First thing in the morning my friend Callie and I were off to the National Flamingo Reserve and boy was it beautiful. After passing through the town of Toconao, we arrived at the reserve, walked around, and ate breakfast served.

As part of our breakfast, we drank coca tea to prevent altitude sickness. Yes, coca is the plant used to make cocaine. No, the tea does not get you high. We also packed caramelos de coca (hard candies with coca leaves in them) for later in the day just in case we starting feel sick.

Next we stopped in a town called Socaire to look at a church and the landscape. Special farming techniques were used in the area because of the dry conditions. We had learned that the natives from this area had been using these techniques for ages in our Native Cultures class, so it was cool to see in person.

And then we were off to Lagunas Altipanicas, the main show. I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves. It felt like I was standing in a painting.

We left the lakes and headed back towards San Pedro.

We were back in San Pedro after stopping for ice cream in Toconao for a short rest and some lunch before heading off the the afternoon’s activities. First we went to Valle de la Luna.

On our way out of Valle de the Luna we stopped to go on a short spelunking adventure. Callie was hesitant because she a little claustrophobic, but she made it through.

And off the Valle de la Muerte we went!

And finally to watch the sun set over the valley.

I wasn’t expecting too much from the Lagunas Altiplanicas and absolutely amazed. But I had very high expectations for the valleys and ended up being slightly disappointed with the crowds of people. If I did it over again, I would go to the valleys on bike and see the sunset from a different location without the hundreds of people. All in all an amazing day.

Location: Valle de la Luna