Santa Lucía: The Lonely Walk of a Tired Man at the End of the Sunset

long sunset

long sunset

This is the last part, the third, about Santa Lucía. The first part begun in Lagunillas lake, the second was till red rocks and the last part is at the end of the sunset.

There are no much photos at the end, I was tired because my digital camera and my metallic film camera weighted a ton and I considered that accord to the distance to Santa Lucía city it would be dangerous to take more photographs. So I just keep walking a distance approximate of 24 kilometers (14.9 miles) fortunately in the fresh summer of the highlands that’s not a problem; the problem was that my shoes apparently were smaller than my feet (I bought them in internet) and the weight of the cameras and tripod. So now I replaced the big film camera for a compact and plastic one. I love to walk and see, photography is just a register about what I see.

So… let’s see the pics ;-)

Let's build another Tibet

let’s build another Tibet

I guess that town is a place for exploration of minerals or something like that.

a land so high to touch the sky

a land so high you can touch the sky

Here I was descending a hill, quickly, the sun was setting so I wouldn’t have much time before the night.

Points of yellow in a black line

yellow points marching through black asphalt

A shadow hugging the hill

a shadow hugging the hill

two houses in conflict

two houses in conflict

Long kilometres in the highway

long kilometers in the highway

I found the blue flowers of my childhood when I walked also the countryside, they’re lavenders, Aren’t they?

Warm light and blue flowers

warm light and blue flowers

I was lost, I felt a bit of cold and decided to rest so took the following photographs without shoes and lying in the ichu (the yellow grass) and my head in a big rock.

last thoughts of a moribund

last thoughts of a moribund (published before)

The place where giants play with rocks

the place where giants play with rocks

Caressing fingers

caressing fingers

And that was my last photo. I recovered the blood in my members so I felt again the warm weather. I was walking some hours more in the highway. Somebody that transported employers to a mine help me in the last kilometers so it was a good decision to stop to take photographs but I could lost more hours. I saw marvelous things in the night, sadly there was no way to photograph without have risked my possibility to arrive to the city, but always there are second chances ;-)

The last light before the night

the last light before the night

Walking the yellow fields of Santa Lucía and meeting a Red God

Taking a bath


A week ago I wrote you about Lagunillas lagoon. I just was there an hour and decided to walk following the highway in route to Santa Lucía city, this is in Lampa Province, Puno Region, in the highlands of the Peruvian Southeast at 4025 metres above sea level (13 205 feet) Usually foreigners, in special from Europe, suffer the high altitude, I born there so my case is the opposite, I suffer the heat and dense humidity of the coast XP. This is what I found:

Yellow fields and waterfalls with ice

Last End

last end

If you want to know what feels to be the last woman or man on Earth walk the highway in the highlands.

alphabet of circles

alphabet of circles

The lagoon was already an old memory.

Bonded to the earth

bonded to the earth

Sweet and tough home

sweet and tough home

Stones and ice

stones and ice

In the photograph above you can see the summer in the highlands, it’s not hot, it’s cold, just not so much as in July when is winter. Even more you can see an ice block in the lower left of the waterfall upon a rock.

Take a seat and see


Hidden door to a hidden kingdom

hidden door to a hidden realm

After four hours walking I confess I felt tired. So much that I couldn’t notice the person above the hill seeing me. Can you see him/her? Here is a crop:

I can see you

I can seee youu

But I was far from my goal so I keep moving my legs.

The Forgotten Red God in the Green Pastures

shadow in green frame

shadow in green frame

Then the landscape changed and I was in a wilder world of green pastures where live the wild vicuñas, pumas and tarucas (north Andean deer) I just could see a taruca but it ran so fast behind a hill so I couldn’t shot him with my camera (although my stomach asked me to change from hungry walker/photographer to a happy hunter)

it's cold come here

it’s cold, come here

Cloud in love of rocks

a cloud about to tickle the hill

Usually in Peru the rocks with peculiar shapes on hills are venerated and cared by communities since thousand of years. Fortunately this rock is virgin so there weren’t persons who could see me with distrust (they don’t want to understand that I visit places just because those places inspire me the desire to go) It was the end of the afternoon so I went quickly before the night when I should to walk next to the highway.



soft sun in the meadow of long shadows

soft sun in the meadow of long shadows

cloud landing in solitary meadows

cloud landing in solitary meadows

Hidden mushroom

hideaout for a mushroom

blood requiem

blood requiem



If I remember well I think that presence of aluminum give that reddish tone to the rocks.

