Volcanoes, vizcachas and flamingos

Wednesday 2nd January

It rained quite a lot last night, but when we awoke the sun was shining throught the window. We had a relatively early breakfast as we were scared of missing it, when there isn’t anything else around here. It was pretty basic, consisting of a flask of hot water, instant coffee, toasted bread, jam or cheese. We pushed the boat out by requesting milk.

In Putre, we visited the house that sold fuel. The guy had several large bidones in the boot of his 4X4, and he measured the requested amount into plastic containers and then siphoned into our car. It cost nearly a pound a litre!

With fuel supplies secured, we booked into Hosteleria Las Vicunas for another night.

We then headed up to Parque Nacional Lauca, taking a shot of the village below.

One the way we passed some vicuna, who had their own road sign.

We also saw a sign for Colchane which is 200 km across the altiplano. If we ever return again, we would mostlikely do it all off road, as we understand the distances, the need for a big 4X4 with bidones and the petrol situation.

P.N. Lauca is high at over 4000 metres, and the altiplano is surrounded by snow covered volcanos, including Volcanes Pomerape, Parinacota and Guallatiri. They were shrouded in cloud, mainly.

We turned off to the village of Parinacota, where we expended a lot of energy trying to photo very nervous vizcachas, who kept springing about the place. We had some success.

We also managed to photograph a giant coot.

And an ugly Llama.

The village is mainly closed, except for festivals. The name Parinacota means flamingo lake in Aymara, and we saw some flamingos in the distance. There was a church built in 1789, with a brightly covered door. As with many of the churches on the altiplano, the campanile stands a little way from the main building.

We bought a wall hanging (for £2.50) from an Aymaran lady, who had a stall nearby.

After that, we headed out of the village and were caught in a hailstorm.

The next viewpoint was of the Lagunas de Cotacotani, which are a collection of lakes in the lava field of Volcan Parinacota.

We drove a little further on and the cloud temporarily rose and we managed to get a shot of Volcan Parinacota (6330 metres high), which is one of the highest volcanoes in Chile.

Next came Lago Chungara, at an altitiude of 4600 meters, possibly the highest we have been on this holiday. It really was beautiful, quiet, and full of birds. As opposed to the flamingos we saw at the Salir de Atacama, these were bright pink.

When we planned the Chile trip, the description in the guidebook made this place seem amazing, and in no way did it disappoint.

In the distance one could see the snow-capped Volcan Guallatiri (6060 meters), belching out a plume of smoke.

Some of the road signs in Chile state the obvious.

Having reached the border with Bolivia, we headed back down with the idea of visiting the Termas de Jurasi. However by now the cloud had descended and we were stuck in a crocodile of five cars slowly descending. We were stopped by the military asking us where we were going, but they didn’t seem interested that we were returning to Putre.

Rather than descend the main Ruta 11 in a crocodile, with the threat of mad buses or car transporters descending on us in the cloud, we turned off road, and went the alternative route to Putre. On the way we met a herd of goats, and the kids were determined to throw themselves in front of us. Once we carefully passed them, the goat dogs came chasing after us and tried to round us up.

Back at the hosteleria, the rain is now very heavy, and the workers have given up for the day, walking back into the village with their tools and their dogs.

This season is what is called locally, the “Bolivian summer”, and between mid-December and mid-February there are heavy rains, and this is not the recommended time to visit the volcanoes. We suppose it is the equivalent of June in England, when it always rains at Wimbledon.