Arica and Parque Nacional Lauca
This part of Northern Chile used to belong to Peru and Bolivia and was annexed by Chile after the War of the Pacific (1879-84), cutting off Bolivia´s access to the sea. Chile has profited massively from the territorial gains - the land is rich in copper and nitrates, which are still in plentiful supply to this day and the Bolivian´s have never really forgiven them.
I arrived in Arica after a hellish overnight bus journey through the Atacama desert during which I just couldn´t breathe at all. It seemed strange as the bus was decending towards sea level and anyway, surely I was used to the altitude now ? In Arica itself, things got even worse, so for the first day there I was confined to bed, feeling very asthmatic, only rising to grab a quick bite to eat. Then I realised, I must be experiencing an allergic reaction to the doxycycline I was taking as anti-malarials. The alarming thing was, this must have started in San Pedro or even Bolivia but the effects were masked because I had thought the shortness of breath was altitude related.
I rose the next day feeling much better having got to the root of the problem and the town too seemed to come to life. I wasn´t really in the mood for the beach so instead walked up to the monument to the heroes to get a birds-eye perspective over town, via some old colonial era buildings desiged by Gustav Eiffel and then back in town, booked up a trip to Parque Nacional Lauca.
The Park is a World Biosphere Reserve and is home to a number of protected and endangered species - guanacos, vicuñas, visacachas and chinchillas, pumas, Andean foxes, condors, rhea, Chilean flamingos, taguas and other rare birds. Top of the food chain here are the condors and the elusive puma, both of which prey on the vicuña - a real success story here. It was once in danger of extinction but thanks to efforts at the Park, its numbers are now much healthier. The tour took us steadily up to over 4000m from sea level and after the extra rest day I felt fine with only a slight dizziness, which was perhaps to be expected.
On the way, up through the desert we passed tracts of the rare and unusual Candlebra Cactus, which somehow manages to grow between 2500 and 3000m in an almost rainless environment. Above this height, the landscape came to life with colourful mineral rich soil and scenic viewpoints at Pucara and Socorama. Guanaco thrive here up to 3500m and above that height the more slender vicuña takes over. A pair of condors cruised low over us, it was the closest I have seen them in the wild.
The Park itself begins around 4000m and is a real Chilean gem - herds of llama and alpaca, amazing altiplano scenery with snow capped volcanos rising to almost 6000m and high altitude lakes, which are home to numerous bird species. We spotted numerous visacachas, lots of very tame vicuñas, rhea, taguas and Andean gulls. Lake Chunagarra is a real beauty spot at 4500m, one of the worlds highest lakes where much of the wildlife is concentrated. Towering over the lake are the twin volcanic peaks of Payachata, part of a chain which delineate the Bolivian border. Dropping back down, I spent the night in the lovely Aymara town of Putre and then had to rise at the ridiculous hour of 3am to get the night bus bound for La Paz.
The bus arrived at the 4500m border crossing at 5am, outside it must have been around -15C and I sat on the bus shivering waiting for dawn. The views of Lake Chunagarra here must make this one of the worlds most scenic border crossings, which was some compensation for the fact that the border did not open til 8am. The crossing itself was a formality and we were soon into Bolivia, the impressive form of Volcano Sajama soon began to dominate the scenery. At 6560m, its the countrys highest point. I began to feel the effects of mild soroche and gasped for air, feeling exhausted from the lack of sleep. Some three hours later, we arrived at El Alto on the outskirts of La Paz and the bus refused to go any further. Cursing the driver, the locals quickly piled out and boarded flotas into the city. I followed suit and we soon arrived at La Ceja, the rim of this incredible city and gazed in awe 300m down to the city below me - the shanty houses clinging to the hillsides. Luckily the flota took me right down to the centre and I soon found a hotel, where I decided that the best plan was to first catch up on some sleep.
This part of Northern Chile used to belong to Peru and Bolivia and was annexed by Chile after the War of the Pacific (1879-84), cutting off Bolivia´s access to the sea. Chile has profited massively from the territorial gains - the land is rich in copper and nitrates, which are still in plentiful supply to this day and the Bolivian´s have never really forgiven them.
I arrived in Arica after a hellish overnight bus journey through the Atacama desert during which I just couldn´t breathe at all. It seemed strange as the bus was decending towards sea level and anyway, surely I was used to the altitude now ? In Arica itself, things got even worse, so for the first day there I was confined to bed, feeling very asthmatic, only rising to grab a quick bite to eat. Then I realised, I must be experiencing an allergic reaction to the doxycycline I was taking as anti-malarials. The alarming thing was, this must have started in San Pedro or even Bolivia but the effects were masked because I had thought the shortness of breath was altitude related.
I rose the next day feeling much better having got to the root of the problem and the town too seemed to come to life. I wasn´t really in the mood for the beach so instead walked up to the monument to the heroes to get a birds-eye perspective over town, via some old colonial era buildings desiged by Gustav Eiffel and then back in town, booked up a trip to Parque Nacional Lauca.
The Park is a World Biosphere Reserve and is home to a number of protected and endangered species - guanacos, vicuñas, visacachas and chinchillas, pumas, Andean foxes, condors, rhea, Chilean flamingos, taguas and other rare birds. Top of the food chain here are the condors and the elusive puma, both of which prey on the vicuña - a real success story here. It was once in danger of extinction but thanks to efforts at the Park, its numbers are now much healthier. The tour took us steadily up to over 4000m from sea level and after the extra rest day I felt fine with only a slight dizziness, which was perhaps to be expected.
On the way, up through the desert we passed tracts of the rare and unusual Candlebra Cactus, which somehow manages to grow between 2500 and 3000m in an almost rainless environment. Above this height, the landscape came to life with colourful mineral rich soil and scenic viewpoints at Pucara and Socorama. Guanaco thrive here up to 3500m and above that height the more slender vicuña takes over. A pair of condors cruised low over us, it was the closest I have seen them in the wild.
The Park itself begins around 4000m and is a real Chilean gem - herds of llama and alpaca, amazing altiplano scenery with snow capped volcanos rising to almost 6000m and high altitude lakes, which are home to numerous bird species. We spotted numerous visacachas, lots of very tame vicuñas, rhea, taguas and Andean gulls. Lake Chunagarra is a real beauty spot at 4500m, one of the worlds highest lakes where much of the wildlife is concentrated. Towering over the lake are the twin volcanic peaks of Payachata, part of a chain which delineate the Bolivian border. Dropping back down, I spent the night in the lovely Aymara town of Putre and then had to rise at the ridiculous hour of 3am to get the night bus bound for La Paz.
The bus arrived at the 4500m border crossing at 5am, outside it must have been around -15C and I sat on the bus shivering waiting for dawn. The views of Lake Chunagarra here must make this one of the worlds most scenic border crossings, which was some compensation for the fact that the border did not open til 8am. The crossing itself was a formality and we were soon into Bolivia, the impressive form of Volcano Sajama soon began to dominate the scenery. At 6560m, its the countrys highest point. I began to feel the effects of mild soroche and gasped for air, feeling exhausted from the lack of sleep. Some three hours later, we arrived at El Alto on the outskirts of La Paz and the bus refused to go any further. Cursing the driver, the locals quickly piled out and boarded flotas into the city. I followed suit and we soon arrived at La Ceja, the rim of this incredible city and gazed in awe 300m down to the city below me - the shanty houses clinging to the hillsides. Luckily the flota took me right down to the centre and I soon found a hotel, where I decided that the best plan was to first catch up on some sleep.
posted by sacred trails @ 3:56 PM
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