Day 26 - The dusty and bumpy dry planes of the Altiplano, spectacular volcanoes, flamingos and deep green lakes!
 
After rolls for breakfast we were back in our jeeps for the dusty and bumpy ride across the Altiplano, a hot and long day of nothing but harsh desert landscape but worth every moment and bump (although those in the back of the jeeps, e .g. Ian might not think so!). Today we changed jeeps and I ended up with Ads, Ian, Robert and Pam in Pedro's jeep which was quite fortunate as Ads had learned heaps with Pedro the day before whereas all our driver had said was 'vamos' amongst being on his mobile phone half the time! In addition I had heard that this jeep let less dust into it which on this being our 'desert day' was a real bonus, plus Pedro played 60's tunes and liked Queen, result , as all we had had was a repetitive drone for most of the day! Sorry mum she got the short straw with my driver and jeep though.
 
Of we set to our cool tunes, bouncing, bumping and swerving through the thick sand and dusty tracks, if there were any, and that was basically it for the next 9 hours!! It was amazing though, so remote and the scenery on route was just spectacular! Ahead we would see through the clouds of dust, miles and mile of desert with the most beautiful volcanoes around us then suddenly we would come across the most stunning of lakes with flamingos living in them! Hardly any species reside here so god knows how these survive, it was truly incredible, yet another experience that words and pictures don't do justice .
 
Stopping first, (after seeing some random painted face in the sand) at a small town called 'Salar de Chiguana' a ghost town of a few dusty tracks, it was then the end of civilisation for the next 28 hours! Stopping on route our guides took us to many lakes, too many to take the names in, within the valleys surrounded by the most breath-taking of volcanoes, some still smoking. Whilst the landscape was harsh and arid the autumn colours of the volcanoes were just stunning and with many of the lake edges being lined in salt against the deep green/blue water, it was out of this world, in more ways than one!
 
Stopping for lunch at Lake Canapa, where the toilets consisted of a pee in the middle of the dirt track, I found it hard to take in all that was around us and to be so far from anywhere was something I won't ever forget, this journey was definitely a unique one. More lakes, dirt, sand, llamas, Vicuna's (wild Andean deer whose fur/fleece is the inst natural fibre in the world and sells at 5 times that of silver!), flamingos, one random army base and volcanoes later, we stopped at the 'mountain of seven colours' then continued to the only small green area we have seen where randomly, large......RABBITS live!!! Well they aren't exactly rabbits but 'Viscacha's' relatives of the Chincilla which without doubt are the most random of animals here, they even pose for the camera and survive practically only on the food that passers by give them!
 
Here it was then another push for the frequently broken down jeep, then it was racing across the deep sand again, all the jeeps going in different directions to find the best way through . At one point the track was so full of huge boulders and stones that it wasn't safe for us to be in them so we had to walk for abit. At nearly 4000 metres altitude again this took some huffing and puffing and I found it amazing how much the altitude could hit you even though we had been at altitude for almost 3 weeks now.
 
Our final stop was at some random rocks (appropriately called 'Valley of the Rocks') in the Desert of Siloli, the most famous being 'Arbol de Piedra' basically a rock that looks like a tree! Then up and down some steep ascents and descents and full of sand and dirt later, we finally saw ahead our camp for the night, set on the stunning red Lake Colorado!!! I had no idea that this lake was red in colour, it was truly breathtaking and again beyond words! After a good cup of coffee in our small mud brick hut we walked along the lakes edge taking in the wonder of this place, again words of bizarre but beautiful come to mind, another highlight..... if there can be anymore on this trip!
 
Watching the sunset we then set up camp in our dorms for the night ready for the minus 20 expected with many many blankets. The loo which consisted of a toilet and bucket for flushing was fun but to me that just makes the experience even more true to life especially considering where we are. With not much to do, the boys played poker whilst the rest of us thought it funny to destroy Ash's bed for the night with a few minor jokes (the less said the better!) which didn't really work as Ash rolled into bed at nearly midnight when we were all too zonked to know if he had noticed/it was too dark for him to notice! Now we are definitely back on a school trip from when we were 5!! Good night children, sleep tight and don't let the rabbits bite!