Our Great Adventure: Reserva Nacional de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa Day 248 24/05/2015

We had an early breakfast at the hostel, packed up and waited in anticipation for our lift to the Bolivian border. Everything went to plan and we were picked up just after 0715. We were first on the bus and drove around San Pedro collecting a few other travellers before, to our surprise, stopping off at a hotel on the outskirts of the town for breakfast! After about 30 minutes we headed off to the Chilean border crossing which is just outside the town and only opened at 0800 which is probably why we stopped for breakfast. Immigration was quite slow but luckily dawn was just breaking and we were soon able to stand in the sunshine. From here it was about 50 minutes to Hito Cajon and the Bolivian border, initially on a sealed road but we soon turned off onto a gravel road. The border is not much more than a shack in the desert and we arrived to be greeted by Pablo and Nelson from Topas Travel, our guide and driver for the next 3 days. Immigration was very quick as most other travellers were queuing for visas. It's certainly beneficial to be from the UK, not having to pay reciprocal charges to enter south american countries unlike USA, Canada, Australia and many others. We loaded our bags into the 4WD and set off heading across the desert towards Laguna Verde, stopping at the national park entrance to pay our fees. The park was created in 1973 covering an area of 7,150 sq km. It's one of the world's harshest wilderness regions and an important refuge for many Andean wildlife species, including the vicuna and flamingo which are both protected here. Laguna Verde is a lovely aquamarine lake covering c17 sq km at an altitude of c5000m (more headaches!) and lies in front of Volcan Licancabur. A wonderful sight of lake, volcano and vicuna grazing along the shoreline. We continued to drive through the barren landscape to Laguna Blanca, another wonderful setting surrounded by volcanos. From here we drove through the Dali Desert, named after Salvador Dali due to it's surreal rock formations and on to Termas de Polques, hot springs on the shore of Laguna Salada. Despite the thermal pool being 40 degrees neither of us where tempted to change into our swimwear and take a dip with the outside temperature being only just above freezing. Back in the jeep we continued to Sol de Manana geyser basin. You could smell them before you could see them. The basin is 4950m high and pocketed with boiling mud pots and steaming geysers. At this time in the day there is less water running through and you don't get the build up of pressure to create the high water spurts from the geysers. It was however still very impressive and we trod very carefully as we walked around the area. By now it was early afternoon and we were all hungry. We headed to the small hamlet of Huaylia Jara where we were going to be staying for the evening and had our lunch at the refuge, cooked by Nelson. A very tasty affair of potatoes, rice, vegetables, salad and fried cheese. Pablo had brought some pickled chillies grown in the Amazon region of Bolivia where his father lives. Simon tried one but had to concede to leave the rest to Pablo! After lunch we drove a short distance to Laguna Colorada which had to be the highlight of the day. The lake is red in colour, due to the micro organisms that live in the water, and fringed in white borax deposits. It has a surface area of c60 sq km but only averages 45cm deep and is the main nesting site for three species of Andean flamingos including the rare James species. There are around 10,000 flamingos on the lake with the oldest being identified by their colour with the red micro organisms turning them pink. It was a beautiful, tranquil spot and the sight of the birds on the red water framed with the white crust and volcanos as backdrop was stunning. We wandered along the lake shore taking in the views before returning to the jeep and heading back to the refuge. By now several other groups had arrived and all of the dorms were occupied. We were glad that we'd been able to get a dorm to ourselves. It was a fairly basic place but did have electricity in the evening. We had a short stroll to see the sunset although it was bone shatteringly cold and we didn't stay out for long. Before dinner we enjoyed a few rounds of cards with Pablo and Nelson although soon realised that Nelson was clearly a card shark! Good job we weren't playing for money. Dinner was cooked by the owners of the refuge, a tasty meal of vegetable soup followed by spaghetti with tomato salsa. With the temperature dropping we headed off to bed and were glad that we were able to make use of the blankets from the spare beds in our dorm. Diane went to bed in full thermals, long sleeve top, socks and hat under two blankets and two bedspreads to help keep warm. The weight of them was quite crushing!