Laguna de los Pozuelos.
February 2011.
Here we are in the tropics.
It it not what we were expecting as far as weather is concerned, and it is a pity that the heating system of the car is broken.
To reach the small village of Iruya, we cross our first pass at 4000 meters, surrounded by clouds.
The road is beautiful and we wonder how these fields on the montains are still cultivated.
We have been said that after each rain, the road around this small tunnel is blocked by rubble. We are lucky, today the weather is Ok.
The village of Iruya, built on a cliff, is splendid.
We wander in the streets, but the cold makes us return to the car more quickly than expected.
Welcome to the tropics!
As we are short of water, we fill our tanks pumping in a small mountain stream.
The pump does not go quickly and it takes 25 minutes to fill our 100 liters reserve.
In Abra Pampa, at the extreme north of Argentina, we meet Florian and Karine who travel by bike through South America with their two daughters aged 3 and 8.
They just spent three months in Bolivia and are happy to be back to civilization.
We see lots of baby llamas, as well as our first vicuna.
Near the Laguna de los Pozuelos, Julian invites us to sleep next to his house.
We spend our first night above 3500 meters and we start to suffer from the lack of air, especially at night.
At dawn, the sky is clear and the colors are gorgeous.
While we fold the tent, Octavie and Beatrix are playing nuns.
For sure, children do not lack imagination.
We go to explore the Laguna de los Pozuelos.
We are alone and far away, we see a multitude of flamingos.
But it has been raining recently and the area around the Laguna is wet.
And what would happen, happened.
Lift the car, place the recovery plates below the wheels, and move two meters backward.
It looks easy, but the ground is so soft that the Hi-lift sinks into the mud.
We use everything that we have, including our asado grill....
To stabilize the soil, Charlotte and the children collect during hours small pieces of wood that litter the plain.
Beatrix does not seem that concerned by the event and makes a little fort.
After 6 hours of efforts, we finnaly manage to get the car out, as the sun vanishes behind the montains...
The next day we decide to explore the laguna but this time walking.
The children gather dozens of feathers and are delighted.
But flamengos are fearful and it is not easy to approach them.
Nevertheless, the show is wonderful.
After these rather busy days, we head towards Salta, as we are waiting for spare parts for the car to arrive there from France by TNT.