Ice and steam

We had to get up at 5 in order to get going by 6, but the electricity did not come on until 5.30..... So we dressed by candle and torch light, as quickly as possible because it was very cold. No hot water (solar powered), ice inside the window and stone floors....not for the faint hearted!
We set off in the dark, but as the sun came up we realised we could not see anything anyway because the windows were frozen on the inside. The lack of a heater in the car resulted in some grumbling.

Dad trying to see what was outside...

What was outside.... More rough tracks and more snow.
We headed south, further into the national park - the Reserva de Fauna Andina Eduardo Avaroa. This landscape is both desolate and surreal. There are many glacial salt lakes, vast areas of un-vegetated volcanic stone, strange wind carved rocks, semi desert grassland, hot springs and very few folk. We reached 5000m at one point (well, 4964m to be precise) - a record for us, and passed within 1km of the Chilean border.

We stopped to admire some fumaroles - Lucas walking in to watch the bubbling mud pods and smell the sulphur in this other worldly volcanic zone.

These 'Dali' stones looked beautiful in the morning light.

The green lagoon... green due to minerals

The red lagoon....red due to natural pigments in the algae..... eagerly consumed by the pinkest flamingos we have ever seen

We thought this rock looked like a macaw..

This one was like a .......

A herd of endangered vicuñas - we also saw Andean Rhea, Andean geese and more viscachas.
We headed back to Uyuni after a long, tiring, but rewarding day.

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