Son of Atlas

son of Atlas

Red Soldier in eternal watch

red soldier in eternal watch

citadel of mythic ages

citadel of mythic ages

Gelid blue and Silent red

gelid blue and silent red

lines of light

lines of light

And well, this is enough for today. Beyond these rocks I had to continue the highway, but I’ll post that final part in the next week if your patience is still with me ;-)

Kiss (volcanic)

kiss (volcanic)

Lagunillas Lagoon

an army of clouds toward a little boat

an army of clouds toward a little boat

This is a lagoon that actually has no name, Lagunillas in English means “lagoon” so I guess it had once a real name but it’s now forgotten; some politician or governmental technic enemy of imagination choose to put a horrible name to a beautiful place.

It’s in the highway in Santa Lucía District in the highlands of the Peruvian southeast at 4174 metres above sea level (13 694 feet). It’s not a touristic place, I went because I always saw it from the bus and a month ago I thought that would be nice to walk in its shores at least once. This is what I found:

The shores

Man with blond hair

Blond hair gene

Like a flowing glass

like a flowing glass

A point to see Lagunillas

crystal singing a midday melody

Fossilized Fire

fossilized fire

Warrior with white hair

warrior with white hair

Like a proof that I was there I shot a selfie, hmm perhaps I should get the selfie stick. Sometimes people say me that I look so rigid in my photographs so I tried to be more relaxed, although not so much to be nude, lol.

neck pain

season of lines

Lagoon with green scarf

lagoon with green scarf

Then I saw a little boat and as my drawings it has no people inside and sadly there was nobody to ask, a meters beyond it there was a pirka (barrier with rocks in the countryside) saying that it was the limit of a private property, what is not a surprise in the highlands with thousands of years in civilizations, everything seems occupied by a town or community.

A little bot alongside a big hill covered by and infinte sky

a little boat alongside a big hill covered by an infinite sky

This boat curiously had written “Germany Const.” so it was even more strange in that place because usually the boats have names of girls. There are activities of fish farming of trout so probably is of some worker.

A river of white light

a river of white light

But there was the barrier so I took one last shot of it and went upside the hill.

parallel lines

Parallel lines

Upside the hill

world of Lagunillas

World of Lagunillas

Upside the hill there is a yellow world of ichu and communities of lacustrine birds. In the highlands the summer is a season of fast changes, in the time I was there for example it was sunny for moments and cloudy in others; previously I had studied the weather in a span of a week and the day I choose was according to forecasts the one with less probabilities of rain. I love rain but in the countryside usually it comes with electrical storms.

A group of ichu seeing the rocks with yearning

a group of ichu seeing the rocks with yearning

skull island

Skull island

Birdy games

birdy games

I saw an halo, usually they are completely circular so I think it’s first time I see one that is instead an arc.

Messenger (in colors)

messenger (in colors)

Four buddies

six buddies


I liked the lagoon but not the fact that you cannot walk in several places around it, I like to feel free, not restricted; I shot one last photo and walked to the distant hills. Actually I walked several hours more but that’s for another post.

Blended sky and earth

blended sky and earth

Saying Good Bye to the unnamed lagoon

Fluffy cloud

fluffy cloud

If I had to name the lagoon perhaps it could be the Lagoon of Cotton Clouds, for other side it has no name so you can call it with a name of your own inspiration.

black king

black king

message in a green circle

message in a green circle

Skirn of thorns

skirt of thorns

And finally black kiss to say bye ;-)

lil' lips

lil’ lips

Last thoughts of a moribund

last thoughts of a moribund


I shot this landscape yesterday. I was actually in the ground with numb legs and arms and my head lying on a rock, a bit cold despite the summer at nearly 4000 meters or 13 000 feet of altitude. I was feeling a certain sadness because those are my lands and I’ve a great resistance, we evolved to live here; and I was there, tired and at uncertain distance to Santa Lucía city.

So I felt great relief today when I verified in google maps that actually I walked approximately 24 kilometers or 15 miles, and a part of them climbing hills in irregular ground. After that photo my members felt better and I walked some hours more until I could go in a public transport near the city. Also I get my goal to use besides digital a roll of film Portra 160 and walk the landscapes I love so much.

When kid I used to thought that dying in a place like the photograph would be nice, in silence, lucid, awake, until the stars could say you good bye and your body would be untouched by nothing, because in our culture the dead aren’t finished but just are living another life, and because that the body should be safe, but I walked again, and again, and again.