Day 26 – Saturday, February 21, 2026

As this is a biking blog (more or less), except for 5 km there was no biking this day - so feel free to skip it. This would be a great day, too,

My plan was to reach the Tatio geyser, at 4,200 meters, some 80 km north of San Pedro, just a couple of kilometers from the Bolivian border. My plan was to leave at 4:30 am, as sunrise is the best time to be there. Well, it seems I am getting a bit exhausted, despite setting my alarm, I only woke up at 5:30 am, greeted my Dad for his birthday, so departure was only at 6:00 am, with one and a half hour delay - not typical for me.

It was still dark, but thought the 80 km can be done in an hour. I could not have been more wrong. The good Chilean roads I had experienced so far led me to believe this would be a smooth, one-hour (or so) ride. It was anything but. The road was unpaved and at many places, I had to navigate through smaller landslides due to the storm of the previous day. At higher altitudes, the road was as bumpy as it can possibly get. I watched other drivers (there were a few), they left the "road" and continued on the void of the Atacama desert. Smart.

I never had a chance of reaching there by sunrise, when the sun rose at around 7:30 am, there was still an hour or so to go. Nevertheless, I was deeply impressed by the scenery - snow-clad peaks all around me in a pretty outwardly setting.

Wonderful surrounding, terrible road

At Km 72, some 8 km is left - but what a ride!

My shadow was cast in the highland

I was amazed to see sudden patches of green in this otherwise completely arid setting. The green meant water - yes, at around 4,000 meters, there were all kinds of wading birds - including flamingos.

Green means water

One flamingo

More flamingos

Alone the drive to the geysers was a thrill, with something new every corner. I encountered vicunas, there were entire herds of them.

Vicunas

The geysers were interesting, I believe this is the highest point on earth for this phenomenon, but it was a bit Disneyland-like. One of the largest ones is called Killer-geyser - as in the recent past, taking selfies turned deadly for quite a few tourists. I was amazed how pure the water was - alas, no swimming there, they stopped this activity some 5 years ago.

Getting close to the geysers

The water was so clean...

...quite amazing!

I was back in San Pedro around noon and made a feeble attempt to drive to Salar de Atacama- a salt flat with more flamingos. After driving some 40 km, sone friendly policemen informed ne the road was closed due to flooding. This in the driest place on earth. The policemen recommended I go to other flamingo reserves, these were high up, close to the Bolivian border.

Anyhow, I drove back 40 km to San Pedro, feeling a bit pissed. There was a road I had been eyeing with. It looked like someone took a pool table and simply tilted it upwards. It was not rhe curvy drive of te Alps; but a more or less straight road - with a steady incline.

I checked my fuel - it was showing a range of 320 km, while I hadto drive just 100 uphill (and roll back that distance). I failed to tare into consideration that consumption would rise dramatically on such an incline. While driving, I started playing mind games: what if the fuel runs out, the wheels get a puncture (the car indicated three of the four tires having a gaugue issue), a storm similar to the previous day hits, some Bolivian bandits try to kidnap me, etc.

It turned out to be a stunning car ride, the highest point of which was over 4,800 meters. Yes, the fuel level kept desceasing steadily, but I got made it to the lake. There would have been one more lake further down the road, but I did want to challange Faith, so turned around. Downhiil was easier, I got back to San Pedro without any incident. Some 50 km reserve was still remaining.

Large volcano

Driving to Bolivia

The highest point

What the hecks are they eating?

There I treated myself to an excellent, tender chicken.

Excellent chicken

It was time to drive back to Calama - no thunder, light traffic. A few kilometer away from the very spot I had hitchhiked on two says earlier, there was a broken-down van, with someone hitchhiking. I stopped and drove him to town - he was really thankful.

Straight road back to Calama

Thhat evening I booked the best hotel so far in Chile - for €50. The price was on par with sone dreadful places I had stayed earlier. I checked in, dropped my stuff in my room, then drove to the airport to return the car. As mentioned, the only bike riding that day was from the airport back to the hotel.