Thunderstorms were predicted for Monday late afternoon, and although most tours to Laguna Cejar left around 4pm, after a bit of searching we found one that was planning to leave at 2pm in order to avoid the storm.
Laguna Cejar is a salt lagoon that is famous for its turquoise color. Right beside it is another lagoon in which you can swim and experience the strange buoyancy of highly salty water. It was the weirdest and coolist sensation ever! If you let your limbs relax, they just popped up to the surface. If you went on your stomach, as J and Tulip are in this picture, it took a bit of effort to pull them back down and "right" yourself. The water was not super warm, but comfortable, and we stayed and played there for awhile. The view wasn't so bad either. ;-)
After we got out of the water, the salt caked on our skin and formed interesting crystallized patterns. Thankfully there was a bathhouse there with showers to rinse off.
After hanging out in the water for awhile and getting cleaned up, our guide put out some snacks and drinks: Pisco Sour, of course (which is the big thing to drink in Chile--whole aisles in the grocery stores are dedicated to it!) and orange juice. I hadn't tried Pisco Sour since we don't really drink, but I gave it a taste. It's alright, but not really life-changing (Sorry, Chileans! But I did try it, and I have a picture to prove it!)
Our driver said that although he always brings orange juice, he is usually the only one drinking it since everyone else normally wants Pisco Sour. He was thrilled to have some drinking buddies on this excursion.
As we were enjoying our snack under a shelter, we saw the storm roll in. All the folks who signed up for the normal 4pm tours were just arriving and speculating about whether they should swim in the lake with lightning striking all around. We were SO glad we had come earlier when it was not only safe, but also warmer! Sure enough, just as we got back to town, it started really raining in earnest. Thankfully the storm exhausted itself during our dinner and by the time we walked back to our hotel it had let up.
Most nights after the storm the sky had cleared up around 9 or 10, but nevertheless the official stargazing astronomic tours were cancelling left and right (we had signed up two nights in a row already and they had been cancelled). However, J managed to find one that said they would go at 11pm Monday night. Since we were getting up at 4am the next morning to go to the Geysers, I opted to go back to the hotel with the girls so we could get some sleep. After walking down to the agency at 11, he learned that they were postponing the tour until midnight. He came back to the hotel for a few minutes to rest and then went out again. With me drifting in and out of sleep and not really aware of what was going on, it made for an interesting night.
2am J arrives at the room.....
Me, sitting up in bed: *????*
J: I just got back from stargazing
Me: Didn't you already get back before?
J: Yes.
Me: *????*
I wasn't really all that cognizant, to be honest, but I do have a vague memory of all this transpiring. The girls of course slept through all of it without even stirring.
Most nights after the storm the sky had cleared up around 9 or 10, but nevertheless the official stargazing astronomic tours were cancelling left and right (we had signed up two nights in a row already and they had been cancelled). However, J managed to find one that said they would go at 11pm Monday night. Since we were getting up at 4am the next morning to go to the Geysers, I opted to go back to the hotel with the girls so we could get some sleep. After walking down to the agency at 11, he learned that they were postponing the tour until midnight. He came back to the hotel for a few minutes to rest and then went out again. With me drifting in and out of sleep and not really aware of what was going on, it made for an interesting night.
2am J arrives at the room.....
Me, sitting up in bed: *????*
J: I just got back from stargazing
Me: Didn't you already get back before?
J: Yes.
Me: *????*
I wasn't really all that cognizant, to be honest, but I do have a vague memory of all this transpiring. The girls of course slept through all of it without even stirring.
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