6-30
In the afternoon I took a short hike out of Putre up to where the villagers were herding their cows, llamas, and sheeps. It was a pretty hike with nice views way down the valley.
A group of 3 Aussies finally showed up, so I was able to book a shared tour with them.
7-1
We left early in the morning for our trip. I was with 3 Aussies (Sam, Kat, and Laura) as well as our driver and guide. First we headed up to Lauca National Park with great views of volcanoes including the perfect cone of Volcan Parinacota. We then headed into Vincuña National Wildlife Refuge which again had spectacular altiplano scenery including snowcapped peaks and volcanoes everywhere--and one smoking volcano (volcan guillotone?). We visited an old traditional Amayra village with its historic church set at the foot of the smoking volcano. We of course saw tons of vincuñas everywhere (wild llama like animals). We then headed into Surire National Monument. It has located in its center Salar Surire a large salt flat with some lakes in the center. We drove around the salt flat that is surrounded by volcanoes and saw lots of flamingos (3 species: Jamison, Chilean, Andean), several Rheas (aka Nandus, a large flightless bird resembling an emu).
At the opposite side of the salt flat, we stopped at one of the most amazing natural hot springs I have ever been to. It was huge. Bigger than a standard 6 lane 25 yard swimming pool. It had little rocks in the center rising above the water you could sit on when you needed to cool off as the water was quite hot, the hottest hot spring I have been to since Pucon. There was also a hot creek running out of the pool that was a bit cooler that you could float in. The mud underneath was that mud that is supposedly good for your skin, so we covered ourselves in it. The view around were of course amazing with volcanoes, vicuñas, and flamingos. On top of that, the water was also pretty, having the turquoise color of a tropical lagoon.
The guide had plans to cook up our lunch at the CONAF (NP) station, but it was closed; however, there were lots of viscacha around. He said no worries as he knew a friend that worked in the nearby police/border outpost and we could heat up our food there. It turned out to be a cool cultural experience.
We entered into the police building and there were about 10 Cabaneros (police officers) sitting around the table eating a big meal and watching the Spain vs Italy Eurocup championship. Now, I don´t know if it was bc it was the Sunday meal or it is just good to be a Chilean police officer, but they had huge plates of meat. On top of salad and fruit and rice, they each had a big chicken leg, a big steak, and 2 sausages. To go with the meal, they were drinking wine. I had to laugh at that. I couldnt imagine any govt employee in the USA being able to drink on their lunch break, especially the police. Not that there was anything at all out where we were as we were extremely remote (we reached this area by a 3 hour drive on a dirt road complete with river crossings), but we laughed at what would have happened if one of the drunk officers had to go out for a call. They shared their wine with us and we rooted España on to victory before heading back whence we came
In the afternoon I took a short hike out of Putre up to where the villagers were herding their cows, llamas, and sheeps. It was a pretty hike with nice views way down the valley.
A group of 3 Aussies finally showed up, so I was able to book a shared tour with them.
7-1
We left early in the morning for our trip. I was with 3 Aussies (Sam, Kat, and Laura) as well as our driver and guide. First we headed up to Lauca National Park with great views of volcanoes including the perfect cone of Volcan Parinacota. We then headed into Vincuña National Wildlife Refuge which again had spectacular altiplano scenery including snowcapped peaks and volcanoes everywhere--and one smoking volcano (volcan guillotone?). We visited an old traditional Amayra village with its historic church set at the foot of the smoking volcano. We of course saw tons of vincuñas everywhere (wild llama like animals). We then headed into Surire National Monument. It has located in its center Salar Surire a large salt flat with some lakes in the center. We drove around the salt flat that is surrounded by volcanoes and saw lots of flamingos (3 species: Jamison, Chilean, Andean), several Rheas (aka Nandus, a large flightless bird resembling an emu).
At the opposite side of the salt flat, we stopped at one of the most amazing natural hot springs I have ever been to. It was huge. Bigger than a standard 6 lane 25 yard swimming pool. It had little rocks in the center rising above the water you could sit on when you needed to cool off as the water was quite hot, the hottest hot spring I have been to since Pucon. There was also a hot creek running out of the pool that was a bit cooler that you could float in. The mud underneath was that mud that is supposedly good for your skin, so we covered ourselves in it. The view around were of course amazing with volcanoes, vicuñas, and flamingos. On top of that, the water was also pretty, having the turquoise color of a tropical lagoon.
The guide had plans to cook up our lunch at the CONAF (NP) station, but it was closed; however, there were lots of viscacha around. He said no worries as he knew a friend that worked in the nearby police/border outpost and we could heat up our food there. It turned out to be a cool cultural experience.
We entered into the police building and there were about 10 Cabaneros (police officers) sitting around the table eating a big meal and watching the Spain vs Italy Eurocup championship. Now, I don´t know if it was bc it was the Sunday meal or it is just good to be a Chilean police officer, but they had huge plates of meat. On top of salad and fruit and rice, they each had a big chicken leg, a big steak, and 2 sausages. To go with the meal, they were drinking wine. I had to laugh at that. I couldnt imagine any govt employee in the USA being able to drink on their lunch break, especially the police. Not that there was anything at all out where we were as we were extremely remote (we reached this area by a 3 hour drive on a dirt road complete with river crossings), but we laughed at what would have happened if one of the drunk officers had to go out for a call. They shared their wine with us and we rooted España on to victory before heading back whence we came
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