What a Colorful World

Well,  I can say with confidence that Bolivian food is,  just not that good.  Bland,  repetitive,  underwhelming. Especially on excursions like this,  there is only instant coffee,  powdered milk, and cocoa mix. But,  Casie and I created our own Starbucks by mixing all powdered substances into our hot water, and it was pretty tasty. We call it tres polvos. Better than stale bread breakfast.

We were on the road again by 7:30, and drove four two hours.  Lots more alpaca/llama/vicuñas to see (I'm counting them all into the llama total). We got to stop and see the quinoa up close. 

And we stopped at another train. Next it was the Volcano Ollague!  It is inactive,  but the guide tells us we could see it puffing smoke if the clouds weren't there. We climbed around on the lava rocks well below the mouth of the volcano.

I want one

There a are snow-capped mountains all around us,  and the road is very bumpy and rough. Eventually we come to a series of lakes, with flamingos! They are just chilling,  walking around in the mud.

Derp

 We stop for lunch at a "rest stop" beside a lake.  Our guide sets our food out and announces "serve yourselves,  it's flamingo milanese,  with pasta and vegetables. " hah,  he used the same joke last night about our chicken dinner.  I told him it seemed in poor taste to eat flamingo,  in front of flamingos.

We payed $b5 ($0.75) to use the toilets,  which was a real treat.  Desperate times...
It was a strange pit toilet,  split into two sections, for 1 and 2. Pictures with arrows and directions for use, warning : respect the urinals,  or you will clean them! Haha so much disrespect.

As we drive we stop by some rocks, a pretty colorful mountain,  and a very pretty colorful lake! This is Laguna Colorada, and it is pink from algae and full of flamingos!

High

We had our tea, and crackers. We longed for the sweet cookies the other, obnoxious group had.  So Nestor puts a spoonful of sugar on his cracker to imagine the luxury of the other group. At first we laughed,  but then realized the ghetto genious of this move, and we all tried it. Keep your cookies, losers.

We had two hours before dinner and the other hostel guests just aren't our kind of crowd,  so away we walked! And walked. It felt good to move anyway,  we were scrunched in the back back seat all day. We headed for the hills, and don't you know, up ahead are some llamas!!! I was so excited.  A little baby llama came trotting towards us, I was out of control!  I couldn't move, she looked at me with that face, and big innocent brown eyes, and so fluffy I could die!

This is our hotel?

Llamaaaaa

::squeals::

Our sleeping room was tonight was cozy. Ugh, good thing we get along well. The people in the other groups make me realize what a nice group we are,  not trashy, loud,  demanding.