191218: A whistlestop tour around Parque Andino Fauna Eduardo Alvaroa

December 19, 2018

Everyone looked a bit bleary at breakfast which was served at 6.30 am. The breakfast was 1 and a half bread rolls each. There was jam and spread,instant coffee, instant milk and some dodgy sugar cereals. Jocelyn was suffering still and was putting ginger in her tea.

As we headed into the Reserva, we came across llamas being herded.

There were some also in a corale, with a donation box nearby.

Today we passed several lagunas including Laguna Heionda Sur,Laguna Kolpa. Then there was the magnificent Salar de Chalviri.

After that came the Dali Desert where weird shaped evoked memories of his weird landscape such as The Persistence of I.

Then it was on to the farthest part of the reserve, the green and white lagoons which sit under the splendid Licancabur volcano, on the border between Bolivia and Chile.

Then we headed up to the Sol de Manana geysers and mud pots. The sign says it is 5,000 metres here but Joan's altimeter says it is just short. A friendly Andean fox came looking for tit-bits.

We were incredibly careful near thr mud pots as a few years ago a tourist was killed at El Tatio geysers not far away in Chile when she slipped into the hot water. When we got back we discovered Patrice had slipped into a mudpot whilst taking photos but luckily he only got muddy shoes.

Next it was back to the Salar de Chalviri, where there were thermal pools on the edge of the salt flats. As all the jeep tours had descended here for lunch, the pools were very crowded and as it was mid afternoon the sun was very high. We only had about 15 minutues in the pool as you can burn very quickly at these altitudes. It would have been a great place to spend the night and soak away all the aches and pains under the stars.

By the time we left, the pool was empty as all the tour companies had moved on.

We reached our hostel for the night and it was even more basic. There was electricity for two or three hours and only one multi-plug. Given everyone was charging cameras, phones, PCs etc, there was quite a scrum for the plugs. Our driver however ensured that we had first choice of rooms and grabbed us a room with two beds.

There were no showers and very basic and not that clean loos.

The hostel was in Huayllajara and there were shops nearby which sold beer!!! We couldn't resist and bought a couple of cans each. We were appalled by the behaviour of some US tourists who were cooing about the shop selling Nescafe and Pringles.

After last night's lack of sleep,we were looking forward to a rest but the driver had other ideas. Jocelyn and Patrice refused to go as both were under the weather. However we were driven to the Laguna Colorada to see the red coloured lake and the flamingos who live there. On the way the jeep broke down.... The driver seems to have been permanently under the bonnet all trip and he fixed it this time just enough to limp us to the lagoon and back.

He dropped us off at the lagoon and told us to walk to the mirador. This was on a ridge and very exposed. He explained there were four types of flamingo here. Joan the know-it-all said there were only three types of flamingos in Bolivia - James, Andino and Chilean. To which he replied,they are not Chilean flamingos, but Bolivian!!

Finally we got back to the hostel for a dinner of soup, veggie fritters, fried potatoes and beer! It had been an amazing day and we saw so many beautiful things. It would have been hard to do this independently and we are grateful for having gone. But it would be nicer to have the time to really take in everything and savour the moments.