Lagunas Escondidas de Baltinache

At 3 pm, we went to the tour agency where we were supposed to be picked up for the tour of the Escondidas lakes. The bus was a big one with about 35 seats. It was in a totally beat up condition. The road to the lakes was an unasphalted desert track and the whole bus rocked and rattled with dust filling up the inside of the bus like a cloud. The lakes are abou 40 kms from the town. It took us about an hour to reach the destination and everyone was happy to come out of the torture chamber.

Escondidas or Baltinache are seven deep blue emerald water holes in salt. There are 7 lakes, 2 of which you can swim in. The last lake is a 10 minute walk from the first and requires good footwear as the salt is very sharp. The density of the salt is so high that it is not possible to swim in the lake, one just floats on top.
We decided to first walk to the 7th lake and see if that was a better place to go in and of not then return to the 1st laguna and enter there.Read more