Lima seems pretty far away after only 4 days on the road. At 11400′ high, in Putre, Chile, it feels like we have left weeks ago.
The 2 first days were spent in the car, driving toward the Chilean border.
Going down south-east, winding along the wonderful Peruvian coast was delightful : alone on the road (almost…) in a hilly and varied desert, deeply contrasting with the Pacific Ocean blue.
A first night on a beach camping (Puerto Inka), a second one in the little port of Ilo are definitely opening the doors for some vacations, just enough for the mind to escape the daily routine. Yes, the sky is blue !
Crossing the Peruvian border near Tacna was pretty quick. I was a bit anxious about the car paperwork, but finally everything went smoothly. On the Chilean side, it took barely longer… For a second we were a tiny bit discouraged when an officer ask us to empty the whole car to put item after item in the scanner… Finally we just had to take out our main luggage and some closed bags. They didn’t even check for fruits or vegetables.
After a little detour to Arica (first town in Chile coming from Peru) to get some groceries and to refill our gas tank we can finally climb up the mountains to Putre, just at the entrance of the Lauca National Park.
There is actually no gas station between Arica and Tembo Quemado in Bolivia. It is possible to buy some jerry cans in Putre shops.
The first day in mountain at a pretty decent altitude means rest ! It takes time to fully acclimatize and it is a step by step process.
Therefore after a second night in the mountains (without headache) in the Kukuli hotel (simple but comfortable), we are spending most of our day on the altiplano, in the National Park between 13800′ and 15000′. Oxygen is missing but the view is stunning.
Snow capped volcanoes, vicuñas, flamingos, viscacha, rheas, lamas are all taking part of this incredible landscape, totally unreal.
Tomorrow we will continue our discovery of the altiplano before heading to Bolivia, probably at the end of the week. The next 15 days will be above 13000′.
