Minca; a Cat Named Maus

Still eating the homemade granola made by Cris, owner of the San Souci, in Minca.
Cris' dog, Rufus is the only Minca dog known to have climbed to the Lost City, located 4 days walk above Minca.

Rufus followed us as well, but only to Pozo Azul (Blue Well) and into Minca. Good companion, though. Pozo Azul is a once sacred spot for the indigenous people of the area but on weekends is frequently filled by bikers and dune buggy enthusiasts, none with any special interest in preservation of special love of place; more an excercise in noise, speed and beer.

A cat named Maus: Cris also has two cats. One named Maus, the other named Max.
neither cat has made it to the Lost City.

At any rate, Minca is the only place near the coast where you can beat the heat. Just 10 or 20 miles inland, it's high enough to have the temps a bit lower. On the negative side, instead of light rains you get heavy incapacitating rains, in the afternoon, enough to wreck havoc with the power lines. So, much of the time there was no power in Minca, which wasn't too serious a problem, though we were occasionally forced to eat cucumber and carrot sandwiches when the restaurants and stores were closed, due to lack of power.

One more negative about the climate is that while you beat the heat by going higher, there's still no hot water, so it gets pretty hard taking cold showers. But it's do-able, as it's seems you're always climbing hills and sweating. Nearly as much as back on the coast.