Jeep tour day 2 - Wednesday 7th September

Today was a fairly challenging day. Not only did we spend A LOT of time in the car, but it was Ant and my turn to take the cramped bumpy back seats - definitely got the short straw here! The 6am start was not really needed as Oscar was typically half an hour late, but a breakfast of stale bread and jam reminded us of the good old days!
I'm pretty sure we saw some cool stuff but I cant really remember much of it (and neither can Ant!), but he did remind me it was hugely windy and very cold every time we had to dance to the beat and hop out the car to see whatever rock or cave was next on the agenda. We saw another hole, although bigger with two levels, this one was just a hole and most definitely not a hole hole, according to Oscar. A dude had found it when he was looking for burial sites and named it Galiaxia! A grand title for a small cave filled with fossilised algae and coral that like everything here looked like something from another planet, or science fiction film. We then saw the neighbouring burial site which was definitely moon-like and super eerie.
We were on the "road now very long" part of the journey away from salt flats and into pure Mars like desert. We were stopped a few times and instructed to "please now time for take photos" of the rocks, and usually given a time in which to do so, "we stay 10miniutes". As the day went on and the wind picked up, our collective voices began to object to the times given. Particularly when we were given nearly three quarters of an hour to look at a red lake. More amusing was the time it took for Oscar to come up with his answer to the question: "why is the lake red?". After some considerable thought leaving the car in suspense... "it is red... Because... It is red". Well that solves everything! We didn't bother asking why the "stone tree" was given its name, but his explanations were only bettered when he pulled the car down a very rocky path overlooking a lake and under some large alien like rocks and said... "now we will have lunch here because... (anticipation as whole car awaits explanation about landscape and scenery)... Because (glances at watch)... Because it is time to have lunch". I'm not sure what was more awkward, the slightly hysterical laughter from a car full of 6people who've not had much sleep, or that we had to try to explain what was funny without insulting poor Oscar who was just trying his best to do a very tough 14hour day driving and speaking a foreign language. Our bad. But like I say, faulty towers springs to mind! Glad we paid an extra 30 USD per person for an English speaking guide!
After investigation we discovered that the red lake was red because of algae, the green lake is green because of copper, and the stone tree is indeed a stone that looks like a tree! Formed after a volcanic eruption many many years ago. What was made very clear by the small hidden information sign about the stone tree, was that you should definitely not get too close to the stone tree (for preservation purposes I guess)... Said whilst we watch Sandra climbing the stone tree and me hugging the tree! Oops! Oscar, knowing that would have been helpful!
So a day full of rocks, dessert, winds and Oscar, and we were ready for the next shelter (6person dorm with absolutely no heat whatsoever!) and were looking forward to the warehouse next door where you can buy beer, wine and water... Yeah baby! Warehouse was a grand Oscar term for "very small shop", but we did indeed buy beer water and peanuts.
"what's for dinner Oscar?"... "Pasta with pie meat". Oh dear lord this filled us with dread for over an hour. But again, pie meat was Oscars' words to describe pasta with tomato sauce... Relief... Especially for the two vegetarians! (pie meat... Pimento? Perhaps? Who knows!)
A cycle tourist had also found the shelter and man he looked very rough. We had a little guilt that we'd taken a jeep, but after listening to his tales, were very very glad of our decision... Even after the day of being thoroughly fed up with being in a car. He'd struggled to find sheltered places to camp, eat, refuel, find water and had struggled to go more than 500m at a time on the sandy, rippio, rocky terrain. I offered him my pasta with pie meat, but surprisingly he refused - he'd prefer to cook his own food - testament to just how good our food looked!!!
"So Oscar what are we doing tomorrow?". "yes, now we will have a small talk about tomorrow..." We settle down comfortably to listen... "tomorrow we wake up 4.30" (gasp and giggles) "then we drive in jeep"... Cue end of talk.
After some questioning we managed to work out that we would be seeing giesers, taking a bath in hot springs "will they provide towels Oscar" "yes... You definitely will need bring towel" (sigh!), seeing the white lake (not even going to ask why it is white), and then heading to the border at 9am to catch the bus to take us into San Pedro.
So knowing how late Oscar is we set our alarms for 5am and tried to sleep. It was too cold to sleep. We didn't really sleep. We just laid there shivering pretending it was warm enough to try to sleep. It was cold. Very very cold. We couldn't sleep. And that's all I have to say about Wednesday!