There are a couple of local items that we have enjoyed at breakfast. Maracuya is a local fruit and the juice is delicious. There is also fresh, sliced Pepino Dulce also known as sweet cucumber. It tastes like a combination of honeydew melon and cucumber. The sweet offerings at breakfast are pretty good but otherwise the hotel breakfast is not great. And the bagged breakfasts they give us when we have to leave before breakfast is served are awful! We get really dry, stale sandwiches, a muffin (that’s just OK) and a carton of pineapple juice. The sandwiches are the worst and I think Rex has to pay extra for the bagged meals.
Our destination today is the Altiplano (high plains) at 12,800 feet. There will be no running around at that altitude! We are heading for Lagune Miscanti and Lagune Miniques.
On the way there Cris takes us to a place where he has seen a burrowing owl and happily the little critter is out and ready to be photographed. Rex and Howard creep up slowly: first photo then one step; second photo then one step; etc. Finally they are right in front of him and he starts to screech like a banshee.
That animation is even better for the pictures. But after a minute of yelling at them with no effect he flies off.
Our next stop is the Tropic of Capricorn; it’s uniquely marked in the desert here. When we arrive we see hundreds of “cairns” or “apachetas” in Spanish. They are balanced rock formations that are typically used to mark a trail or some other significant location. Here people build them for good luck. So we set to building our own good luck apachetas. I hope it works…
The Inca trail also ran through this particular area. Messengers of the Inca would run messages between the cities of the Inca Empire. They would chew Coca leaves to give them energy; to help with the effects of the high altitude; and to prevent hunger.
It is early spring and we see a few wildflowers along the road on the way up the mountain. Conti-conti is a succulent with clusters of small red flowers.
Saltpeter flower is a small Lavendar-colored flower with an orange center and turgid leaves. And we see the familiar blue lupine just like at home.
As we get closer to the lakes, the landscape turns into a carpet of yellow-green clumps of grass called festuca grass. The volcanic boulders scattered around at interesting–the rock is flaking off and there are holes in the rocks. Vicunas are grazing a good distance from the road.
There is snow in places. Cris said he’d taken a group of Brazilians up this mountain a while back. We they saw the snow (they had never seen snow) they had Cris stop the car and they spent the rest of the day right there playing in the snow.
When we reach our destination it is breathtaking–in more ways than one. The lake is a gorgeous shade of blue surrounded by snow-dusted mountains. We are dizzy-headed from the view and from the altitude! We have a short way to walk down the hill and Cris warns us to walk slowly. I reach into my backpack and a paper brochure flies out in the strong wind. So what do I do? I RUN after it! I finally catch it only to have it fly from my grasp. So Rex then runs after it. I’m happy to say he caught it but we are both looking a little cross-eyed from the exertion at this high elevation. We take lots of beautiful pictures at both lakes.
On our way back down the hill we have a home-style meal at a little restaurant in the village of Socaire. We start with delicious warm bread and excellent, spicy Pebre. The main course is delicious stewed chicken, quinoa and rice. There is fruit cocktail for dessert. We really enjoyed this look into family cuisine.
We get back just before 3pm so we have the rest of the day to relax. We sit in a comfortable spot in the common area and share a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc (Viu Manent). He reads and I catch up on the blog.
Rex, Howard and I have dinner in town at Blanco. we start with great Pisco Sours. I am sad to see that they do not serve Pebre with the bread. They do not have any made but the waitress goes next store to get me some! We are still full from lunch so Howard orders a Mediterranean salad (Serrano ham, cheese, figs, olives) and I have a smoked beef salad with potatoes, roasted bell peppers). Rex has a salmon dish. We all declare the food excellent.
We can sleep in tomorrow; I won’t even set the alarm clock. Hurray!