Snow stops play!

Barbara picked us up after breakfast and we set out to the South, heading for the highland lagoons.  At the highest point in our journey we’d be at 4,200 metres.

We stopped at Socaire, where Barbara had to buy tickets for all the places we were visiting.  This was once a little village where farmers spent the summer months with their flocks.  Now it’s turning into another tourist attraction.

Fully ticketed, we stopped off at the little church on the outskirts of the village. 

Back on the road, we spotted a group of rheas.  Even on maximum close-up, they look like black blobs in the distance, but with binoculars you could clearly see one large one and a bunch of small ones.  A little further on, we saw three vicuñas running in the distance; again, no photos.

The landscape was quite spectacular and there was snow on the tops of the volcanoes around us.  Not to mention patches alongside the road.

We eventually turned off the road onto a dirt track that climbed quite steeply.  This was the route to the Miscanti lagoon.  Which was closed!  There was a padlocked bar across the track; it appears there was too much snow at the top of the pass.

So we turned round and headed down again.  Instead, we found a somewhat sheltered nook in the middle of nowhere and Barbara spread out our lunch.  Not a bad way to spend an hour.

We decided not to try the lagoon again; there’s no mobile signal up there so we couldn’t contact anyone to find out.  So back down on the main road we went.  Suddenly, as we turned a corner, I spotted a troupe of guanacos; an alpha male, several females and some young ones.  Sadly, as soon as we stopped the car, they ran away.

Back in Socaire, we finally did manage to capture a photo of some wildlife; a Greenish Yellow Finch posed for me!

From the tourist centre, we walked up to the home of a traditional weaver, for a demonstration of her art.  She uses llama, sheep and alpaca wool, all in natural colours.  We watched her working on a small traditional loom, making a bookmark.  It is so complicated that she needs to follow a pattern.  She also showed us how she uses cactus spikes to knit small, delicate objects, in this case a sock with a llama pattern.

Our next stop was at the Tropic of Capricorn.  The sign for this seems to have become a target for stickers from all over the world.

Further on, we spotted something crossing the road ahead of us.  It turned out to be a Cheya, or grey fox.  This time it didn’t get away.  In fact it wasn’t bothered by us in the slightest.

Our final stop for the day was Tocanao, where we saw a cactus in bloom.  This is the classic type of cactus that you see in Hollywood films, all arms and spines. 

You don’t see too many in the wild because they are valuable for their wood in a land where there are no trees.  But they only grow a centimetre or so per year which is why they’re protected.  The local church had a beautiful door made of this wood bound together by guanaco leather.

Back at the hotel we had afternoon tea and biscuits, then we’re off to look for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we’re off back to Santiago and then on to Valparaiso.