After waking up at 6:30 to pack we went for breakfast around 7am which was again quite light. One piece of bread, one scramble egg and a bit of jam. Positive side, we won’t be too full and sleepy while going in the second day of the tour.
rail tracks
We left around 8h10 and kept on driving in the salt flats. Only this time it wasn’t anymore completely white, the salt was brownish meaning that it is dirty and mix up with earth. Well, that doesn’t change the fact that the landscape is gorgeous.
At 8h45, first stop of the day. Railway tracks between Bolivia and Chile. Those are still used nowadays, just the train rotation is really low.
Ollague volcano
9h30ish “Ollague” semi active volcano Mirador for 45min. We didn’t hike the volcano but went to its view point. Ollague is located at the border with Chile, its summit reaches 5 868m above sea level and its crater opens to the south.
laguna canapa
10h55 “Laguna Canapa” or Canapa Lake which is a salt lake of 1.42km² and is home of Chilean flamingo.
This stop lasted for approx. 15min
laguna hedionda
11h25 “Laguna Hedionda” or Hedionda Lake which is a saline lake and home to various species of pink and white flamingos. It is one of the 9th salt lake in this area and is located at 4 121m altitude and is as big as 3 km².
This lake was splendid but cold with strong wind.
Time for lunch break for lunch until 1:00pm. Today our vegetarian option: fried pancake, veggies and our regular option: pasta, chicken. Super duper Yummy.
laguna honda
1:10pm quick stop at “Laguna Honda” for a panoramic picture. This lake is now less impressive than the others but still charming. We are now at 4 114m altitude.
We then went on in our 4×4 in the middle of the dessert until…
viscacha
We reached a rocky hill, host of local rabit “Viscacha”. Where a bunch of them was hanging around. They are obviously used to having human around. But yet you can’t touch them. They remain wild animals.
the break down
An hour or so after while we were in the middle of nowhere our car broke down. First our driver went under the car to start fixing it, then came another car from Salty adventurous, and another one.
As time passed, it ended up being 4 cars together trying to fix it. And when other cars would drive around, the guys would run toward it to try to stop it and ask for tools or help.
Ultimately there was a big oil issue that would take time to fix. We had to separate our group into the other 3 cars until the end of the day.
We went in what they called the French car because there were 3 Frenchy in it. And French do have the reputation to always speaks french… But don’t you guys worry, i am not like that 🙂
There was also a guy from brazil and a couple from somewhere else. We didn’t get the chance to talk to them as one of them was sick.
the tree rock
We kept on and visited the tree rock “Árbol de Piedra” which is a rock formation in the dessert shaped as the tree.
At this spot 2 curious foxes approached and hang around the cars. That was really unexpected but super cool. But better not get to close. Foxes are not known to be friendly to human.
laguna colorada
Onto the last spot of the day: the national park. Entry cost is 150bs per person (if you are into this you can get a stamp of the national part in your passport).
Here you first have to buy you ticket at the check point then you get in the park before heading to the “laguna Colorada” or red lagoon, a shallow salt lake of 60 km² at 4 278m altitude.
end of the day
As our car broke down earlier, we didn’t have our pack and we were informed that they will arrive later tonight around 9pm.
Thankfully, Patricia had her travel UNO with her, so we played until diner while drinking tea and eating biscuit that the hostel provided for free. It was becoming colder and colder but quickly a gas heater was turned on.
We all got a double bed room even though it was supposed to be shared room. It was bigger than the day before and had one charging plug that would work from 6 to 9pm. The rooms were not heated but there was a lot of blanket on the bed. There were 4 shared toilets, but we didn’t see the shower, nor we had any wish to take aa shower at minus 15°C.
Dinner was pretty yummy with a hot soup spaghetti and tomato sauce. And the surprise of the day! A bottle of red wine on the house.
But if you think, adventure ends that easily, you may be surprised. Patricia started feeling bad and eventually got sick. And a while later, Simone started feeling bad as well.
At 9pm our car was finally back, we unloaded our bags, helped with the one from Patricia who was dead sick and resting in bed and headed to our room
It was really cold at night, the temperature was surely the same at outside. We had to sleep with the sleeping bag and at least 4 blankets. What wouldn’t we do to get warm? It even became impossible to move, the blankets were heavy. could feel the old heavy. But then of course it became super-hot during the night due to all those layers. For us, it was quite the hard night between the cold then heat. Plus we heard lots of people rushing to the toilet all night.
Guess Patricia wasn’t the only one sick in the end but that’s the discovery of tomorrow’s breakfast.
Recommendation: English or Spanish Speaking guide.
We went for the Spanish guide option. The reason was, we were going to the desert, there isn’t much to explain about it. Also, we would know the place we were going to so we could always check them up later online.
It was totally fine, there wasn’t much explanation in the end, and I could understand some of it. Also, out of 6 peoples, 4 could speak some Spanish so it worked fine.
“No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.” – Chuck Thompson
