B and I both made one last pit stop before loading the van. We would not be anywhere near a civilized bathroom for the next 9 hours and I was going to avoid getting my tush stuck with cactus needles for as long as I could.
The drive to the Rio Grande was about 45 minutes and to an altitude of a bit over 4.000 meters (13,200 feet). It will leave you breathless but not necessarily because of the thin air but more so because of what you are seeing all around you. This was a totally different assault on our senses from yesterday's hike in Gautin. Here we parked, picked up our hiking sticks and had not moved from our starting point and there were already all sorts of wildlife surrounding us. The birds were the first thing we saw and they didn't seem to be very afraid of the humans, but I didn't want to chance it and move any closer. They were everywhere - and didn't seem a bit bothered by the Llamas having a drink of their water just a few steps away.
It is a very different landscape from the cacti spotted one we trekked through just yesterday (and only a 1/2 hour away). I was constantly amazed at how much the landscape, flora and fauna could change in just a few minutes. This desert kept surprising me.
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| One minute the farmers in the region were having to light controlled fires to burn the dead away so that the new vegetation could grow... |
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| And then I look up from taking the last picture to see this...a field (hillside, rocky outcrop) filled with wild Lupine! |
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| I love Lupine!!! |
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| This is a corral they use to shear the llama and Alpaca in the region. Right next to it there happens to be a crop of vegetables being grown. To keep the animals from wandering in to the crops and eating to their hearts content (and to keep them from getting tangled in the barbed wire surrounding the crops) they hang rags on the fence so that it is more visible. They also put hard hats on sticks as a makeshift scarecrow and this keeps the little ones at bay. |
By now we had been hiking for about 3 1/2 hours. It was time for lunch and a water break. Good thing we "stumbled" upon the abandoned village of Peñaliri. There is not much I can find on the village, except this.
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| Our lunch hut. |
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| We had the famous Barros Luco sandwiches for lunch, along with some fruit, cake and tea for dessert. Thanks to our guide Jasu (seen below) for carrying it all for the first 4 1/2 miles! |
We rested for about half and hour and then were immediately off again to see the steppes that were abandoned along with the village. I can't imagine doing all of that work (hand carrying and laying each stone, forming the land for each and every step) and then just walking away. But they did say it was a hard life in these parts of the desert, so maybe they moved on to bigger and easier...
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| The steppes are in the upper middle. |
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| The steppes can be seen again over B's shoulder. We did get a lot closer but I was watching my footing instead of taking pictures. This got to be a tricky part of the trail as part of it had eroded enough that we couldn't pass and had to climb straight up. |
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| There is that salt again... |
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| You can see we are almost at the end of our trail. When you get closer and closer to civilization, you start to see the green pop back up. And some trees, some really spectacular trees... |
It was getting late - about 4:45 pm - and we had been out since about 8:30 that morning. We hiked a bit under 9 miles. It was a great adventure and one I am very glad we took the time to complete. The girls had a fabulous time with their sitter and we joined them for dinner and an early bedtime. Tomorrow we had to be up and on the bus by 5:30 am!
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