Today we were up early for our 16KM mountain bike ride to Laguna Cejar, a very salty lagoon where we could attempt to swim but would really just float at the surface due to the high salt. Allegedly it's got a higher salt concentration than the Dead Sea.
The bike ride was a long one and a challenging one – at least more so than we expected. The real tricks were several stretches of sand dunes on the dirt roads that you had to drive over perfectly in the right gear or you would definitely fall. And falls did happen in dominoes – if the person before you goes down, you go down.
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| We made it! |
Upon arriving at the lagoon, it was worth it. A random, deep crater, filled with clear blue water that had been heated partially by the sun, but still quite chilly. I ran in, goggles on, and floated about.
The buoyancy was so strong, I felt like I could do sit ups while in the water. We relaxed there a bit, had some fresh fruit and then we were collected in a van and driven back home (phew – the ride back, with more uphill, could have broken us).
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| Check out the Explora beach chair set-up... |
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| Hands Up! (and some feet too) |
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| Fortunately for GG, the camera is far enough away not to capture my nerdy goggles... |
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| Heavily salted and refreshed! |
Another leisurely mid-day followed with swimming, eating, napping – hard to believe this was already our last full day.
That evening we opted for the Salt Flat excursion, a leisurely outing involving van riding and some walking. Just what we needed. The first stop was at Toconao, a town about an hour from San Pedro (and smaller), also set on an oasis with fresh water and soil that allows for fruit tree cultivation.
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| GG on the Toconao village square... |
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| Tocnao bell tower on the main square... |
We wandered there a bit and then took off for the famous salt flats, Salar de Atacama, home of a huge flamingo population and the best place in the area to see the sunset. So, we did that and got lots of great photos:
From there, we returned around 930 and a bit frantic. We had to pack, check out, go to the famous Christmas BBQ dinner and get to sleep early in order to wake up at 445am to go on the Geyser and Hot Spring excursion before our flight.
So, we ran to the bbq, not too dissimilar than the one we experienced in Patagonia – lots of lambs strung up over the fire with plenty of sides. We also were entertained with local San Pedroans performing traditional Christmas festival dances of some sort. Victor, our guide, said I had to request the balleta (shoulder blade) and that’s what the carver gave to me. It was huge, unwieldly, but quite tasty!
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| One big piece of meat... |
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| Lambs on the fire... |
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| Our entertainment... |
We said our goodbyes to Anna and Matt and Jack and Colleen, our friends from the first afternoon hike and exchanged contact info so hopefully we can stay in touch – was nice to make some new friends along the way!
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