Salto del Laja, Chile

  • Date
  • 10 July 2001
  • Lodging
  • Hotel Salto del Laja
  • Distance
  • 1051 KM
  • Total
  • 192598 KM

Arriving just before dark in Salto del Lajo, we found the petite, but lovely Lajo River Falls, which drops less than 50 meters, surrounded by a ghost town that I’m sure in warmer weather is rife with tourists and souvenir vendors. Today, though, in mid-winter, all the 20 or so roadside stalls were boarded up, literally, except for two, where optimistic, or perhaps foolish, entrepreneurs stood, shaking in the freezing air, hoping to make a little money from an unlikely passerby. Wooden boxes, baskets and cheap trinkets filled both the open shops. Just as we’ve observed in many other places in the world, one souvenir stall offered the same exact products with the same exact prices as the shop next door.