About the Valley of the Moon, what can I say? It was yet another transcendental experience.
We stayed all night to take pictures of the starry sky and the rock formations in the valley of the moon park. And a funny incident or adventure. The park is closed at night as is normal. But we, that is, me and Valentin Grigore, after taking pictures and exhausting the potential of the belvedere observation point on the side of the road, we decided to enter the park anyway.
Well don’t imagine that belvedere point was right on the side of the road I did some climbing and stayed for hours at that point. But it wasn’t enough for a whole night, was it?
Moon Valley – two parts
This is a part where photos can transmit more than text.
At what seemed like the end of an already very full day, after Death Valley and the visit to ALMA, at the end of the day, Valentin and I stopped at an observation point.
From one to another, we reached the point that I photographed immediately after we got out of the car.
That is, somewhere far away, down, on land that, at that hour of twilight, really seemed lunar. I can’t even describe the feeling to you then.
Something so unplanned, in an exotic, unknown place. A lunar landscape, twilight and then evening and then night and try photography.
Jumping from one rock to another. I didn’t know how dangerous it was.
I didn’t know what it was exactly but it was magnificent, fascinating, some moments that seemed to be taken from a super strange and interesting dream.
As a feeling, it was the closest to the moon.
Photos from the first part:
After this first part with the Valley of the Moon, we went to the hotel. But we didn’t stay long, we met again, took the car and headed towards the entrance to the Valea Lunii official park.
There I found that a barrier was in the middle of the road blocking one of the entrances.
Being from Romania, I raised the barrier and passed. A guard woke up from his sleep and then I negotiated with him the entrance to the park, helped by the fact that we had already passed the barrier.
But everything was legal in the end as I also got an entry ticket.
Thus we ended up taking pictures of the starry sky, a sky of exceptional quality. The sky, the pictures.. I’m a beginner.
Photos from the 2nd part:
We captured the rock formations as well as the quartz or semi-precious stones that were scattered all around us.
We stayed there till morning and then another sunrise photo session followed.
Even if the pictures turned out better in the second part, with more interested formations and a more tender landscape, the feeling was much more interesting in the strange mini-excursion that started at dusk, unexpectedly.
When I didn’t know where I was and what I was doing.
It was an extraordinary almost transcendental experience.
As I said, we stayed at this place, moving around and taking photos until dawn:
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Flamingo Birds
July 10 – Wednesday
The 10th of July was a quieter day by the standards of this trip but very full after compared to a typical relaxation trip.
After spending the night photographing stars until morning, and normally, I woke up a little later that Wednesday and soon found that the others had gone to photograph flamingos.
Since those in my mini group didn’t want to come anymore, being very tired after so many experiences, even though they hadn’t stayed overnight until the morning for pictures, I took his car and went to the flamingo alone.
After a late breakfast I thought of leaving by car to the flamingo. It would have been something not to be missed. And I did well. Now I didn’t know exactly where the entrance to the park was that I needed to enter, and after a few hours of walking through the desert, I ended up on the other side of the park.
The other side of the park is over a hundred kilometers away.
But I turned around and drove through the desert on a very well paved dirt road at about 160 km per hour making up some time and having a super cool experience and adventure even on the road.
From these episodes you can tell the intensity of this trip. But the drive itself through the desert for hours was an experience in itself.
We finally arrived at the good entrance of the Chaxa Flamencos lagoon.
I got good hours photographing flamingos with the telephoto lenses at my disposal.
Located in northern Chile, the entire area is a kind of reserve for Famingo.
This incredible landscape in the middle of the highlands of Chile is home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, making it one of the favorite places for those visiting this region.
I will again let the pictures speak for themselves because I have nothing more to add to their beauty to the beauty of fields full of flamingos and families of flamingos.
Even so, I haven’t seen everything in the area. You, if you have more time, can visit the surroundings and Altiplano, Laguna Lejia, Laguna Verde, Aguas Calientes.