Three soldiers were at the check point, all with huge machine guns and looking really mean. We were all a bit nervous because Tim and Maz had hash on them. Soon enough though they had offered them cigarettes and the mood changed instantly. Once these guys started smiling you realized that they were delighted to try to chat to us. They were a lot younger than they looked too. Small wonder. It’s a stunning place to see as a visitor, but those poor sods must be bored shitless! They checked us through and we continued the last lap of the desert.
Our driver stopped and ushered us out of the jeep. “Pericolo, caliente, caliente” was all he said. Suddenly you couldn’t find anyone anymore for steam. Huge pools of bubbling mud plopped away belching out stinking sulphur from about 10 huge geysers. The Lonely Planet had warned not to get to close because the earth could crumble. Of course Tim ignored this and was trying to get in for a close up of the mud. It was like standing by a fire on a freezing cold night. I bet none of them come out.
As we drove further the rock formations started to get bigger and weirder. Battered by gale force winds for thousands of years there were loads of huge rocks jutting up from the earth that had formed into crazy shapes. There was one that looked like a house, another, a church and another a face.
We saw another of those strange rabbit creatures. I’m told it’s a type of rodent. Scary bloody rodent. Looks more like a killer Basil Brush. We stopped briefly at a hot spring where our driver made us breakfast. Unfortunately the springs were too hot to swim in, although there was an area where we could safely dip our toes. The first sight of water my skin had seen in 5 days.
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