15.08.2004

The church of Isluga Click here to see more photos!

The next morning we woke up to discover fresh snow on the mountain tops. The air was cold, but the sun quickly warmed everthing. Taking a walk through Cariquima the village appeared very quiet. I hardly met any soul in the streets. Only when I took some photographs of the church ( which was a very typical one for the Altiplano) suddenly four to five people appeared on the square coming from different directions. But as suddenly as they had appeared they disappeared and I was alone again, just left with a curious dog. The square had some huge green cactus plants and the white color of the church was a strong contrast to the cleas blue morning sky. Further on my way through the village I met only some more street dogs and the smell of freshly baked bread.
Back in the Residencial we had a great breakfast which even Xabi could enjoy angain since a good nights sleep and the magic Coca tea had done their bit to make him feel good again. After the nourishing breakfast we refilled the tank with the help of our host and left Cariquima in order to look for a saltpan. We looked for quite long but it was impossible to find. While looking for the pan we came across a village of adobe houses and found one of them having a huge satellite dish in front! But it seemed as well so we could not ask anyone for the way. Not existing or not very clear signs along the tracks winding through the grassy landscape did not really make our search easier. After a while we gave up since we were running out of time and did not want to lose our orientation completely.
Next we were aiming for some geysers in a freezing cold valley. To find those was easier because somebody had put up signs on every significant crossing. The geysers themselves were bizarre and frosty experience. Because of the low temperatures and the icy wind in the valley the water coming out of the ground froze very close to its spring and formed little icebergs with the most scurille formations and icicles. One of the highes icebergs at this time was about 3.5 to 4 meters high!
Driving further on across the Altiplano we came to Isluga - a little village that is only occupied when ceremonies are taking place - where we wanted to have a look at another beautiful church typical for the Altiplano. Unexpectedly we met an old man in the village who asked us for a lift up north. Since we were going that way we gave him a ride and so we had someone with us who seemed to know the area quite well. Having him with us was an advantage in some ways, since on the way to the Salar de Suire there was only one sign where to go. The Chilean showed us a way over a not quite so high pass (which was good for our altitude-troubled French man) that was partly crossing into Bolivia already. It got really unpleasant though when we suddenly stood in front of a sign saying: "Danger Minefield! Vorsicht Minenfeld! ..." and the Spanish equivalent as well... ! To the right and left of the track there were some huge fenced off areas. The track through the fences was quite narrow but obviously well used. So we decided to keep on going and managed to pass that area without any incidents - luckily!!!
From this pass, a little after the minefield, we were able to see the salt pan Salar de Surire already, a huge area surrounded by many mountains. During the last part of our way along the edge of the salt pan to the Refugio we got to see many Vicuñas for the first time. By the time we reached the Refugio the sun was standing fairly low again and it quickly became dark and freezing cold. Konnis try to watch the stars in the clear sky was terminated after two minutes because of the low temperatures.