We woke early to watch the sunrise over the lagoon and hot spring from the comfort and warmth of our accommodation. The temperature during the night easily dropped below zero and as we were watching the sunrise we also watched all the other tour groups arrive and take a dip in the hot springs. Within 20 minutes the spring was overflowing with humans which made us feel good about our decision to take a dip under the stars the night before.
Today was the final day of our salt flat tour and the day we crossed the border into chile. Before the border crossing in the middle of the desert we stopped at the red lagoon and the guide explained the history behind the Atacama and Uyuni desert conflict over mining territory more then 100 years ago which resulted in Bolivia becoming a landlocked country, and understandably tension between the two countries and their people ever since.
The border crossing was simple but freezing and we arrived to our accommodation mid afternoon. Unfortunately the rest of the day was spent trying to find some cash. All of the ATMs in San Pedro De Atacama seem to have run out of cash after the weekend so we were forced to swap some emergency currency just to buy some water and coke to mix with our rum and drown our sorrows. We are hoping tomorrow someone will come and refill the ATM’s otherwise we might be begging on the street. Cheers Chile.
