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PARQUE NACIONAL LAUCA
VOLCAN PARINACOTA'S REFLECTION ON LAGO CHUNGARAWIKI INFO:
"Arica is known as one of the driest inhabited places on Earth, at least as measured by rainfall: average annual precipitation is 0.76 mm (0.03 inches), as measured at the airport meteorological station."
"Lake Chungará , situated in northern Chile, in Tarapacá Region is one of the highest lakes in the world. It is near the Volcanos Parinacota (20,827 feet or 6,348 meters) and Pomerape (20,413 feet or 6,222 meters). It was formed 8000 years ago, when a major collapse of the edifice of Parinacota produced an avalanche of 6km³ of debris which blocked drainage pattern, thus creating the lake."
Surface elevation : 4517 m
10 hours overnite bus ride from San Pedro de Atacama, arriving just past 6am in Arica, as I was waiting for my luggage out of the bus,Orlando from Parinacota Expediciones showed up, he was there to pick me up I did not even know, I ended up committing to a 2 day trip to Parque Nacional Lauca, he dropped me off at Arica Surf House hostel, where i met the friendly owner Kurt, I told him if he can change my booking for the next day as
PARQUE NACIONAL LAUCA
BOFEDAL DE LAS CUEVAS i was going to Lauca and it was not a big deal with him and let me hang out in the hostel and free access to wifi until they pick us up by 10:30am for the excursion at the dizzying Parque Nacional Lauca at around 4,500 meters. Met the other people in the hostel moslty dudes surfing their time away in Arica. Later on met the other people in the trip turns out they are staying here too, Giancarlo, a Doctor from Santiago and his pal Stefano, an Italian, these guys seem really cool and nice but English is so so and i have to speak to them mostly in Spanish, as the guide Cristian is the same. We stopped at the Lan Chile office downtown so i can pay for my ticket to Easter island then we are off to buy supplies of fruits at the local market, it's huge! from there we went out of the city and to the geoglyphs on a hill, not really interesting but then we got to Azapa,a small town with a cool museum(for me at least) they have very old mummies in their collection, Giancarlo and Stefano seems to be bored. From
there we drove on Ruta 11, the scenery is amazing very dry desert with hills and mountains covered by a thick layer of volcanic ashes, i thought they were sand but Cristian said otherwise so i believed him, he is the guide after all, this area is quite fertile and you can see the Azapa and Lluta valley as we go up the hills following route 11, here we are at the top of this ash laden hills where nothing grows and yet below are very gree fertile valleys, they have olives here brought by the Spaniards, tomatoes, among other things that they grow here, quite a sight, remind me of Valle Elqui near La Serena.
Stopping quite a few times to take a photo, Giancarlo wants photos of him with the view of everything we stop at, quite funny. We were mesmerized by the scenery, it also reminds me of the taklamakan desert in western China, the landscape is similar, we all fell asleep soon as we got to the gorges, the 2 lads were partying until7am i think today and i came from the night bus so Cristian was actually talking to himself as he drive through
the desert terrain, Crap my brain hurts already from all the Spanish, they talk to me solely in spanish and I just nod even if i dont understand some, i got tired of asking questions eventually i got the gist of what they are saying anyway. we stopped at a town called Poconchile to visit a church then drove an hour or 2 more to Zapahuira where we had lunch. continuing on we stopped at a few more mirador like Pukara de Copaquilla where you can see the valley tucked in between the gorges. in the afternoon another village we stopped at to see the church, Socomara i think is the name, they were having a parade, a religious feast apparently in the plaza, we watched them for awhile then left for Putre, arriving there we checked in the Parinacota hostel and chilled for a bit, we all fell asleep again after a brisk walk trying to find a working internet and failed. very small town, capital of the province of Parinacota. I took a shower, there was no hot water but i braved it anyway, I was shivering even after i already got dressed, i told the boys and
so they skipped getting cleaned. At 3530 meters, tucked in a valley, Putre is not spectacular, just simple. Giancarlo said something like he'd go crazy if he gets assigned here, having completed part of his internship on Easter island, he said that was way better than here.
