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Mericã readers,
We all started off the morning with the moonlight shining through the room. Time for breakfast! We all had scrambled eggs and plenty of bread! Yummy! Who doesn't love bread though? We had a very long day today, mostly of our day was spent in the car because we have so much things to see today.
The first stop was at the Galaxy Cave, a prehistoric cave. The place was used by the before Incas, and people who found the place thought people who died in there were killed by poisonous gas. The bodies were found in a fetal position holding their throats. We also saw the petrified cactus; they were made by underwater chemicals that were used to provide minerals and heats for the coral to grow on the cactus. We were on road once again after 20 minutes.
Next stop, we saw stone army, the undetermined myth story about this area. The war was between Chile and Bolivia; the Bolivian army was outnumbered from 5 to 1. So, Bolivian people put up lots of tents so it was apparent that many troops were around. The scouts of Chilean army came and thought that Bolivian army was vastly numbered. It bought Bolivian army some time for some plans.
We saw Ollague Volcano next; the ground in this area is a result of mixed ashes and lava foams. We also saw a unique plant called Yareta. They're almost 1,500 years old because they grow very slowly. Yareta were grown by Incas to produce tea.
After Ollague Volcano, we visited Cañapa lagoon. There were 38 different kinds of lagoons in Andes mountain area. All of 38 lagoons, they all have volcanic water, the main reason why lagoons have minerals for flamingo to survive. The white part in lagoon is borax, and its essential for flamingo because during the first month of baby are fed borax. The father will eat it then puke it into baby's mouth to feed the baby. The flamingo's first 6 months feather color is usually gray, but after 6 months they start to eat red algae, that's when their feathers turn to pink. There are 3 different kinds of flamingo, Andean, Chilean, and The James. Other ride to the next lagoon! Before going to next one, we had a lunch.
The lunch was very good and we hit the road again. We visited the Smelly Lagoon; the name was named due to high traces of sulfur in the water. This lagoon is third largest lagoon in this area, and the lagoon doesn't freeze during wintertime. Around 8,000 flamingos live in this area. We were in awe of fascinating Rock tree; the area was formed million years ago. The rock was formed when massive amount of lava which were ejected by the volcano and ended up in the water which the mixture gave the strange form of rocks.
Best part of the day has yet came until we arrived Red Lagoon. The lagoon color was red due to high concentration of red algae. You'll find the red algae in other area, but this area has the highest amount of red algae, which turns the water into red. During January and February, the flamingo mass breeds to up to around 23 thousand in this area during that time period! You can see some of borax, and a prehistoric ice at the lagoon!
This is how great our day was, and the places that we visited are great. Can't wait for one more day to come before we close off our journey…
~Ashlene (Kangaroo)
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