2017-10-05 Day 172 Thu

Woke up to watch eagles gliding below us. A great view. Have decided to go north of Arequipa into the Reserva National Salinas y Aguada Blanca and not to enter it from the southern side.
The red road that skirts Arequipa to the West is obviously the main route to Cusco and Puno. Full of trucks and buses. A fast road but way too busy for our liking….

The train that kept us awake while staying in Arequipa with Maria.

We finally found a track off the road and perched on a hillock for lunch. Just as we were cleaning up we had visitors. Yes Adrian and Caterina (from ICA supermarket) had seen us perched and stopped by. They informed us that the southern route into the park was not passable. We decided to go find a camp spot together


The two roads into the park on our map had been closed off but google maps showed another that was still usable, so we drove down a lovely smooth sandy track to the reservoir and camped above it.
Saw one Vacuna chasing another so stopped and watched. We assume that the Alfa male was removing a young male from his herd.




We had a nice time in EC Chatting and eating dinner. Nice to get to know some fellow traveling Aussies.