Last Sunday afternoon, our guide took us to the Valley of the Moon and Death Valley – it felt like we were on another planet. The next morning, we saw gorgeous geology in Rainbow Valley, and then Devil’s Gorge in the afternoon. That night, we had a late dinner and then went stargazing a little outside of town – I’ve never seen stars like that!
Tuesday our guide Cris drove us two hours to Red Rocks, around 13,000 feet above sea level. We walked over red rocks to get to a big salt flat. After that, we visited two incredibly blue lagoons nearby. During the day we saw flamingoes, giant grebes, lots of vacunas (like a small llama), and two foxes! John spotted one on the side of the highway so we got a really good look at him up-close.
Wednesday we went to 14,000 feet to the geothermals to see the geysers, another amazing sight — and we had some great birding along the way at two roadside lagoons. Cris sat up a fancy lunch for the three of us overlooking a gorge with vacunas and water birds eating algae from a stream. We spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on our patio and reading (“More,” for me).
We really had a great vacation – the customer service, lodging, food, and wine at Awasi was wonderful – honestly one of the very best places I’ve ever stayed.
Thursday was our travel day, and made our way home via Santiago – it’s alway good to see little Flavia again! John and I finished “The Residence.” I got caught up on “White Lotus” and binged on some true life crime while I nursed a cold.