Day 14 Lagoons Alpaca and thermal springs

Day 14

Phew 6 o'clock. Sporty time. Did you know that in higher altitudes you have little or no deep sleep phase? It's really tiring.

But hey, we were collected at our accommodation at 6 sharp. We went to the view of the volcanoes Misty and Pichhu Pichhu. It was really great. But why do there have to be so many mosquitoes at an altitude of 2800 meters? Bahhh. They are as small as thunderflies. Really annoying.

After a nice stay, we stopped in the next town and looked at a church and the guide explained how important bullfights are in their history.

A short while later there was breakfast. We now had a really nasty headache (3000 meters) and had to drink some coca tea. Strangely enough, the tea is not allowed in Germany ;) Btmg and stuff ;)

Take a quick pee and move on. But first I got a real shock. No, it wasn't the coca tea. Suddenly there was a turkey in front of me 😱

After an hour of bumpy roads and gravel tracks we reached the altitude of 4000 meters. The Salinas Lagoon - a salt lagoon. Many llamas, alpacas and vicunas live here. And pumas 😱 the guide just said that a few animals like to be eaten at night :'D

Short information lesson:

Vicunas: small, solid brown and cannot be kept (only wild)

Alpaca: smaller than llama and solid color

Llama: larger than alpaca and at least two colored.

Well, of course the animals are red every now and then when the puma comes...

In the salt desert, Laura's headache became very severe. Mine were gone. I just found walking and breathing very tiring.

We had fun in the salt lagoon and played with a few figures. Look at the pictures. There is also a funny video. If you would like this, please write to me! :)

After the lagoon we went to the highest altitude of the day. After drinking 4 liters of water, we urgently had to go to the toilet again. The guide just said that there is an Inca toilet everywhere here, so go quietly. No thanks. I can stop ;D

We arrived at the thermal springs at 4500 meters. Well, two holes... They were warm. Bubbles rose. But the stuff smelled bahh.

Then we were able to look at a geyser. At the end we were 4600 meters high. I was feeling really bad now. Headaches began and walking was limited to a slow waddle at 2 km/h. Breathing became more and more difficult. The guide then gave us something similar to peppermint oil. Has helped. Breathing much easier.

The question that occurred to me was whether you burn more calories at altitude. Yes! There are 150 calories per 100 meters of altitude. If oO runs, the rule only counts from 4000 meters. Let's stay in La Paz for 4 weeks later 😀

On the way back I felt significantly better. Instead, Laura became more and more fascinated by the heights. She continues to have a terrible headache in Arequipa. Mine are gone and I'm feeling better than the days before. Top.

Well, the end of the trip was a meal.

I've almost finished my to-do list for food and drinks. Now all that's missing is the cerviche. Guess what the food was in the last picture?

It tasted like chicken/duck only was noticeably more fatty. Once is enough for me ;)

Have fun guessing and enjoy the cold weather.

Ciao

Freddy