Naked Mountains, Mummies and Baby Llamas

Week 3 adventure didn't disappoint!!   This week for our "Tourist Day" we drove up through the Azapa Valley, visited the Chinchorro Mummies (the oldest mummies in the world), drove across the mountain into the Lluta Valley and had a visit from a llama.  It was a very fun day.  As we were driving through the mountains and the valleys my brother pointed out something that I guess I had recognized but didn't really know how to express.  He said that at home we are used to seeing mountains with trees and growth on them and that its still kinda weird to see mountains with nothing on them...hence the phrase, "Naked Mountains" was born!

Geoglyphs

   I thought these were rather neat seeing as how they are ancient works of art that are believed to have been constructed sometime between 600 - 1500 AD.  It just fascinates me that these works of art are still around and naturally preserved.  

Chinchorro Mummies

   What a mind blowing fact that the mummies that I was able to view in person have been dated back to as early as 7000BC.  When you think of mummies you automatically think of Egypt, or at least I do! But the earliest Egyptian mummy was dated around 3000 BC...just to put this into perspective!!  It was such as interesting thing to be able to see.

Azapa Valley

   Known for the unique olives of Azapa.

Lluta Valley

   The Lluta river flows right through the valley which makes it ideal for agriculture for the region.  The river is fed by the rainy season in Bolivia and empties into the Pacific Ocean in Arica.  The Lluta valley is also home to the candelabra cactus, we actually parked along the river and since it was dried up this time of year we were able to walk out and get some pictures of a cactus close up.  We also ventured out to the village of Molinos where we found a pretty little church and a cute little man herding sheep.

River bed, black spot on left side of photo is our car! 

The Baby Llama.

   As many of you have already seen on Facebook, I had an interesting encounter with a baby llama.  It all started sweet enough...Here is a photo reel of how quickly things unfolded...

Then the sweet Llama went away momentarily... then came back.  

They told me "Karla, kneel down beside him..."

He bit my arm...and this photo captured my raw 

emotion of how my brain processed what was actually happening.

I guess he got offended by my facial expressions and laughs because he decided to walk away... 

poor little llama.