The next stop was at a ski resort that was sort of open. It was still early in the season and there had only been enough snowfall to partially open the slopes. We stopped there to take the chairlift up to the top for some photo opportunities. It was way cool. It was as if you were a bird soaring and could see unobstructed for miles in any direction. If you were even a few feet from the edge, it looked like you were at the edge of the world with nothing visible below you and nothing but mountaintops and blue sky in front of you. The illusion was awesome. Between the four of us, we took several hundred pictures. I was taking picture with both hands, so to speak, as I had my regular camera in one hand and the iPhone in the other. I wanted the digital camera for its resolution and other features, but I had to have the iPhone for posting pictures to the net and e-mailing pictures to folks back home.
After the photo shoot, it was back to the bus for a short drive to the border with Chile and the restaurant where we would eat lunch. I was amazed when our guide told us we were over 11,000 feet in elevation. I had noticed there did not seem to be enough O2, but I thought it was because I was wedged into a tiny bus seat. I had absolutely no perception that we had climbed to that kind of elevation. As I mentioned earlier, it appeared we were driving from valley to valley without gaining a whole lot of altitude. Each valley seemed to have its ups and downs both, nothing extreme, but, nevertheless, we had traveled to the 11,000-feet-plus mark.
Lunch was to be made up of local cuisine and served at a local roadside restaurant. The town looked pretty much abandoned and the restaurant looked the same from the outside. If it were not for the tour buses, there would have been no activity in the town. Once inside, it was obvious that the residents of the town that were not eating here were working here. The smell was enticing and the atmosphere was friendly and we bellied up to the cafeteria-style line for some food. I had baked chicken, rice, and some sort of stew with meat and vegetables. It was hot, filling, and pretty tasty as well.
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- This shot was taken from the mid station drop off. I would have loved for there to have been time and snow enough to be able to ski here.
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- My girls posing for a picture at the chairlift’s mid station. If you look closely you can barely see the road in the valley below.
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- The views were magnificent no matter which way you were looking.
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- This is the little town where we stopped for lunch and the border with Chile.
