After the rocks we get back in the car and drive about an hour and fifteen minutes to the first of three lagoons which we'll visit today. The drive through the mountains and mountain desert is one of the most amazingly beautiful drives I've ever been lucky enough to ride. I took a video and attached it below - not sure it does the drive any justice, but I wanted to get a video in the mix (will try to do more in the future). Now we are near 13K feet in elevation, so walking around is definitely harder, but the lagoon is amazing. The water is so glass-like that the mountain reflection matches the sky incredibly. At this point I get to speaking with Miguel, who is the Chilean dude in our group. He's in college in Santiago and he's an interesting character; he's not into soccer, doesn't think or act like a normal 21 year old, and has a very focused opinion on the Chilean government and the way they are mistreating their people. He's on the trip with his girlfriend Valerie, and it's beautiful to see two young people so obviously in love. I took a nice picture of them sitting near the lagoon - see below. After the first lagoon we drive another hour-or-so to our lunch destination, which is an even higher lagoon that's full of salt (similar to the first day). The landscape is surreal, and after lunch Andreas and I decide to take our shoes off and walk in the water. Although it looks clear and beautiful, we are constantly sinking in the dirt/mud/salt and can't stop laughing at how dumb we must look to everyone eating lunch and watching us. Either way, we got some amazing pictures out of the walk and I wouldn't have changed it for the world.
After lunch we again drive about an hour to another rock area up in the mountains, specifically where one rock has been naturally carved by ancient lava into what looks like a tree. Miguel and Val aren't impressed by this at all, but I kinda dig it so Andreas and I get out and go snap some pictures. As we finish taking our pictures, I notice a guy standing right next to me who looks very familiar. Wait - is this the dude that I sat next to on the train out of Machu Picchu? Forgot to mention him, but he's from Paris and is a pianist - specifically writing and playing for musicals. Can't believe I never mentioned my train ride with him - complete comedy. He's my favorite type of Parisian - completely manic, crazy, full of passion, and artistic. He has a zeal for life that I match and our conversation ranged from music to travel to life to love. We left each other after that 45 minute train ride and never knew each other's names and didn't think much of it - it was a perfect travel buddy conversation. So now he's standing next to me at this rock tree and I greet him with such excitement and joy that we immediately start playing an air-piano and air-drum song, which Andreas caught on camera. We were having a blast - so random and so great. I find out that his name is Rafael, and he's now doing this Uyuni trip with a Bolivian family who are both awkward and weird - classic. We laugh hysterically and then exchange info before departing in our separate SUV's.
The third and final stop of the day is a red-lagoon which is by far the most dramatic and beautiful setting of my trip. There are huge snow capped mountains in the background, and a huge red mountain lake in the foreground with at least 15,000 flamingos dotted about. I hope the pictures below do it some justice, but I can't say enough how beautiful this location was for both me and Andreas. After hanging out and taking pics at the red lagoon we head to our camp, which is only about 15 minutes away, and hunker down for the night. I took some time after dinner to play my harmonica out in the field between our camp and the red lagoon, which felt amazing. I need to keep playing - helps my peace of mind. As I'm about to head to bed, I hear the girls from our group tell us that we HAVE to come outside. So I walk outside and it's one of the most clear skies I have ever witnessed - more stars than I've ever seen - with an electric storm happening on the far side of the red lagoon, only surpassed in beauty by an oval shaped moon that quickly climbs in the sky over the electric storm. Unbelievable. Surreal. Heavenly. Cold. We are over 15K feet in elevation so outside is really cold, so I head back inside and pass out - full of beauty and inspiration from such a perfect day. I'm only outdone by Andreas, who had the best day of his entire vacation - including meeting some other Germans so he can finally speak his native language (after weeks of only speaking English with me and others in his journey).
Forgot to mention - the girl in our group from Argentina (Amelia) was nice enough to write out all the places in north and central Argentina which she thinks I'll enjoy. So cool. I've attached a pic so you can check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment