The Highland Lakes

The next stop was Laguna Chulluncani where we saw the first of our flamingos. Small orange-pink blobs way on the other side of the lake. So we had to take lots of photos of them. Walking around the lake was a breath taking experience, probably something to do with the altitude, we were up around 4200m at this point.

We stopped for lunch at what I believe was Laguna Pastos Grand. A very large lake nestled between multiple volcanos. There were some ruins where we were, I have no idea if they were recent or old, but it would have been a pretty isolcated place to live.

The last lake on this leg was Laguna Kara.

The lakes were all interesting. Each one was a different colour and had a completely different feel to them. Being that high the air is incrediably clear, everything feels so crisp and clean.

In between the lakes is like another planet. Not much in the way of vegetation, most of the things are these bizarre green bubble like plants. I think they look really cool. It is technically a desert, although there are patches of snow here and there. You can see why NASA likes testing their robots there.


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We got abandoned at Laguna Chulluncani and had to walk
11:19pm 12th March 2012
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Spectacular views though
11:19pm 12th March 2012
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Laguna Chulluncani and Cerro Caquella
11:20pm 12th March 2012
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Still walking to the car
11:25pm 12th March 2012
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Butterfly on the shores of Laguna Chulluncani
11:29pm 12th March 2012
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Birds on Laguna Chulluncani. I still have no idea why they didn't freeze
11:31pm 12th March 2012
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Cerro Caquella seen across Laguna Chulluncani
11:36pm 12th March 2012
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Our cars on Laguna Chulluncani
11:40pm 12th March 2012
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Looking Laguna Chulluncani towards where we were heading
11:47pm 12th March 2012
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Coming over the hills
12:19am 13th March 2012
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Hitting the gravel flats with our lunch spot in the distance
12:22am 13th March 2012
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This might be called Laguna Pastos Grand - It's where we stopped for lunch
12:31am 13th March 2012
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Everyone took lots of photos
12:32am 13th March 2012
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Lots of amazing reflections
12:33am 13th March 2012
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Little wading birds
12:34am 13th March 2012
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And out first look at flamingos
12:36am 13th March 2012
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This is a very trippy photo which can take a while to figure out
12:37am 13th March 2012
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Ex volcano on the other side of the lake
12:37am 13th March 2012
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More flamingos
12:37am 13th March 2012
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A cute LGB (Little Grey Bird)
12:40am 13th March 2012
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We came through a pass in these mountains
12:41am 13th March 2012
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And this plant must be almost unkillable
12:43am 13th March 2012
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Heather stalking the flamingos (The flamingos won)
12:44am 13th March 2012
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More amazing reflections
12:46am 13th March 2012
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I think this was some type of kiln originally
12:46am 13th March 2012
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And I'm guessing this was an old lodge of some sort
12:46am 13th March 2012
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More nice reflections
12:51am 13th March 2012
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And looking back the way we had come again
12:52am 13th March 2012
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Stopped for lunch at Laguna Pastos Grand
1:06am 13th March 2012
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Everyone having lunch
1:06am 13th March 2012
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The different ruins and the lake
1:37am 13th March 2012
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The flamingos in the corner
1:37am 13th March 2012
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Another old ruin
1:40am 13th March 2012
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Back on the road, heading for the next spot
1:55am 13th March 2012
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One of the formations on the way
1:59am 13th March 2012
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Our rivals... the other 4x4
2:01am 13th March 2012
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The base of Cerro Chascon and the rocks you have to pick through
2:05am 13th March 2012
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Some of the rocks are rather large
2:06am 13th March 2012
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The scree slopes
2:07am 13th March 2012
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Looking out over Laguna Kara
2:24am 13th March 2012
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That is where were headed after the lake
2:26am 13th March 2012
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Laguna Kara
2:27am 13th March 2012
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Driving through the highland flats
2:41am 13th March 2012
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The border with Chile is just over those mountains
2:44am 13th March 2012
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More of the landscape
2:51am 13th March 2012
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Some more of the mountains
2:53am 13th March 2012
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That's our rival car, they took a quicker route, I'm sure that's cheating
2:55am 13th March 2012
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