Lagunas Day 6: Geysers and Hot Springs

After the rest day we wanted to have an early start today. But we ended up getting a free breakfast (all the left overs of the tour group that stayed at the hostel) and a bunch of leftover food to take with us as provisions for the next days 🥰
Our food problem was solved!

Eating and packing everything up took quite some time and so we only left Laguna Colorada around 9am.
The first thing we noticed today was how much colder it had gotten.
The second thing was the wind.

While we basically flew along the first 6km of today's route, thanks to good roads and tailwinds, it then took us a long and grueling 5 hours to climb our way up the 25km of the steep pass to the Geysers del Sol de la Mañana on 4911 m against strong headwind and terrible 8bft gusts.
We had initially planned to end our day at the Geysers to catch them with the morning sun the next day, but icy temperatures (there was still snow from the night before) and lack of windshelter made us change our plan and carry on, now all downhill, until Laguna Chalviri.

The "road" on the way down was in terrible state - rubble, washboard and many stones - but still better than 90% of what we cycled on over the last days.
As if racing down the mountain and the ice cold wind blowing from all over the place weren't enough, we were suddenly surprised by a snow storm coming over from the other side of the mountain.

Luckily it only lasted a few minutes and after a total of 1.5h of speedy descent we finally reached the Laguna and a free thermal bath infinity pool overlooking the feeding flamingos. Expected night time temperature: freezing cold and lots of wind ✌️

🚴‍♀️Distance cycled: 51 km
🏔 Highest point on route: 4911 m (Geysers)
🌨 Snowstorms: 1
♨️ Temp. of hot springs: 36 degrees
🏞 Beauty of scenery: 12/10
🥞 Pancakes given by hotel staff: ~20Leer más