In 1998 my lovely bride and I were honeymooning in northern Chile. We arrived in Arica, spent the night and drove from sea-level to 14,820ft in less than 91 miles and 3 hours! We stopped on the way in the little Aymara village of Parinacota that is within the borders of Lauca National Park. The town was completely deserted except for some old women selling weavings and clothing made of wool. The rest of the people were out with flocks of sheep. I found out later that there were only 8 families living there. The entire village was "white-washed". Every building! It was quite a sight. The weather was changing from a warm sunny day to a blustery one with ominous rain clouds threatening from the north. We wandered around and spotted a lonely cross covered in bright red cloth. It was erected on a white base. It was quite a stark image. We were suffering from soroche, (altitude sickness) so we couldn't walk around very much without being winded and worsening our headaches.
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