Advertisement
So our band of merry travellers set off from San Pedro, gaining altitude quick, as we ascended the altiplano, from 2600m to 3500m above sea level. Already the altitude was starting to take effect, but we were unfazed, chewing on mouthfulls of cocoa leaves (the only cure for altitude sickness available) and drinking mate, an Argentinian herbal tea. The panoramic vista was unbelievable, as the air is so clear, you feel like you´re looking at a massive painting, as you can easily see the detail miles away.
Passing the towering volcanoes, one of which erupted a year ago, we ascended to 4000m and passed Laguna Verde, a clear, white mineral lagoon with pink flamingoes serenely eating in the shallows and llamas grazing at it´s shores. Obviously tough buggers, given that it was about 3 degrees during the day, they were unfazed by the gawking, cocoa-chewing travellers who ran about the lake like a bunch of asylum patients.
Lunch was at some hot springs, were we drank pisco and coke (a Chilean concoction), whilst bathing in a pool at the shore of another mimeral lake. Without doubt, the best bath of our lives.
When we arrived at our very
basic refugio, at 4800m, the altitude was definitely taking effect, as we struggled to string coherent sentences together and stumbled about as if drunk. I guess you could say we were drunk, with awe, that is. We watched the sun set over Laguna Colorado, a pink mineral lagoon that glows lke a sapphire when the suns ray hit it, changing to various shades of pink and violet, as teeming flocks of flamingoes flew across the lake, shadowed by towering peaks and stark desert plains. Unbelievable.
The following day we ascended to 5000m, visiting geysers where hot steam spouts like a facial treatment gone horribly wrong, and pools of super-hot mud gurgle invitingly. Thereafter, we passed the through bizarre landscape, with places aptly named "Dali´s Garden" to site of an ancient volcanic eruption, where huge boulders landed violently in the distant past, creating something like a huge zen garden in the desert.
We spent that night in a hotel made entirely of salt, but alas there was no biltong to be found. A combination of altitude, booze and games of Shithead made for an interesting night, especially since myself and Michael lost and were therefore doomed to do the
The Blue Lagoon
Altitude sickness causing insanity!"lick of terror" on the salt plain the following day.
We arose at 4 am and drove into the Salar de Uyuni, the highest and biggest salt plain in the world. Just before sunrise, our group stopped at a cactus-covered rock "island", to view the spectacular sunrise, followed by frisbee and general tomfoolery on the sheer white and seemingly endless expanse. 150km and a lot of salt later, and we arrived at an old train graveyard in Uyuni...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.085s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 13; qc: 72; dbt: 0.0612s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
