Chile 2016

Wednesday16November

Back on the South American continent after our 3 days on Easter Island. If we are no longer islanders, we still risk sunstroke... Here we are in San Pedro de Atacama, a small typical village located in the middle of the desert, apparently the most arid in the world... And if on our island, we were practically at sea level, we also made a good leap upwards because here we are practically at 2500 meters of altitude!  

The church with a cactus wood ceiling.

We are in the middle of the desert and the nights are cool. One wears their little sweater very well!

Thursday17November

During our 4 days in the region, we are staying at the charming little Hotel Illari.

With our rental pick-up, we set off to explore the nearest lagoons, Laguna Cejar and Laguna Piedra. Here we are in front of Laguna Cejar, bordered by its salt shores.

Salty foot bath for an Andean flamingo (Phoenicoparrus andinus). We will encounter them in all the lagoons we visit.

This young Andean gull (Chroicocephalus serranus) has legs far too short to reach the bottom of the water and walk with as much style as its pink counterparts.  

In the distance, a peak stands out a little more than the others. It is the unmissable Licancabur volcano, very important for the inhabitants of San Pedro and carrying many beliefs. It is about forty kilometers from us, right on the border with Bolivia. Indeed, the border passes over the summit of the volcano...

No need to get back in the car to reach Laguna Piedra, located right next door.

Larger than its neighbor, this lagoon seems abandoned by flamingos and vegetation. No doubt caused by the high salinity of the water, and we are going to take advantage of it because one side of the lagoon is available for swimming! What an idea to go swimming here! But why not, this lake is as salty as the Dead Sea, known for its density and its ability to effortlessly float any swimmer...

The area where it is possible to swim.

And voilà, a demonstration of floating on a salt lake...

We get back on the track and pass by the 2 eyes of the salt desert (ojos del salar). These are two circular sinkholes filled with water, also called "dolines". Underground waters from the rivers of the Andes mountain range infiltrated more friable soil areas by capillarity and caused their collapse.

In the distance, an area reserved for indigenous people.

Our pick-up at the edge of one of the sinkholes.

The track now leads us to the immense salt flat of Laguna Tebenquiche. Once parked, marked paths take us to the edge of the salt lake.

The ground is completely covered with a salt crust. In some places, the salt is white like snow. In a few other places, micro-organisms add their touches of color...

And never far on the horizon, the Licancabur volcano watches over Atacama.

Between the lagoon and the parking lot, the salt is much less white because it's mixed with the earth...

Thanks to the reflections on the Tebenquiche, we get two Licancabur...

The summit of Licancabur on the Chilean side.

Small salt islets form like white coral emerging from the ocean depths...

Salt crystals form these small spherules.

The blue of the sky colors the reflections of the salt flat.

We hit the road again to reach the Miñiques and Miscanti lagoons. On the way, a donkey posed, waiting for a kind photographer to deign to immortalize the moment.

We cross the Tropic of Capricorn at the exact latitude of 23° 26' 16"... This is our 3rd country where we cross this imaginary line: after Argentina and Namibia, we now add Chile!

We are approaching the Miñiques and Miscanti lagoons. To get there, we go from pass to pass and exceed an altitude of 4000 meters, which my smartphone on the dashboard confirms!

And we arrive at an altitude of about 4200 meters facing the first lagoon: Laguna Miñiques.

Grasses well adapted to high altitude abound around the lagoon. These are fescues (Festuca orthophylla).

An olive-backed siskin (Sicalis olivascens) also ventures to high altitude...

Let's move on to Laguna Miscanti.

At the end of the path, the lagoon, then the Miñiques volcano.

And here is the Chiliques volcano.

Flamingos are rare here.

We leave the lagoons and their high altitudes and head back towards San Pedro de Atacama.

We cross the Tropic of Capricorn again, but on the other side of the road. There we find this curious start of a path called Camino del Inca...   We won't know more, but we take advantage of the moment to admire the superb landscape around us...  

Before the end of the day, we try to reach Laguna de Chaxa but the site has just closed and we can only enjoy the sunset, which is already quite good, given the superb pink coloration that bathes the place...

And so a good day ends outdoors with a good hot dog and vegetable chips!