Chile Guide
El Norte Grande
Parque Nacional Lauca
As you continue up the main road, about 4km past the turn-off to Putre a little dirt road on the right leads 3km to the Termas de Jurasi – a beautifully situated tin shack containing two large baths of hot thermal water plus a large open-air, concrete pool, along with toilets and changing rooms (open daylight hours, CH$500–1000). Back on the paved road, a steep 7km up from the turn-off to the springs, at a 4400-metre-high mountain pass, you cross the boundary into PARQUE NACIONAL LAUCA. By now the air is thin and cold, and the road is flanked by light-green bofedal (highland pasture) where herds of wild vicuña come to feed in the mornings. Ten kilometres into the park, you reach the Conaf hut at Las Cuevas, a good place to stop to check on weather and road conditions and observe the comical antics of vizcachas, cuddly chinchilla-like rodents with curly tails and a spring-like leap. From here the road continues through a wide, green plain filled with grazing llamas and alpacas, passing the turn-off for Parinacota, 19km on from the Conaf hut, and Lago Chungará, a further 18km along the road.