More on Mono Lake 2nd day

I'm not sure if I mentioned this already so I'll write it again. The water in Mono Lake contains 2.5 times more salt than the Pacific Ocean. I actually tasted it, and it tasted kinda like salty detergent. According to the tour coordinator, you can do laundry with it! It's so salty that only these tiny shrimp called the Bline shrimp can survive. I don't know if you can see them in the picture, but they're about the size of an eraser on a #2 pencil. There's trillions of them, and all they do is mate and continue multiplying...another living creature that you see around here (besides all kinds of birds) are these flies that basically stay on the mud. In the old days, the natives in this area ate their cocoon? called pupa. I ate one, too. Didn't taste like anything. I wonder how many that one kid ate?? He ate the shrimp, too....

We then went to a small hike to prepare for the big hike the next day. This was another solo walk but during the day. I think this is what made this trip and the hikes so special for me, the fact that we would walk alone, sit quietly and go into deep thoughts, or no thoughts at all. During the night walk, I could hear the owls and the wolves, and realized how loud cars can be. During the day we sat quietly overlooking the creek and the lake and enjoying the view.

Of course, some of us couldn't sit still...some kids (always the boys) couldn't resist throwing rocks down to the creek. Some of them played with rockes in their hands and would all of a sudden throw it up in the air or let it slide down. No patience... Some couldn't resist talking.

That night I helped the kids cook dinner. Chicken Chow Mein, except they forgot chicken...so Vegetable Chow Mein. I don't know what kind of seasonings they used but it tasted good! I ate too much during this trip. damn.