Putre - Parque Lauca - Parinacota

Tuesday August 28

Ross had a miserable night of no sleep. His nose was clogged. He could not breathe. We also woke up to no water in the bathroom. Neither hot or cold. None.

We go to the breakfast room. Yes, the water is off throughout the village. A pipe broke? There are four other men staying at the lodge. Very friendly. A father and son, the father's brother and younger man who works for one of them. They are Chilean and on a motorbike trip. They are leaving Putre this morning to head south to Las Vicuñas park and Salar de Surire. They are only accessible via gravel or dirt roads. They plan on traveling over 200 miles in one day across these types of roads. Not an easy journey. There is also a Swiss couple staying at the lodge who left early this morning, in a 4 x 4, for the Vicuñas park. The Chileans were getting a late start.

We head out around 9:30. We take our time as we ascend to the park. There are several work zones where we are detained because the road is only a single lane. But there are very few vehicles on the road. Again, mainly trucks.

We arrive at Lago Chungara within an hour of when we left. It is unquestionably the most beautiful lake in the park.

Its backdrop is one of the tallest (6,350 meters) snow-covered mountains in the park - Volcan Parinacota. We are only a mile or so from the Bolivian border. And at an altitude of 4,500 meters. The air is noticeably thinner.

We stop at the Refugio. A man comes out to ask us a couple of questions in Spanish. He writes the answers (where we are from, etc.) with Allen in the palm of his hand. I ask if he has a map of the park. He does not. There appears to be no other visitors at the Refugio or the park. We are alone except fora few stray Vicuñas, a half a doze flamingos and a flock of coots.

We make our way slowly back to Putre. We stop at several scenic overlooks and detour into the tiny Aymara town of Parinacota.

The town's main attraction is a starkly beautiful white stucco church.

We stop and Ross has a cup of coca tea at a simple stand off the small town square. The owner of the stand wants to now where we are from. He guesses first Germany, France, etc. I tell him the United States. He says that he sees very few visitors from the U.S. He then welcomes us to Chile ("Bienvenidos a Chile"). Flavio later tells us that he repeats this phrase to all tourists.

We take our time wandering back to Putre. We stop at the thermal baths that are located just outside Putre. They do not appear to be very extensive or well maintained. We decide not to indulge.

Tonight we eat at Cantaverde restaurant located on the main square of Putre. It has two small rooms. We seat ourselves at a table close to the fireplace. (It is cold inside the restaurant.). The waiter obligingly lights the fireplace. I have a dish of alpaca steak with a quinoa risotto. The risotto is salty but deliciously creamy. We make a note to try to replicate this dish when we get back to the States.

The lodge is quiet tonight. The only other people at the lodge are a Swiss couple. He is a doctor. From Chile he is heading to La Paz. He participating in altitude research.