26th November – Miscanti and Miniques Lagunas in the Altiplanic region

Mother-in-laws pillow

Drama this morning as couldn’t wake Mum up as she closed the connecting door between our rooms and had the chain on her front door so just couldn’t get in.  We contacted housekeeping but they couldn’t find a key to unlock the connecting door so we were resigned to Mum having a lazy day by the pool.  However, just as we were finishing breakfast, a familiar little figure staggered into the dining room!!  Luckily, our trip had been pushed out half an hour so we had plenty of time to get ready.

It was another exclusive trip today as it was just the three of us – hooray!!  We had an hour’s drive to Socaire, a small town high up in the foothills of the Andes.  Amazingly, they existed on agriculture and we saw terraces built into the desert with healthy looking crops growing in them.  Goodness knows how they found any soil as it looks so rocky up there.  Evidently, there must be a water source and I spotted some small canals which obviously carry the water to the crops.

The golden grass setting off the volcanic peaks perfectly

Bizarrely, here, as you get higher, the vegetation starts to get lusher and we soon saw lots of cacti (known locally as mother-in-laws pillow) and a beautiful low growing yellow tussocky grass that clothes the hillsides and turns them a beautiful golden colour.  This is the primary food of the vicunas – the smallest member of the Llama family.

The scenery was quite simply breathtaking - huge vistas in every direction with the volcanic cones of the Andes punctuating the landscape.  We finally made it to the 1^st lagoon which sits in an old volcanic crater – wow!  The deep blue of the lagoon gave way to the golden grass on the lower slopes of the volcanoes and then as you higher, it was just the beautiful purple coloured rocks of the cones, which are the classic volcano shape you learned about at school as they’re still young and haven’t had much erosion.  We went for a short walk here, which was just as well, as we were all panting for breath and couldn’t have walked very far.

We then drove to the second lake which had been part of the 1^st lake until 10,000 years ago when a volcanic eruption spewed out enough ash to split the original lake into two.  This was possibly even more beautiful than the first one. On the distant shore we saw vicunas on the salt margins.

We then retraced out steps and came across a desert fox trotting down the track towards our van.  We stopped to admire him and he obviously liked being photographed as he first of all walked past us and then stopped and turned back and came to stand by us.  He was a beautiful animal with a thick coat and a very bushy tail with a black tip – not dissimilar to the African jackals.

What a back drop!

We continued our drive only to be stopped by vicunas on the road!!  They obligingly crossed it in front of us and then paused for their photos where the light was perfect – they were set off beautifully in the golden grass.

Vicunas posing for us

Our view while eating lunch.....

Finally we arrived at a huge salt flat with a milky blue lagoon in it – Salar el laco.  Again, it was simply stunning – words can’t really describe it.  We spotted flamingos in the lake and also some vicunas were standing where we wanted to park the van. They duly ran off and we enjoyed watching them cross into the salt pan.  Our driver and guide set up a picnic lunch for us and so we ate it whilst looking at the most amazing vista I’ve ever seen.  I just wish I could paint as it was screaming out to be painted with water colours.

Flamingoes feeding in the brackish water

After lunch we just retraced our steps back to the lodge – most of us kipping on route, which was a sin really as we should have been enjoying the landscape.  However, being at 4,300 metres is tiring as there’s 20% less oxygen available at these heights – well, that’s my justification!