The Chilean Altiplano-Vicunas,Volcanoes,Valleys

        I immediately left Santiago to fly to the most northern town in Chile, Arica. From there, I organised a 3 day trip into the surrounding countryside,the National Reserve Las Vicuñas & Lauca National Park. It was just me, a swedish guy called Marcus & our guide Horiol, so was very personal! We left the dusty town, passing fertile valleys surrounded by desert where it rarely rains. The only precipitation they have is from the fog! The valleys have excellent irrigation with Andean mountain water, & therefore many olive farms, one of which we visited. There was also an excellent museum with mummies over 2000 yrs old, preserved beautifully by the lack of rain.

01 Think I've Pulled!

       Then it was up & up, to over 4,700m at the highest point of the Altiplano, the high plateau of the Andes. There were tiny whitewashed villages contrasting against the brilliant blue sky. Volcanoes like Guallatire & Parinacota surrounded us, some smoking & some with snow-topped peaks that were so perfect they looked like icing-sugar dusted cakes. Cute camelids (from the camel family) including domestic llamas & alpacas, & shy wild vicunas added to the incredible photogenicity of the region. Wild chinchilla-like vizcachas tempted us to creep closer & closer to get that perfect photo...then scampered a few feet away just to tease us! There were various contrasting habitats, with marshlands, deserts, mineral-rich lakes, mountains, grasslands & the Surire salt lake. Perfectly still lakes reflected the snow & the sky, while feeding the 3 species of flamingoes. One of the most magical places was the totally natural Polloquere lake,near Surire. It was simply a hot water lake fed by hot springs, with a rich & even hotter mud bottom, just perfect for warming us up to the core after we had hiked in the bitterly cold pure air. We wallowed for a blissful hour, then glowed for another!

02 Candelabra Cactus

       Mineral deposits like borax are mined here, & the only sign of human activity we saw all day was the stream of trucks laden with the whitish earth.The trip reminded me of another favourite trip to the Salar de Uyuni, which wasn't that far across the Andes in Bolivia.We drove hundreds of kilometres in the 3 days, but were constantly in awe of the vast landscape, with sunsets turning the snow into glowing pinks, then galaxies of stars in the biting cold winter sky enough to make us gasp as we hurried to the little restaurant in tiny Putre, to fill up on warming llama stew!

03 Old Woman

04 Volcan Guallatire

05 Icy Cold

06 Alpacas or LLamas?

07 Vicunas

08 Lunch Please Mummy!

09 The Polloquere Lake

10 So Warm!

11 Guallatire Church

12 Flamingos in the Distance!

13 Mining Company Truck

14 Volcan Parinacota

15 Getting Dirty!