27th Nov.

An early start this morning. We are catching a bus for Putre. Bus departs at 7am. The 120k trip will take around 3.5 hours. We are starting at sea level and climbing to 3,500 metres.

The bus is nice and modern, and our driver is quite safe. We pass many crosses on the side of the road indicating a death. The road is littered with them. Apparently the Bolivian drivers are really bad.

The drive up the valley was nothing spectacular. Arriving at Putre we checked into the Terrace Lodge. The Lodge is very basic and considering where we are, it is very comfortable. The village can only accommodate 100 people. There are only 2 restaurants, no service station, 1 bank and a few very small grocery stores with next to no food for sale. If you need fuel or food you must drive back to Arica, some 120ks away.

After unpacking we walked around the village, which took a whole 5 minutes. One of the restaurants had the most amazing smell coming from the kitchen, so we made a decision to eat there. Ordering food was not an easy task. English is not spoken, and we dont speak Spanish. Well we finally worked out that we can have soup and a main for $7 each. So for lunch we shared a bowl of vegetable soup, and the main was chicken with rice.

The food was typical Andean food, and would have to be the best chicken we have ever eaten. Even the rice was amazing. It is hard to describe the flavours, as we dont know how it was seasoned, but it certainly passed the taste test.
It was so good we went back and had the same for tea. Not that we had a huge variety to choose from. Its chicken or meat. For dinner Alan order the meat and rice, which turned out to be Alpaca. Very sweet tasting and very lean. Alan thoroughly enjoyed it.

28th Nov.

Didn't sleep much again. Could be something to do with the altitude. The oxygen levels are a lot lower, and you are out of breath easily. Woke up a few times gasping for more air!

Anyway after a nice breakfast at the lodge we are off on a tour with Flavio, the owner of the 5 roomed Terrace lodge. He is an Italian guy with a strong accent who can speak 5 languages. The car he has is a 4wd Hyundai. We head out east to see Lauca Park, Las Cuevas sector, Parinacota village and bofedal, Cotacotani Lagoons, Chungarà Lake and other interesting areas on the way. All of the scenery is amazing. There are the 2 Volcanoes next to the lake which are just under 6,000 metres tall. Looking south we see the active volcano which has smoke coming from the top.

Saw an abundance of wildlife. Alpacas, Lamas, Flamingoes, birds, and some pretty cool looking
Vizchaca, a cross between a wallably and a rabbit.

Had lunch in a small little village inhabited by 9 people and 2 dogs. The food was interesting, but was too afraid to ask what it was. It tasted ok so we ate it. The small church in the village is over 400 years old.

Arrived back at the lodge around 4pm. Didnt use any suncream, and paid the price by getting burnt. The UV up here is always extremely high.

Tomorrow we are taking a tour with Flavio to the north of Putre. He is taking us to places not on the tourist map, so i expect it to be very interesting. Will be puting suncream this time!