Clutching at Bodafel

Into Parque Nationale Lauca today. Carlos ran into clutch problems early in the day – and that sort of set the tone for the day. We limped across to Lago Chungara near V. Parinacota; just 5k from the Bolivian border. Stopped at Parinacota village – a pretty little place with a 17^th century church. The sun was out but it was a moody day and V. Parinacota was shrouded in clouds – carrying over from the previous afternoon. Lago Chungara is supposedly the world’s highest lake – at 4600m and looked sullen under cloud cover. The place was pleasant enough but a worried Carlos and a persistent drizzle meant we needed to make a fairly quick exit. The drive back to Arica was long and arduous – as we descended 4500m without a clutch. Some hair-raising moments, specially when you see those little crosses by the roadside while you yourself are struggling!

Got back to a warm welcome from my hosts, Marie-Jeanne and David, a French-Chileno couple. I told Marie Jeanne I’d pay my bill but she fussed over me and said “no, no – go have a shower and relax, you can pay later”. David didn’t speak English – but kept asking me “Bien?”..

Agnes had figured out there was a fireworks display in the main square – in honour of Arica-Parinacota becoming Chile’s XVIth region (a bit like Jharkhand and Uttarkhand I suppose). Which incidentally was the reason M. Bachelet was here. We met up after dinner for a Pisco Sour and went to the main square. It looked like all of Arica was there. The atmosphere was festive (vendors selling snacks and sweets, a band playing rock and fountains lit in neon) – but no fireworks. We finally called it a day at 11:00pm and walked back to our hostels. As I walked into my hotel – it began, the night sky was lit up for a good 20 min!