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  • Day 60

    Laguna Cejar and Tebinquiche

    March 15, 2020 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today we decided to sleep in and we booked a tour for the afternoon. During the day we explored the city a little. It is such a touristy but still super cute little town with lots of little souvenir shops and bars and cafes.
    Our tour to Laguna Cejar started at 4pm. We were a group of 10 people and the tour was hold in Spanish. I am pretty proud of how well I was able to improve my Spanish skills by only talking and listening to people.
    We finally got to Laguna Cejar, which is a natural Salty Lake in the middle of the desert. And it is salty indeed! You will not need „floaties“, you literally just need to walk right in and you’ll float! Also the water is unexpectedly cold given it is in the middle of the desert. But definitely a good cool down.
    After the Laguna Cejar we were on our way to Laguna Tebinquiche.
    But we did a stop over in the middle of the desert and our tour guide got out the piscina sour. Which is a traditional latinamerican drink. I love it! Afterwards we made our way to Laguna Tebinquiche. I was wondering the whole time how a lake can exist in such a dry desert with an altitude level of more than 2000m. My tour guide knew the answer. The lakes are born from the thawings of the snow and the rains that rarely visit the desert. Also, we have been super lucky as we were able to see the peaks of the volcanos in the background covered in snow. Four days before our arrival it was raining A LOT in San Pedro. The people who live there are never really prepared, so that some of the houses were flooded. But of course, it does dry super quickly again the next days.
    We stayed at the lake until the sun had fully set. It was a beautiful sunset and if you turned around you could see the Andes turning purple.
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