Salinas Grandes

I’m sick this morning, but drag my butt to the square regardless. I’m way too early so I wait. The market sets up and opens and one of the women selling her wares directs me to buy water. It soon becomes apparent that she is affiliated with my tour. An older couple, a younger one and I pile into the van. Both the couples reside in Buenos Aires. The van climbs over a 4100 meter pass and descends down again, passing a few guanaco grazing in the desert. The old gentleman snaps pictures almost constantly and replies to statements with a drawn out "ehhhh" which is not helping my headache.

The Salinas Grandes appears as a long stretch of brilliant white disturbed only by an isolated group of rectangular pools dug into the flat. Men with shovels and picks chip away at the crystals and pile them next to the pools. A barely perceivable road is etched on the flat, itself formed in interconnected hexagons.

Some tables, a llama, an owl and part of a house is constructed out of salt. Its very impressive but I want to crawl back into the van and sleep. When we get back I return to the hostel and pull up the covers and resolve not to get up until I feel better, and a fitful twenty hours later, I do.