15.10.2004

Laguna Colorade with its red waters. Click here to see more photos!

On this day we started even earlier than on the second one. The first sight of interest were some so-called geysers that did not even exist. There was just one man-made geyser in the area, the rest of the attraction was a geothermal field which was producing a lot of smoke and which had quite a few boiling mud pools. But because we had seen a lot of those areas in New Zealand already we were not too impressed by the spectacle.
After a short stop we kept going to "Laguna Verde". This lagoon is only green - verde - when the wind is blowing. And there was a lot of wind on that day! It was blowing so hard that at the edge of the lagoon there was a lot of foam which ended up flying around in big flakes. The lagoon was one of just a few that did not host flamingos. But maybe this was due to the icy-cold wind, since nearby at the "Laguna Blanca" there was hardly any flamingo to be seen neither. The few we saw there had to watch out not to be blown away!
I found it strange that these birds do not ever seem to get cold feet standing the whole day in these freezing waters, for we - even with socks and boots - had gotten cold feet by then. But luckily there was a solution at hand. On our way we stopped at a hot spring where we even could have taken a little bath. But the pool was very shallow and so we decided to just put our feet in it.
After that stop we went quite straight to Villa Mar, a tiny village where we should spend the night. There was just a quick lunch stop at a sheltered corner at the edge of "Laguna Colorada", and then a little further on a not wanted break. We had a flat tire that needed a change. All in all our car seemed to be falling apart anyway! One of the seats in the far back had totally broken off the floor and was now sliding back and forth while we were driving along those terrible tracks. Furthermore the backdoor had become contorted and was always a little open on one side so that all the dust came in and annoyed the people in the back.
In the evening everybody was in a good mood since it was the last night on tour. A lot of alcohol was being drunk by the Spanish guys. The two of us would rather have had some more food for dinner! The tour guides had planned the portions for that evening quite badly. They served for 7 people a plate with mashed potatoes and sausages that Suses mom would have served for 2 to 3 people only. Especially since on the first day we had far too much food for lunch and even ended up throwing it away, we thought that this small dinner was quite unacceptable. This time we were not the only ones that were still hungry, but apparently the only ones that would say something again… We had a discussion with our drivers in the kitchen, who claimed at first that there was no more but after a while appeared in the dining room with an equally filled plate like the first one?!
Because of the not quite as high altitude as the night before and a smaller room, which we shared between seven of us, this night did not get quite as freezing as the last one.