At dinner we went to this nice restaurant, of course Cristian sorted all out for us, we even got an appertif i think it is called alcon de cana a local mixed drink served warm, it was quite good. We all chose alpaca for dinner and the meat was nice, then we washed it with coca tea and then some more of the liqour, this time though a whole glass full each. Went for a walk it is very cold and Giancarlo keeps on farting! went back to the hostel, we thought we got locked out until stefano found an open gate, we tucked ourselves in the bed, no heater but the duvet is thick and we have an electric bed! a first for me, we have to plug it in and eventually the bed heats up to give you warmth. usually it's the blanket that's electric.. 2 minutes in bed and
Stefano is already making noise of sleep. i fell asleep quickly as well only to be woken up at least 3 times to Stefano yelling at poor Giancarlo to shut up or turn to his sdie as he was snoring very loud. I was actually chuckling underneath my blanket, these Italian guys are really funny, they argue in Italian and Spanish and my brain is shut for the night so cant understand a thing. the next morning the first thing Giancarlo asked me is what is roncar in English! Had a very good breakfast prepared by Cristian, the 3 other girls in the hostel, a German and 2 Brits are joining us today, one for each we joked.
Today we will go at the dizzying heights of Parque nacional Lauca, the highlight being Lago Chungara at 4,500 meters apparently the highest lake in the world and Volcan Parinacota at more than 6,000 meters.
We stopped at Bofedales de las Cuevas to take a walk and observe the wildlife, vicunas, guanacos, vizcachas and the bogs. I had trouble breathing at this height, more than 4,200 meters I, well we all have to walk slowly, the Doctor, Giancarlo made sure of
PARQUE NACIONAL LAUCA
BOFEDAL DE LAS CUEVAS that, the scenery is gorgeous. then moving on we stopped at a few miradors to view the Volcano in different angles, it is looming over the park, quite a sight to see, it has a permanent glacier around it's cone. We stopped at the town of Parinacota then off to the Lago Chungara, we stopped at several points and took photos of flamingos, and toher wildlife and of course of the lake and volcano and its reflection on Lago Chungara. There is another volcano, it's twin but not as spectacular i think the name is Pomerape, i think i got some photos of it too. we were all starving by then and so we hurried to a small village where we had a fantastic lunch, and washed it down by coca tea again, to ward off the evil soroche(altitude sickness) i have a mild headache and that was it, really lucky that my body is getting used to high altitude quickly. The girls are leaving for Tacna, Peru when we get back to town and the boys fly back to Santiago, so that leaves me behind in Arica.
Last stop is the Jurasi thermal springs, the girls got dressed
PARQUE NACIONAL LAUCA
BOFEDAL DE LAS CUEVAS quickly, me and Giancarlo went to the boys room and got changed, then Giancarlo went back in to do #2 but only realized later that there was no loo paper! Stefano and i scrambled back to the van to get some, only Stefano whispered to me he needs to do it as well, i left them at that and went to the pool, nice and hot, when Stefano came back he was grinning from ear to ear, saying he did it behind the bushes for mother nature to see and left Giancarlo waiting for a loo paper that never came, i know it's sick for me to tell the tale here but it left me in stitches the whole afternoon, all we talked about when the boys got in the pool was how they got through the ordeal Giancarlo was ticked off, and the toliet did not flush!!!3 of us laughing our asses off for a good half hour. we dare not tell the girls.. we tried 2 pools the one indoors was hotter, then Giancarlo and the German girl did the mud mask, I am so annoyed i forgot the names of the girls! Getting changed after the bath,
Stefano reminded me not to change in the men's toilet for obvious reasons..
Long 2 hours drive back to town, we get stuck behind trucks occasionally, all of them Bolivian registered. the border is straight through the route 11 i believe. We dropped off the boys first at the airport, then the girls at the bus station then me at Arica Surf Hostel, I gave the room key from the boys, they forgot to hand it in when we left for the excursion, to the relief of the owners. met Cristobal a nice Chileno from Concepcion just crossed over from Peru. We agreed to walk around town tomorrow and maybe go for a run as well. i looked for dinner evrything closed on the ped walk found Mcdonalds and ate a miserable meal of mcnuggets and fries.It was a cold night and so pulled out a blanket and slept comfortably.
The next day its a bit cloudy but according to the owner of the Arica Surfhouse hostel it is normal here, and the sun will come out in the afternoon. i asked her where to get a good seafood meal as recommended by Stefano, she gave me directions
to Mercado Colon where I had a delicious meal of ceviche and fried fish, the fish was so so but the ceviche is to die for. Then tried to find the seafood market which ended up to be small stalls besides the train museum in front of the harbor. After walking the waterfront taking some photos I came back to the hostel to chill.
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TinNiE
" Half the fun of the travel is the esthetic of lostness "
nice one!
a photo fit for a wallpaper =)