Laguna Salada

This February, I was hiking at 14,000 feet in the Chilean altiplano. Land is the mirage, terra firma merely a blip between atmospheric blue skies and circular lagoons of the purest celadon, wrapped in boas of white salt. My footfall breaks the utter silence, crunching over shards of salt and dried clay. Wind becomes palpable when snagged by my forward motion as I walk along a blue shore. The elemental solitude of air, salt, water, and molten red land made from fire, vibrates through to my bones. Tracing the edges of the saline lagoon I bend down to collect shocking pink flamingo feathers afloat in the pastel water; gifts of flight.

photographs ©2004 Mary Heebner

See also Gretel Ehrlich's new book
"The Future of Ice: A Journey into Cold"

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