Alexis

Lever à 5:15 pour une 1/2 journée de tour (avec une agence à côté de l’hôtel) dans la région. Nous allons d’abord au lagunas miscanti mais à cause du gel (il faut dire que c’est l’hiver), nous ne pouvons pas aller plus loin pour découvrir le second lac. La vue est comme d’habitude incroyable mais il fait un froid de canard (ou de vacunas – le lama sauvage). 

Après un petit dej en plein air, nous repartons pour visiter le village de Socaire.

Puis direction le fameux salar de Atacama, secteur Socor de la ´Reserva Nacional los flamencos’ sur lequel vivent 3 espèces de flamands roses…

… Je n’ai pu en photographier que deux.

Wendy

After our biking adventure of yesterday, we decided to tour another part of the region by minivan today. After a very early start, we drove up winding roads to see mountain lakes. Because of the snow (yes, we were really high up and it is of course winter here), we could only access one of the ‘lagunas’ but it was stunning and we had breakfast outside with views on all sides. 

We then travelled on to visit a lovely little church in Socaire (see Alexis’ picture above) before driving down to the Atacama salt lakes in the Reserva Nacional los Flamencos. 

The colors were incredible and the volcanic mountains reflected in a lake where flamingos grazed (if that is indeed the term for how flamingos eat) and salt glistened all around. 

The tour was a bit more driving than we had expected, so when we got back to town we decided to hang out there for the afternoon. Most unfortunately, at the end of the day, while playing with a dog in the town square, Sam hurt his foot and could barely walk on it. Visions of casts, early flights home and cancelled Machu Picchu trek plans danced through my head for the rest of the evening and night…