minerals of the same kind, so the white bands in the rock represent many sulfur, for example.
The view there was truly incredible. I have no regrets about going at all. Wow, and I'm glad I insisted on it! There was also a little river in the area that made the mountain/valley that much better looking. I think I have some obsession with color, because it's what makes a landscape the most beautiful for me.
Our second stop on the way was a series of petroglyphs - pictures carved into stone. These were apparently made by obsidian due to its abundance in the area from volcanoes. There were ones that had been around for thousands of years - many depicting forms of various animals, especially llamas that were crucial in transporting materials and people - and there were ones that were "replicas" that visitors had created. The petroglyphs were awesome! They looked a lot like cave paintings that you would expect from long ago, and it's a shame that more weren't preserved. There are apparently a lot more, but they are very far away and no formal tours go there, unfortunately.
I had wanted to go to the Salar de Atacama - one of the largest salt flats ever - in the afternoon, but there are very little tours that go there. The ones that do usually go in the morning, and the one I found that went in the afternoon didn't have one today. As an alternative, I decided to go to the Termas de Puritama - a series of hot springs! This was the only "tour" I had been on without an English guide, and my struggles understanding not only Spanish but Chilean Spanish (they speak very fast and don't pronounce many S's, especially those at the end of a word) really showed. Fortunately there wasn't so much a tour as just a series of connected pools that we could swim in. I took advantage of it - the water was definitely not that warm, and moving from pool to pool was excessively cold - but the scenery was amazing as well! The pools (8 in total) were connected with many waterfalls and areas were the water was moving quite fast. I met a nice lady who had a son my age studying in Japan right now - awesome!
The area around the pools - red/clay stones - was pretty as well! I got back to SPDA at around 6:30, pretty exhausted. Tomorrow I've got Salar de Tara - a salt flat apparently very different from Salar de Uyuni - starting at 8 am, and then hopefully a night bus towards Iquique. We'll see how it goes - hopefully as well as today!
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