Inca Trail on the right, and an Andean fox on the left

Many vicuñas were seen. Smallest member of the camel family.

Vicuñas eat only a part of ths grass, so the "retoño," regrowth, is there when they return.

At a salt flat with my van seatmate from Brazil

A collection of altiplano flora--at 14,000 feet

Flamingos love salt flats because there a tiny shrimp is their food.

They eat more than 8 hours a day. This is an Andean flamingo

This is the specific kind of grass the vicuñas eat, along with flamingos.

These are privately owned guanacos, decorated to show ownership

Santiago Airport, outside the check-in center

Atacama Desert: Red Rocks and Salt Flats

14. tammikuuta 2023, Chile

Atacama Desert: Red Rocks and Salt Flats

This is a combination of my last two days’ tours on January 14 and 15, with photos so you can see the desert scenery. More explanations are given in the photo captions.

Most of the area is up near the Bolivian border. In fact, in the salt flats tour, our guide was actually an English and Spanish teacher from La Paz, Bolivia. A few times we were above 4500 meters (14,700 feet) altitude! When I breathed, I couldn’t feel any result of being oxygenated. This resulted in my walking slowly and not talking to anyone— to try to get my breath back!

On the last day, I shared the tour with the Bolivian guide, a doctor from Santiago specializing in geriatrics, and a retired Taiwanese chemical engineer. The four of us bonded immediately, and enjoyed each others’ company the whole day. A jackpot!

And this concludes my trip to northern Chile.Lue lisää

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