(Pre-Wedding) Honeymoon, Part XXII - The Longest Day Ever...

445am wake ups on your honeymoon are not so fun.  We slowly peeled ourselves out of bed, finished the packing and got dressed for an excursion that promised freezing cold morning conditions at the Geyser and bathing at the hot springs.  Tough packing.

We met up with everyone at 530 and made sure the guide knew we had to be back by 12:10 to catch the transfer to our flight.  They did not say no problem right off the bat which made us a bit nervous.  But we forged ahead regardless.

The trip to the El Tatio geysers, at 4400M elevation, was about 2 hours.  GG and I dozed en route.

We arrived into a field with tall plumes of steam escaping all over the place – the releasing of magma-heating pressure with the cold air above (at sunrise it's actually only in the upper 30 degrees Fahrenheit). 
So we wandered about the various geysers, took some pictures, and had some mate.  I thought the setting was quite unique, although since I’ve seen crazy geysers in Iceland before, I probably could have slept in for that part of the tour.

Just some random explosive heat/pressure escaping from the earth...no big deal.

GG staying warm in the escaping steam...

If I ever released a record, this could definitely be the album cover shot....

Warming up with some mate!

The Puritama Thermal Baths were next – that ride was another 90 minutes, back towards the hotel.  While en route there, the driver lined up another driver to take us back to the hotel early, so we could still get our bath fix but not have to wait for everyone.  We pulled into the Cliffside thermal bath area, also owned by Explora, and we were handed a robe and sent to a changing room.  We got back and jumped in the closest bath which was perfectly warm (not hot) and set in a lush green setting.  Even better, the guides were setting up some antipasti for us to snack on before leaving.

Thermal pools - so much better than freezing cold Geyser watching...

 After about 20 minutes of bath time, it was off to the hotel early, to allow for us to shower, change, check out and head to calama for our flight.  Everything went perfectly and, once again, Explora really nailed all the logistics and sent us off with a club sandwich for the car ride.

This is now the beginning of the end.  We transferred in Santiago Airport to a BA flight and then took a taxi back to Palermo, arriving full circle back at the Atempo Hotel, where we were even given the same room, just on the other side of the hallway.  So everything felt the same to us, except backwards.   After a warm welcome back from the staff, grabbed a mediocre pizza bite a block away from the hotel and turned in around 11pm...18 hours after we woke up and 2500 KM from where we started.  Atacama beat us to a tired pulp, but it was worth every ounce of effort and energy expenditure.

It's hard to believe tomorrow is our last full day of honeymoon bliss...where did the time go by??

The final chapter here.