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Published: August 19th 2007
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Accupuncture
The ground may look soft and fluffy but trust me on this one, its like sitting on a porcupine! I hope my legs don´t break, walking on the moon.
Back in Chile´s Atacama desert, after our brief jaunt in Bolivia, we had a spare day so decided to check out the Valley of the Moon. This is where, over centuries of high winds and floods, the sand and stone formations have come to resemble the surface of the moon. Having seen another lunascape in Namibia, we were considering ourselves veterans of this type of thing. This time though, we went for our visit at sunset and as the low light hit the rocks they started to glow red as the sky turned purple, all set to a backdrop of white capped volcanoes. Nice, and a definite improvement on the Namibian experience.
Then it was time to head north again. Our last port of call in Chile was the Lauca National Park, a stunning 360,00 hectares of altiplano filled with lakes and volcanoes. At between 3,400m and 6,400m high it is contender for the highest national park in the world. It is also home to Viscatchas, which are a long legged rabbit like relative of the Chinchilla and Vicuñas. Vicuñas, like Llamas and Alpacas, are members of the Camelid
family, but unlike the former they are wild rather than domestic animals. They are only found above 3700m and due to the temperature at that height they are rather tough cookies. Part of that is down to an extraordinarily high red blood cell count (over twice that of humans) and part of it is down to an extremely fine coat. This coat has caused the Vicuña a few problems over the years, as the locals often killed them for it. Vicuñas are now protected species which has done wonders for their numbers. Their wool however, is still extremely valuable, as it can only be shorn from them once in 3 years, but it does make for a very toasty jumper.
Barring a brief stopover in the northern town of Arica, that was it for Chile. It was a great introduction to South America, although we are looking forward to costs dropping in neighbouring Peru. We are also looking forward to having some time out from taking tours. The problem with all this amazing landscape to check out, is that the reason it is so breathtaking in the first place is that it is in parts of the country that
Lake Chungara and Parinacota
The highest lake in Chile, and one of the highest in the world are hard to get to. The result being that the only way to see it is to take an organised tour. Mostly these have been excellent, but it is does involve been ushered around, told when to take pictures and what to eat. It will be a welcome break to get ourselves about for a change!
Spanish Word of the Week: Puertito - little door. The spanish love to add "ito" to the end of words to make smaller versions ... momentio, pocito, plazita .... although we think little door is taking it a bit far!
This Weeks Likes
- Pebre. A condiment made from tomatoes, chili, coriander and garlic which is found on every restaurant table and was a welcome addition to all meals!
- Tableclothes! We may be sick of tours but some of the attension to detail is great. Whenever we stop for a cup of mate or a snack, all provisions are always carfully arranged on a tablecloth before the tourists are allowed to tuck in. Classy.
- Morro de Arica - a lovely morning was had climbing the giant cape in the middle of the city centre.
This Weeks Dislikes *
Pan Pipes
All countries have their failings. I blame the Kilburn High Road Peruvians for poisoning our views on pan pipes! San Pedro Internet Cafes that insist on sharing a basic dial up link with 20 backpackers.
* The strikes in Bolivia that stopped Karen and Edwardo making it to Arica to see us.
* Our Lauca tour was carefully arranged to include an English speaking guide. He kindly met us from the bus, took our money and then disappeared leaving us with his driver Pedro, who only spoke Spanish. Luckily he was very patient and it all worked out in the end.
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Joools
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Favourite animal
I've just been looking at Matt's Peru pictures (sorry to jump ahead) and based on his pictures - and one of yours above, I have decided that Llamas/Alpacas are officially my new favourite animal! Life good with me - went to watch Becks and his LA Galaxy retards play against New York yesterday - oh my god it was painful - a bit like watching a lunchtime game in your average school playground with everyone just chasing the ball whenever it got kicked anywhere. Having said that the game did finish 5-4 to NY so I can't complain about a lack of goal mouth incident!