The tour operator of the Altiplano Tour picked me up at around 5 AM when it was still dark.
First we would go to Toconao, and take a look at the local church there. Remarkable there was a stair case build from Cactus wood. Also a door in the bell tour was build from Cactus wood, and strapped with sinew from Lamas to its frame.
Then we would make our way to Laguna Chaxa where flamingos are patently filtering the salty water for plankton and little crabs. The feathers of young flamingos are grey — it is the crabs in their diet which gives the flamingos their pink appearance.
Even though used to human presence, they are timid animals, and I found them relatively difficult to photograph.
Before leaving Laguna Chaxa, we had a good breakfast. This is were I made acquaintance the of Nina and Maren from Böblingen. Nina travels for a year to see the world, while Maren was merely visiting for a couple of weeks.
The next stop was at Socaire. There, we visited another church. Nearby, there were some Inca style terraces where corn is grown.
We then continued on into thin air to Laguna Miscanti. There, my GPS read 4350 m elevation, and a mild feeling of dizziness set in. As long as one does not exerts himself physically, everything is fine.
In the afternoon, I went to the archaeological museum of father Gustavo Le Paige, a Belgian Priest, who lived in San Pedro de Atacama, and founded a huge collection of artefacts produced by ingenious people. The Atacama is dry, so nothing decomposes. It is inhabited at least since 500 A.D. by the Atacama people — there are probably many more things to find.
In addition to Maren and Nina, I met Julie from France who turned out to be an avid flamingo photographer, and Maurice from Grenoble during the day.
Toconao
Taconao has tidied up main plaza (plaza de armas), and a little church in colonial style.
Laguna Chaxa
Besides stalking flamingos, Laguna Chaxa offers a view that is outerworldly. Maybe such a torn landscape is not so seldom on this planet. I, at least, have never seen something like this before. And I lucky enough I managed to snap a couple of picture of Flamingo in flight.
