We continue the trip on a wonderful road, in the middle of the mountains and in a virgin nature… We really feel alone… Here, without 4X4, it would have been impossible to continue

The landscapes become more and more beautiful … Rios, water falls, green valleys, snow-covered mountains…

When it is the time for a nap,  Luka continues to sleep even in the humps, drivings in the mud, rivers or others,… impressive.

 

Small hesitation before passing the bridge… Whew, we managed !

Children are installed on the roof rack and are shouting ' the condors'... There are several condors just in front of us. They plane in the ascending and downward winds, incredible spectacle…
Later, the children will draw what they saw…
 

When we arrive at the thermal baths, we are happy… We have the choice between temperated, hot or extremely hot water...depending on the quantities of water which are deviated (you have to place stones on the way of  the water) to the “thermal pools”… very hot water leaves the ground and runs in small paths … The bottom of the pools is muddy. After a few minutes to stir up mud at the bottom, water takes an ochre color (certainly due to sulfur and iron contained in the mud).

While leaving the thermal baths, everyone is super relaxed

A little bit later, the children and Catherine decide to go for a slip on the ice of the mountains… the sun is shining.

 

We must pass a small river of approximately  8 m width… water is full with sediments and we cannot see throughout. Daniel tries to bore the depth, but it is not easy. Daniel's decision is : we'll do it ! Daniel passes the short one, 1st, 2nd,… we enter in the water and the Defender has almost water at the bonnet… Catherine stops taking pictures and shouts… for the children it's heaven on earth.  When we leave the river, water runs out of everywhere…

We are in the middle of nowhere at 2060 m of altitude, in a splendid cordillera, surrounded by mountains… We decide to sleep in the valley which is just before the thermal baths… Surrounded by animals which are living there. At the evening, around a fire, we hear only the Rio running, sometimes wild horses far away and noises of several kinds of birds… the children are cooking pots that they moulded in clay… They completely changed compared to the beginning of the trip… Sacha even declared: “Dad, you know, I love the planet Earth…”. The night is great...

In the morning, before the school starts, Sacha and Lisa try to reconstitute the skeleton of an animal (a cow) starting from the scattered bones…

A little bit later on the road we discover a dead animal. The children take the opportunity to check if their arrangement of the bones was correct… Sacha shouts: “We missed the horns…” Daniel cuts the horns with the axe, the children want to keep them… The horns will join the collection of shells, stones and other things which must be returned to Belgium.

These 2 days were really incredible. We realized the dream we had before arriving in South America...  We were really alone in the world in the cordillera…

It is now time to continue towards Mendoza to find a passage towards Chile, to check part of our equipment, to build up food stocks … and to fix the problem of the lost telephone.