Peru Chachani Laguna Salinas Cliff Mossy High Plateau

#easytravelpost Chachani (6,057 m) looms behind Arequipa, and Laguna Salinas is the salt flat at its foot (4,300 m), not a single lake but a chain of brine pools with a cliff of reddish tuff on the west. I joined a shared 4x4 from Arequipa (S/60 round trip, leaves 4 am from Plaza San Francisco, cash only), got dropped at the Salinas ranger post, walked 2 h north along the shore to the mossy tuff cliff where flamingos (rare here, but Andean avocets always) feed. The "moss" is actually salt-tolerant algae mats and a fringe of Distichia muscoides—looks like moss, behaves like a sponge, squishes underfoot. Entrance S/5 to the Salinas reserve, ranger collects cash, no card. The 4x4 waits 3 h then drives back; if you want to climb Chachani you need a 2-day permit from the Arequipa mountaineering club (not SERNANP, different system) and a guide—don't attempt the summit from the lake, it's a 2-day glacier walk. I made the mistake of thinking Salinas = easy stroll; the plateau wind at 4,300 m in July took my hat and rolled it 200 m. Goggles, not glasses. Kindness beat: the ranger brewed mate de coca and warned me not to step on the Distichia—"it's the only thing between the salt and the wind." I sat instead on the tuff ledge and watched the light go copper on Chachani's west face. When the plateau gives you both salt and moss, which one is the survivor?