Chinese Version / 中文版本
The second day of the salt flat tour was to visit Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve, which is located at the borders of Chile, Argentina and Boliva. This national reserve has many lakes, peculiar geyser basins, deserts, volcanoes, to name a few. However, the tour price I paid before did not include the entrance fee (150 BOB), regardless of how much you dislike the nature or how reluctant you were to enjoy the hot spring, this entrance fee could not be waived.
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| Luckily our car did not die once in the trip |
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| Plateau marsh |
Although the attitude was 4500 meters, I could sleep very well at night. My other tour-mates were more unlucky, they had trouble sleeping for the entire night. Even though Mario was the first person to get on the bed, he was the last person to fall asleep.
After breakfast, we left for the national reserve at 7 a.m. sharp. 'The ambassador of justice' Ed suggested we should swap again. To shut his mouth, I already took one motion sickness pill and was expected to sit in the back. Mario was also assigned to sit in the back with me (So unfair! Yesterday Ed occupied the whole back, but now I had to share it!!!) Forget it! I sat in the back if that was what he wanted.
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| Like a mirror |
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| Flamingos |
Quelena Grande is very close to the national reserve, it takes around 10 minutes to arrive at the entrance. The first stop in the national reserve was to see flamingos in the nearby lake. When all the flamingos took off from the lake, it looked extremely spectacular. Unfortunately I only brought the wide lens with me, that I could not take photos of the close look of them.
Then we went to Dali's desert (aka Dali's valley), because the landscape was similar to the paintings of Dali, thus this desert was named after the painter. Afterwards, we drove to the picturesque Laguna Verde (Green Lake), where is located next to the Chilean border. Pablo said the best time to go to Laguna Verde was between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. everyday, because the sunshine and the minerals inside would make the lake look greener. In fact, I would also like to know what the actual color is when it does not look green? There is a volcano 'Licancabur' behind the lake, next to it is Laguna Blanca (White Lake). In addition to the green lake, it did look like a stunning picture painted by our mother nature!
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| Dali's desert |
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| Laguna Verde |
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| Laguna Blanca |
The most wonderful activity for the day was to relax in the hot spring! Friendly reminder: If you want to enjoy the hot spring, please dress the bathing suits beforehand, because there is no changing room. But there is a small house next to the hot spring, many westerners choose to stand on the other side of the house to get changed, indeed it is still very open to the public. If you don't have the courage like them, please don't follow suit. You may choose to pay for the restroom in the restaurant behind the parking lot, or like me - staying in the jeep to get changed! Besides, the stones in the hot spring are very slippery, I almost fell to the water and hit my head hard. At last, I found out that my hurting toe nail was cracked!
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| Hot Spring |
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| The stunning view during lunch time |
After lunch we headed to the Solar de Manaña geyser basin with the altitude of 4850 meters. It is the highest place we go in this whole journey. Despite the sun usually stays up high in the sky, don't ever underestimate the freezing wind, I could not even walk without wearing my gloves.
The last stop of the day was Laguna Colorada (Red Lake), the red color of the lake is caused by the minerals and algae, but I personally think the color looks more like rust.
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