Day 29: 29/07/12
Last night there were six of us in a dorm- me, Anna n Hannah from new Zealand, Joanne from canada, Janine from switzerland and Volker from Germany. We had fun getting ready for bed in the cold. We could hear people in the next room talking- obviously salt bricks are not good for sound insulation! There was also a baby crying somewhere. I slept okay though. At 5 another group was woken up and made lots of noise so I was awake from then really. We didn't need I get up til 7.
We set off in the jeeps at 8. Yesterday I shared a jeep with Anna, Hannah, Volker, Emmanuel and Tamara from Switzerland. There was a mix up today and I had to move jeep so was with the four Norwegians- Eric, Marita, Camilla an Tina. It was good fun- we played music on our iPods. They liked some irish music! I'd like to be able to speak Norwegian though!
First stop was San Juan. Our driver actually got lost on the way there. He followed a jeep he thought was ours but it wasn't. There is no coverage or anything if they do get lost. Luckily when we turned around we could see the other jeep! There was nothing really in San Juan- it was just for toilet and snacks.
Next stop was a viewpoint of a volcano- volcan ollague. It is an active volcano and you could see some smoke coming out of it. All day there was beautiful scenery- we drove through a little bit more white salt flats, then really bumpy rocks, then pure sandy desert! There were mountains around all the time- some red rock, some green- lots of different colours! There were a few llamas, vicunas an birds on route aswell! Apparently we were driving through the highest desert in the world.
Next we stopped at laguna canapa- it was a beautiful lake surrounded by desert and snow-Capped mountains. Everywhere you turn there's a landscape just as nice as the last one!
Then we stopped at laguna hedionda which had a similar landscape to the first one but this one had lots of flamingos- lovely and pink! Some had red bits on them aswell.
We had lunch there. We have cooks traveling around with us who prepare everything. We got pique an rice, which is like a casserole with lots of different types of meat and potatoes.
Then we hit off again. It was pure desert from there on- sand and mountains! We stopped an odd time to take nice pictures. Then we stopped at a stone tree. It's weird, its pure rock but it's in the shape of a tree.
Next stop was the red lagoon- laguna colorada. This was like the rest of the lagoons except there was a pure red colour in the water. It's from the plankton that the flamingos eat- whatever chemical is in it, when the sun shines in it it's pure red! Looks lovely! Around all the lagoons there was a white substance which looked like snow, but it was hard- you could walk in it. It is some other kind of mineral or chemical.
In all this area the guide was saying you can see how the Andes used to be under the sea- there are seashells and fossils from the sea (I didn't see any though- but would be hard to spot from a jeep)!
The hotel is interesting. It's concrete- everything is concrete- floor, bed, walls! It's absolutely freezing! I have two socks on, leggings inside my trousers, three t-shirts, a hoodie and a hat and I'm not roasting! It's bearable, but just about! I will be wearing most of this to bed aswell!
We had dinner then. The cooks are travelling with us and make the dinner when we arrive. We're spoiled!!
Took a while to go to sleep in the cold but thankfully I had a sleeping bag and snuggled up!