| In spite of the extreme cold, I slept very well. My 2 liter water
bottle was frozen solid when I awoke. The sun rose at 7:50, just
as we finished breakfast. Brian and Rich took off on their correlation
mission while the rest of us started to break camp. I took the opportunity
to reorganize my stuff. The sun felt so good! Brian and Rich
returned within an hour and packed their gear. By chance, Belén’s
Maicu rode by on his bicycle so we hailed him and gave him the letters
and a bag full of coca leaves. We just weren’t chewing them like
we thought we would. I thought they were pretty old and dry.
Anyhow, we left camp and drove westward toward Turco, turning south toward
Corque just before town.
The Altiplano is beautiful in its stark monotony with subdued colors
in both the countryside and the adobe towns. The only bright colors
are the women’s shawls, filled with whatever it is they are always carrying
from here to there. We see them walking down the roads, bent under
their burdens wearing their funny looking bowler-style hats. The
men all wear Fedoras but lack the color. The only other bright color around
is borne by the thousands of pink flamingos we see grazing wherever standing
water is to be found. There are also thousands of llamas being herded
by men, boys and dogs.
 |
I really admire flamingos. They have adapted to all of
the climatic extremes
South America has to offer. Not only are they abundant
on the Altiplano
but I have seen them as far south as southern Tierra
del Fuego. Their diet
doesn't give them the bright pink color seen in their
African cousins but
when they fly brilliant pink wing feathers are their
most striking feature. |
We reached the Corque area around noon and spent the next few hours
drilling four 7-hole sites across the east limb of the syncline.
We’ll hit the west limb on our way to Argentina. Several large truckloads
of local people passed us. They were apparently all headed for Oruro.
 |
The Río Corque is one of the rare rivers that
cross the Altiplano. The
Altiplano is an internally-draining basin so none of
this water reaches the
sea. It is evaporated from one of the immense salars
that typify the area. |
| After finishing, we made a long, dusty drive
to the God-forsaken town of Oruro where we picked up the paved road and
headed north to La Paz. Traffic was moderately heavy. After
sunset, I swear every oncoming truck flashed its high beams at us and we
reciprocated. In Argentina we always joked that this was a Latin
American vehicular mating ritual… maybe it is!
We arrived in La Paz around 8:30 and checked into the hotel España.
I took my first shower and made my first change of clothes in 6 days.
God, was I grubby. The others were too, of course, I think Matt took
the prize. I dallied too long under the hot water and didn’t get
the chance to shave.
We ate at a place called Gringo Limón. The others assured
me that eating the salad was fine so I did. I also had a Milenesa
Napolitana and two salteño red wines; a Malbec and a Merlot.
It was a good meal but not quite the quality of the Argentine counterpart.
We stopped at a pool hall/bar on the way back to the hotel. Rich seemed
to be rather well known there. I was too tired to function coherently and
didn't object when the others were ready to go. Exhausted upon our return
to the hotel, I fell asleep instantly under warm blankets and between clean
sheets at an ungodly 12:15. |
 |
| Matt drills a core while Rich pumps
the cooling/lubricating water at one of the sites where the road cuts through
the Corque Syncline. These samples will be used to determine the magnitude
of tectonic rotation in the area. |
|