Dinosaur tracks and awesome landscape (Part 3)

Donkeys are part of the landscape. They, like all animals, roam freely.

Jan sitting at the edge of Maragua Crater having a well earned sip of water after ascending from 3,100 to 3,300 in just a few minutes first thing in the morning. OK, so I found that harder than she did :)

Dinosaur tracks. These are for real.

But Tyrannosaurus Rex made for huge tracks. The story is the tracks fossilized due to a vulcano eruption or some such.

Me with much smaller dino tracks. The people think that when other parts of the landscape are revealed with big rains, many more tracks will be found.

Lunch break at a beautiful spot overlooking the valley toward Maragua and sporting this sculpted hangout for Jan.

Potolo, our destination for night 2. While at 3,100m it has more water than other places along this track and farming was active already as a result.

Day two of the Condor Treking Excursion brought some impressive moments with Dinosaurs. The landscape moved from the copper reds to the silver greys and greens and much in between. These mountains are rich in minerals, but they apparently are not dense enough to warrant mining. There  are other areas nearby, for instance, Potosi and its silver mines. Most of this trek is above treeline, but it is more a matter of how arid various areas are.

The days start early out here - yes, breakfast at 6:30 am - and the rewards are amazing. We have about 12 hours of day light so all activity outdoors takes place in that window. Johnny, our guide, while a bit reserved, was fun to spend 3 days with, converse about life, natural features, rocks, tracks and his plans for a 1 year work exchange to Germany. He is flying to Hamburg in mid-September. (I promised him he would be received well, enjoy German hospitality and make real friends.)