Before I begin our Wednesday adventure, here are some beautiful plates from Tuesday.

 

Five different varieties of potato sliced very thin, served with pickled vegetables and braised short rib.

This is a ratatouille roulade- delicious down to the last dot!

 

 

Wednesday's hike was Machuca to Rio Grande. We began at about 14,000 feet in a cold wind.

Charlotte took this picture of us bundled up against the cold.

The first part of the hike was along a wetland where Charlotte captured this Andean goose (and a couple of ducks on the left).

The white is ice!

Our all-day hike followed a river as it flowed from the town of Machuca to the town of Rio Grande. We stopped for lunch in an abandoned village.

Charlotte snapped this picture of me as I sat down for our picnic.

This grinding stone is evidence of the agricultural past of this area.

If you look closely, you will see the terraces where the crops were grown.

The lupine of this region is a close relative of our own bluebonnet.

Here we are at the end of our hike.