These are lakes at high altitude, but technically in the high valley between the two chains of the Cordilleras. This was a “regular” tour, thus a relatively large group, mostly from Chile, but they were a lot friendlier than that Argentine group in Salta. We first went to Toconao, an oasis village that grows fruits, then to Lagoon Chaxa, the nesting place of several species of flamingoes. They look a lot better in their natural habitat than in the Zoo and this lake didn’t stink like those in the Zoo. Unfortunately they preferred the far side of the water, only a few were close. The flamingo puts its head into the water when feeding. We also saw a bird (couldn’t memorize the name) that had an incredibly long beak to avoid this discomfort.
These National Parks all charge a hefty fee, this one 2500 peso (about 5 $) per person. The National Park with the next two lagoons charged the same, but gave me old age discount, down to 1500 peso (about 3 $). These lakes were real high mountain lakes, with deep blue color. We walked around for about an hour, and photographed the vicunas. I wished I could make this trip with my grandchildren one day. This region also offered great hiking, but unfortunately there was no time.
The driver organized lunch quite well, on the way up to the lakes we stopped at Socaire, an even tinier oasis village, and he arranged for it. When we arrived back and starving, everything was ready. It was all from local products; a vegetable soup, then some meat (I think goose, but couldn’t quite get the Spanish – we saw wild goose later along some lakes, that’s why the guess) with potato, rice and quinoa. Why didn’t the guidebook say that Chilean food isn’t good? The dessert was fruit salad from Toconao fruits.
I asked for milk with the coffee, and they said that cows don’t survive in the desert.
We got back by five, and for seven I had a reservation for a Southern Sky program. An astronomer explained the stars first as seen to the naked eye, then we could see some of them through the telescopes scattered around in the dark. I didn’t even notice them until the astronomer called us to look through them. The Saturn with its ring was the most impressive, otherwise I liked the sky as is more. Decided to buy a laser pointer and show the stars to my grandchildren. The astronomer said that the Milky Way is no longer visible from any big city. We will have to go camping….
This program was out in the open (obviously) and it soon turned brutally cold. I really enjoyed the scientific/popular explanations, but disliked the over-popularized part (how to find a proper partner to stargaze); it also dragged on too long. The observatory was outside of the village, about a 15-minute ride by bus. And it didn’t pick up/deliver at the hotels, only to the center of the village. We got back there by ten. Walking home was no fun, although I took the headlight. The last 500 m or so to the hotel has no streetlights; it was in the pitch dark. The hotel has no signs, either; luckily some rooms still had their lights on, otherwise it would’ve been easy to walk by. I don’t understand: how could they miss this not quite negligible detail? Once on the ground, the motion detectors turn on the lights, but that doesn’t help, if you missed the entire thing.
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