South American Adventure - Day Eighteen, Sunday 9th March 29014

Another six kilometre hike this morning – are we mad or what?  There was hardly anyone at breakfast – most of our “group” had decided on the trip at 6.00am start.  Just left us – and two guides.  Are we that bad?  Has our reputation preceded us?  It seems that there have been timing issues this morning.  All the mobile phones have changed time to one hour prior – this should have been the weekend that the clocks went back for summer time ending.  Apparently, because it has been such good weather the government have decided to postpone it for 28 days.  But the phones still all changed, so some people didn’t turn up until an hour later.  Some got up an hour earlier because they had set their phones to alarm.  Just trust the untechnological wrist watch!

We met our guides Danelo and Maria, and drove the twenty minutes or so to the start of the trek.  We had put on the factor 50, got the poles and hopefully were ready.  When we stopped in the front of a big mountain and said that was the way up I thought he was joking.  No.  That was the way up.  “This is the hard part” says Danelo.  I remember what the easy bit was yesterday, so I dreaded to think what hard was going to be like.  Perhaps that was why they sent two guides – to pull us up on ropes!  I was not proud at all – I accepted help right from the start.  I gave up one of my poles and let Danelo yank me up.  I wouldn’t say it was a sheer climb, but it seemed like it to me.  It was about forty metres straight up.  Because of the extra help I had, I got to the top feeling only slightly breathless. 

It was a great view from the top.  From here we went along inside the mountain range to a sheer face that had rock art on, that was around five hundred years old.  A llama, a face, a cross – nothing dramatic but amazing that it had survived that long.  This was a place, apparently, where shepherds used to camp out at night.  From here we could also see the sulphur rising from the two active volcanoes in the region.  One of them last erupted in about 2009 I think he said.  He also said Chile was a place where there is about fifty earthquakes a day – only little ones though.  Haven’t felt a thing!  We walked along the trails, and came to quite a sandy top.  There were bike tracks up here.  Danelo said they carry the bikes up – my god, bad enough me getting up let alone carrying a bicycle!

We then climbed a bit more – and yes, there had to be a track in the middle of the mountain with a sheer drop to the left that was only a shoe size wide.  Always has to be one!  We came out at the most amazing place.  It was as if we were walking along the top of the world.  We seemed to be higher than all the surrounding mountains, and we looked into a huge deep gorge that looked similar to the Grand Canyon.  We took a break here – the sun was beating down on us but from up here there was a beautiful breeze.  Wow – it was really a long way down!  Then Danelo said that’s where we are going.  Then he laughed.  I thought he was joking.  He wasn’t.  That’s where we went.  It was a bit tricky, but we made it.  The rock and sand made it very slippery, but I suppose it could have been worse if it had been raining.  There was only one bit that was a sheer drop of about three feet – Danelo put his leg up and said to use that as a step.  So I did.  Not sure if he knows how much I weigh!  We got into the gorge and there was a lovely flat trail.  The only downside was that the breeze had disappeared as we were now in between two high walls, and it was pretty hot down there.  We actually saw another person – mountain biking.  Because this bit is quite flat, it is ideal for bringing bikes into.  Don’t think I will bother though!  But over the two days of trekking, this is the first unknown person we have seen – can hardly say it has been crowded.  We worked our way like a snake in and out of the way the river used to be in years gone by.  All that is left now is an empty trail, with magnificent rock formations either side.  At one point the rocks looked as if they had faces carved in them like Mount Rushmore – but it was just an illusion.  High up in one of the crags was on owls nest – not much wildlife here! Some of the way was like going through caves where earthquakes had knocked huge pieces of rock to the ground, leaving a cavernous entrance and exit.

As we were in a gorge that we climbed a long way down into, I was dreading the bit at the end where we would have a long climb out.  I tried to put that bit to the back of my mind and just enjoy the bit I was on.  Fortunately, the gorge ended and was replaced by a tree lined avenue.  It was a really lovely hike.  Apart from the first bit, the rest was a piece of cake – that’s how I remember it now!  It was hot, but not too hot.  It was hard in places, but not too hard.  Perfect!  The car was waiting for us just down the road with cold juice and beer.  Ha!  I can put up with this.

We went back to the hotel for lunch, and met up with the rest of the group that had had the 6.00am start.  We had a lovely two hour lunch – this is what holidays are all about.  Talking American politics, Cuban politics, Colombian politics, the state of the world etc etc…..

We then had a trip out to the Atacama Salt Flats.  There were six of us on this trip – plus two guides again.  We are getting a reputation!  We first of all stopped off in the small village of Toconao.  We had a look at the old bell tower – very similar to the one in the Magnificent Seven.  I expected Yul Brynner to be in the church opposite!  We walked down a whole load of back streets and little footpaths, looking at various fruits and vegetation, then we came out on to an expanse of desert.  In the distance there was a dip, and in it was a pool of water and trees and dense green vegetation.  An oasis in the desert.  They do exist.  Or have I had one too many camparis?  We then drove on, past the famous Alma Observatory which is high in the mountains, onto the Flamingo National Park.  We were here for the sunset.  We first had a little video about the Park, how it was set up and what we were expected to see here.  There is a mass of salt – although it isn’t flat, it is extremely bumpy.  There is a flat path all the way past the lagoons though, for about half a mile or so, so the wildlife can be viewed.  There were some flamingos, but they were about 400 yards away.  Plenty of other little birds were feeding in the shallow waters though.  We were keeping our eye out for lizards – a couple quickly shot in holes so we really only viewed their tails.  Paul saw one shoot under a rock, that he lifted up, and managed to get on video.  I bet he wondered where his roof had gone!

When the sun went down, the mountains turned the most beautiful reds and browns.  It really cast a fantastic colour show on the mountain range – and even the volcano with the puff of sulphur escaping from the top.  We drove the forty five or so minutes to get back to the hotel – where we had dinner with the usual crowd.  Our last night here, so the last night we are all going to be together.  Sad, but I am sure we are all going to keep in touch.