Salta and Jujuy, Argentina

November 24 - 30:

It was a Saturday around mid-day, when we arrived in Salta city. Rakesh, unfortunately, was still feeling under the weather and so we took it easy on this day. Since we had not eaten, we ventured out to the main square "Plaza 9 de Julio" where we found a cafe for a light bite. There were few people around at this time and most of the stores were closed. In this city and others we visited along the way, stores close down at lunch time and then reopen from about 5pm to 9pm (and that's everyday!). It was the first time this had made an impression on us since we began our travels. Ofcourse, being from Greece, this was not such a foreign concept for me.

At the cafe, we had our first empanadas of Salta. We had been told that we could find the best empanadas in this region and, indeed, that was true!

While Rakesh spent most of the time in bed, back at the hostel, I surfed the internet to plan a short road trip within the region of Salta and Jujuy. For the first time on my own (!) I took off to find a car rental agency several blocks down the road. It was around 7pm at this time and the city took on a whole new look as the sidewalks were crammed with people and the streets filled with cars.

The next morning, we had to find and move to another hostel, as the one we were staying at did not have availability beyond the one night we had booked. It was a good move, as the hostel we chose was cheaper and nicer. We spent a small part of the day locating another rental car agency in order to get a better deal than the one I had been offered the day before. I wasn't too sure whether or not we would be successful, as it was a Sunday and most stores etc. were closed. Nevertheless, a man standing out on the road asked us if we needed a car to rent. How did he know? He gave us a better quote and we ended up reserving a car with him. The agent also gave us a great recommendation for a local restaurant, where I had a typical stew, Locro and Rakesh had some empanadas. All were delicious!

After resting for most of the afternoon, Rakesh was getting worse instead of better. Fever took over and I began to get worried due to the fact that we were supposed to take off on our mini road trip the next day. I approached the hostel owner to inquire about the nearest pharmacy. This turned into a discussion in which I mentioned that Rakesh was not feeling well. The lady offered to get in touch with a doctor to make a house call!  The cost? Only 20 soles, or 4 US dollars and, it doesn't end there. Rakesh was given a prescription and I needed to figure out how to get to a pharmacy. The hostel owner said she would call a pharmacy and that the medications would be delivered for just a few extra Argentinean soles!! Wow! How spoiled were we???

[Rakesh writes: My recollection of the first few days in Salta is actually quite hazy.  After catching a bad cold on the second day in Iguazu, it took quite a while for me to recover.  I had used a nasal spray to get me through the flight from Iguazu to Salta.  At the time I did not realize that the spray had a nicotine based compound (antihistamine) which really screwed with my system.  I got through the flight ok, but it made my condition worse  later. When we arrived in Salta, all I remember is getting to a hostel, and getting into a bed.  Nicole made me a ginger drink at one point, and later I remember eating some pasta. I woke up at night sweating and the fever seemed to have broken.  In the morning, I had enough energy to walk to a second hostel.  We also bought some paracetamol from a pharmacy.  I am not sure why, but in the afternoon, I went to bed and later woke up with high fever and chills.  I remember desperately looking on the internet for some clues on what I might have had. it was nerve wracking (self diagnosis is always horrible).  I was really grateful to Nicole and our hostel lady, Feliza, who managed to get a medic (I have not had a house call since I was probably a baby back in India).  I am not sure what shot the medic gave me, and we were scared, since some of the other suggestions they gave were pretty weird. Anyway, since they were there and the locals seemed to use them, I took the shot.  Fortunately, that night my fever broke (I believe the shot was for a viral fever).  The medic also recommended both of us to get a lung x-ray scan (which scared us even more), but we did not do it as the medic did not absolutely insist on it. Also, the really high dose of ibuprofen seemed to do the trick.  Throughout this ordeal from Iguazu we both kept drinking ginger-garlic-lemon teas (thanks to Nicole), which helped quite a bit. Through this all, Nicole had to deal with her own coughing bouts, which kept her awake at night.  Both of us had little sleep during these days.........
In Iguazu, we had experienced quite a bit of fluctuation in temperature (extremely hot weather to extremely cold showers near the waterfall). Not sure if that had made things worse].

By the next morning, Rakesh's fever was gone. Phew! The shot he was given worked. The rental car was delivered to us and we set off on our road trip.  We wanted to see places in the province of Salta and in the province of Jujuy.

Route:
Campo Quijano - San Antonio de Los Cobres - Salinas Grandes - Purmamarca - Maimara - Tilcara - Humahuaca -  La Caldera - Salta

November 27th:

We set off from Salta, and stopped initially in Campo Quijano on Ruta 52.  We wanted to buy food supplies here.  We walked into a local store to buy some bread.  The local ladies in the store were very curious about us and were excited to hear about our trip.  They were extremely jovial people. They were into Bollywood movies and had a lot of questions for Rakesh.  With his limited spanish, Rakesh was able to answer some, but not all questions. As with other friendly Argentinians we met along the way, they sent us off with a hug and a kiss, and a couple of extra breads!!!

The ride to San Antonio de Los Cobres, was a one lane road winding mostly between the Andes and along side a river bed. The river was completely dried out and the land and mountains were very arid in this section. We got to see a lot of flowering cacti along the way and great vistas. The mountains are full of minerals in this region and therefore take on various green, grey and reddish hues.

