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The South American Odyssey
  • The Craze for Travelling
  • The Craze for Travelling

The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more
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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    The road going across the valleyVicuñas

    Vicuñas on the way

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    From the highest point on the road, the track goes downhill all the way into a valley about 4100 mts above sea level. Across the valley is the elevation again towards the Suri Plaza which is at about 4500 mts.
    On the way, we saw many Vicuñas grazing in the highlands along the road. These are camelids that have never been domesticated and roam around in the wild. They are golden in color with a white belly. They are more sleeker and agile than the rest of the camelids.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Through the valley

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The path descended into the valley at about 4100 mts and across the Allane quebrada (canyon). All the while, we could see the colored mountains of the Suri Plaza. This place is really wild with hardly anyone living around here. There were quite many heards of vicuñas. The canyon has the Allane river flowing through, so one can see some greenery down in the valley.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Quebrada Allane

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    The track winds its way down into the quebrada Allane where ome can have some lovely views into the canyon. Similarly, on the other side, the path climbs up in twists and turns before evening out around the village of Colpita. After Coplita it is a flat high altitude plain again. We decided to go all the way to the village of Iquilla.
    Just beyond Colpita, we saw huge herds of Llamas and Alpacas grazing in the lush boefdals (marshlands). We decided to stop and take some pictures.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Colpita villageTrying to get close to the herds

    Colpita

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We stopped just beyond Colpita where there were herds of alpacas and llamas. We came out of the vehicle and started sneaking near the herds trying to hide behind bushes and rocks. We managed to get quite close with some alpacas just about 2-3 mts away from us.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Local graveyard

    Iquilla and further

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    It was about 2:30 pm now. We were hoping to find some food at Iquilla, but it turned out to be an abandoned village of 4 huts. We decided to go further up towards Suri Plaza. On the way, we saw a local graveyard most probably for all the tiny villages in the vacinity. Here too, the graves were more like tombstones made of mud or tiles.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Suri Plaza

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Suriplaza is a very special place located 70 km north of Putre. It is the name given to a small flat area lying at about 4500m and framed by four volcanos whose elevation range between 5234m and 5497m. The place‛s name suggests that it might be the habitat for suris (birds also known as rheas and nandas). On the other hand, hiking to ridges between volcanos is as close as one may get to a dream trip to different planets.
    Volcanos have bright colors and the views are stunning. Iquilla, Chuquiananta, Cosapilla, and Copatanca. The red volcano at the south-west corner (Iquilla), the dark volcano at the north-west corner (Chuquiananta), the white one (Copatanca) and (Cosapilla) the white/yellowish volcanoes on the east side (south and north corners, respectively).

    We reached there at about 3:40 pm. The place literally took our breath away. It was high and windy but sunny at the same time. The sun was very sharp and piercing. There were volcanoes of all hues and colors all around us. It was mesmerizing. We just stood in the middle with no one else anywhere in the plateau, enjoying every moment and every direction. It was an amazing experience.    Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Red colored Iquilla
    Red colored IquillaCosapilla the white/yellowish volcanoe on the east sideThe dark volcano at the north-west corner (Chuquiananta)The white one (Copatanca)

    Suri Plaza up close

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Here's the 4 colorful volcanoes that surround the Suri Plaza making it look like an alien landscape. It was so peaceful and beautiful. We were so lucky to be there and to have seen this raw beauty with our own eyes. Nothing, no pictures, no videos, no 3d movies or 4k IMAX can do justice to what we saw with eyes.Read more

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    Water refill time

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    There are streams flowing through the boefdals. Since we were out of water by now, we decided to refill our bottles with the fresh clear water of the mountain stream passing through one of the boefdal. As we continued further, we descended a bit more. There were massive herds of llamas, aplacas and guanacos in the valleys.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Gravel road along the pipelinePucarani and Vichocollo

    Gravel road to Putani

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Just before Visviri, near the Chilean border to Peru and Bolivia, we turned left towards Putani to go back to Putre in a sort of loop. The road was a gravel one all the way along a pipeline. We couldn't figure out what the pipeline was for since there were no valves anywhere all the way for 20 kms to Putani. On the way, we could see the Pucarani and Vichocollo volcanoes.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling

    Vicuña commotion

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    As we started going deeper again towards the high plateau, the dry land around changed to the green boefdals. Here we came across a big herd of vicuñas that started running towards the car instead of away. As the vehicle came nearer, they started running helter-skelter, then all ran across the road and gathered on the roadside.Read more

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    22

    Llamas and Alpacas near Ancocalani

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    From Putani we turned towards Ancocalani. There were lots of herds of llamas and alpacas. They were spread all over the valley. Some of the aplacas were very soft and fluffy like soft toys 😁
    One of the llamas got very aggressive though. It went around our vehicle twice, then almost came inside from the window on Hristo's side and was about to spit when he pulled up the window and we continued further.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    2Crossing the Lluta river

    Badlands and train crossings

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    We continued our journey towards Coronel Alcerreca. The topology changed to that of badlands. There was not a blade of grass growing anywhere. We crossed the Lluta river on the way. On the other side, we came across the railway line serving the altiplano. We crossed the tracks a couple of time. It looked very scenic but gauging from the tracks, it didn't look like it was being used.Read more

  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    A viscacha

    Quebrada Allane

    November 24, 2017 in Chile ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    From Coronel Alcerreca, we drove towards Putre to complete the loop. We had to cross the river Lluta again where it joins the river Allane in the Allane quebrada. This crossing was quite a bit more dramatic than the previous one a few kms back. Here, we had to drive down one edge of the canyon amd then across the river and then up on the other side. The canyon is quite a deep one. We had crossed this a few hours ago on the way to Suri Plaza a few kilometers to the East. We saw quite many viscachas in the canyon. They seemed to be basking in the late evening sun and ran as soon as our vehicle came near.Read more