LAKE CHUNGARA; HEAVEN ON EARTH

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Ramiro starts the morning hanging over the toilet bowl and with a major headache.  He has not been able to master the breathing technique.

We leave early, in order to see as much wild life as possible and dress warm.
We enter Lauca National Park, with it’s many different rock formations, bright green mosses and many Vicuñas. Here many streams run through the cracks in the  mountains, from the melting snow from the volcanos in the area.

At a nature trail, we notice the frost still on the ground. There is an abundance of small wildlife. Mice like creatures and a variety of birds, some with babies, like baby chickens. As we walk the trail, we see small cabin, which has been built over a hot spring. If you like you can take a warm bath in here.

We continue to follow the trail, which leads across the main road to the other side of the mountains, overlooking a large valley, full with Vicuñas. I continue to practice my breathing. Ramiro is not doing well and feels so sick.

There are so many baby Vicuñas, it is a joy watching them hop, run and play. I wished I had the energy to join them.
We stop at the many caves, which were living quarters many years ago.
Before we continue, we take another cup of Coca tea and some dark chocolate, hoping it will make a difference for Ramiro.

Without all that desert around me from the previous weeks, I really start to appreciate the landscape again. One breathtaking view after another and so many animals. We can not take for granted that we are on one of the highest plains in the worlds, the Hymalayans being another one of them.

Ahead of us we see a number of Volcanos, I identify Pomerape on the left and Parinacota on the right. The foot of which looks like a construction site, with piles of rocks, pushed by snow and ice as it melts. We reach our highest point during our entire trip in Chile;  15,300 feet. (5,100 meters) from here we see Lake Chungara.

There is a beautiful interpretive trail of 1 kilometer. Ramiro stays in the car while I walk, very slowly, not to use too much energy or oxygen, of which I have very little.
As soon as the birds see me coming, they withdraw in the water, fly away or hide behind a bush.  I hide behind some large rocks and wait long enough for a variety of birds to come back on shore again. Others hop right in front of me, looking for seeds. It is so peaceful here, all I hear is the birds, a coo here, a chirp there. Fantastic; This is heaven on earth.

There is only one other couple from Austria on motorcycle. There are very few tourists on the road and those who do dare to come here are with a private guide.

We continue to drive to the most eastern tip of the lake, just before the Bolivian border, before we turn around again, back to Arica.
This points also marks our return to Santiago. From here we will slowly work our way back south and visit some of the places we missed on the way north.

We visit the village of Parinacota, Three streets wide and three streets long; Everything in the original adobe style, with no sign of modern architecture.
As soon as we enter the tiny village, people come peeking from around the corner, curious who is coming to visit them.

Even the caretaker of the old, adobe church comes right away with a key in his hand and asks if we like to visit the church. He unlocks the door for us and explains, that this is the oldest, original church in Chile. I believe it, what a sight. Wall paintings, from the Spaniards, dating back from 1789, left in it’s original state. Statues, almost falling apart, two skulls in a small niche and a showcase full of religious artifacts.

We put some money in the box by the entrance and the old caretaker proudly starts telling us about his village. There are only 36 inhabitants. You won’t see many, because all children go to Arica during the week, to attend school. The men are in the field. Other than the caretaker, we see two older people peeking from behind a street corner and two women sitting on a bench in front of a store at the edge of the tiny square. We would call it more a concession stand. There are no other stores or services in the village. The garbage is picked up by a truck from Putre.  The only thing indicating some form of modern technology is the satellite dish on top of the one man police station.

The road back, is not very pleasant for Ramiro, He needs to make frequent stops to get out of the car. I feel so bad for him. He is not able to keep anything down, not even any Coca tea, soda or mineral water. He insists on driving himself, which, in a way, I am happy about, because I find these height a bit scary.


From here on it is down, down, down. Ramiro does not want to stop at any other point of interest nor village. He want to go straight to Arica and go to bed.
The lower we go however, the better he starts feeling. Once we reach 3,000 feet, his colour is coming back and he is smiling again. I too, start feeling my energy coming back and we start chatting again.

After a stop at the Azapa Valley museum and at one of the many olive plantations to buy some olives for Maria, we go home.

What an experience. While we were planning this trip, I recall Ramiro saying, “you have to go to Lake Chungara, I want to show you”. Now he is saying: “Never again, once was enough”.