After about a 3 hour drive we suddenly arrived in San Antonio de Los Cobres, in the middle of nowhere. It seemed like a deserted desert town, in a plane surrounded by mountains. All was closed down for the afternoon and finding a bathroom that I desperately needed was quite a feat. We ended up driving to a hotel, which was also quite deserted! Nobody was around, except for a couple of employees and a girl sitting in the shade while knitting a woolen garment.

This town was recommended by our rental car agent. He in fact was the one who recommended the route we took for our road trip. The town is known for its copper mining industry and for the famous Tren de Los Nubes (train) that stops there, but I think that's about it. Since we did not find anything special to see, we decided to move on after eating our packed lunch in the car!

We had been advised to use caution while driving on the next leg of the route toward Salinas Grandes (salt flats).  Driving on a gravel road, with lots of pot holes, big stones and intermittent patches of sand was definitely new to me and not exactly the most pleasant. I somehow managed without losing control, nor bursting a tire! Phew! The drive would have been less tiring, had the views here been a little more interesting, but all we could see was a never-ending flat and dry plane with little vegetation and the mountains/hills in the distance. Oh! Well we did see a couple herds of sheep along with their herders. Rakesh approached one of the herders to confirm our directions. She pointed out the direction  and then quickly walked away. Maybe she wasn't used to being approached by strangers?

We were the only ones on this road except for a car or two that drove in the opposite direction. As we got closer to Salinas Grandes, we came across two people riding bikes on the same gravel road. We couldn't believe our eyes. We got out of the car, and introduced ourselves. The couple were both from Scotland and at least in their 60s!! They had been traveling in South America for 2 months. Talk about great exercise and an environmentally conscious way of traveling! Incredible and very inspiring!!

The Salinas Grandes were nothing like we've ever seen before. A huge expanse of white land (salt) on either side of the road we were on. The ground would have probably been a lot whiter, but it looked as if much of it had been cultivated as we saw heaps of salt in various places. We had been told by our couchsurfing friends in Buenos Aires, that when it rains the salt flats take on a mirror-like effect. How crazy! We got out of the car and spent a good hour taking silly and fun photos while standing on the salt flats. We also got to see the sunset which was quite incredible from this area.

The drive to Purmamarca (province of Jujuy) was mostly in the dark and along a windy one lane road alongside the mountains. We passed about three trucks along the way and that was pretty much it. After checking into our hostel, we grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant in the town of Purmamarca and then were happy to go to sleep.
Rakesh writes:  I was very taken with the service at this restaurant. I went through a coughing bout during dinner.  We had ordered tea at the time.  The manager walked to our table, asked us about our travels and our health, and bought us a pot of honey to go with the tea.  Later, he did not even charge us for the tea, and told us that it was the least he could do!!!

The next morning we drove back into the town where we got to see the Hill of the Seven Colours and walked along a trail to take in more views of the surrounding hills. These are all jagged and arid mountains that are rich in minerals. They had even bolder colours, than those we had seen the day before. The hill of the seven colours was especially beautiful due to the effect that the minerals produce - streaks of various colours and hues.

We walked around the streets of the quaint town of Purmamarca for a little. This is in a region where many of the Incas settled. We saw stalls and shops with artisanal crafts that were pretty much the same as what we had seen throughout Peru. The difference here was that the locals did not share the features of their descendants (unlike in some regions of Peru).

Our next stop for lunch was in town of Tilcara. On the way, however, we stopped to take photos of the "Paleto del Pintor" or Painter's Palette by the town of Maimara. Here just like before, the minerals in the mountains create an impressionable effect.

Tilcara is another quaint town and bigger than Purmamarca. Here we had soup and (more) empanadas for lunch. We also got to see our first live music performance on the street. A group of 4 guys who were sitting next to an empanada stand. They were probably playing music in exchange for free empanadas, as they were not actually busking. We stood by them as they played and although they were not collecting "tips", they gladly accepted a small sum that we offered them. The music was fantastic - great rhythms and beats.

We continued on to our most northern destination in the province of Jujuy, Humahuaca. Along the way, we stopped by a church in a small village. Like another church we had seen in Peru, this one also had Jesuit influence even though many of the paintings inside were painted by the indigenous people.

All along the route from Maimara to Humahuaca we drove along the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a long narrow valley carved out by the Rio Grande and flanked by these incredibly beautiful mountain ranges, as described above. This valley has been a crucial route for the transfer of people and ideas from the time of the hunters and gatherers, to the present day.

In the town of Humahuaca, we walked to the main square and up to the Heros of Independence  Monument paying homage to the Argentinean army during the war of Independence. Along this walk we saw several artisans displaying, making and selling their crafts. There was not much else to see and at this point it was getting late in the day for our long drive (and even longer, as we found out later) to our hotel in El Caldera.

The drive to El Caldera ended up being way too long. The rental car agent recommended a place to stay in this village, so that we would not have too far to drive the next day when returning to Salta. Either, I did not drive fast enough, or the agent had over-estimated the number of places we could visit in 2 days. It took us about 4 hours to get to El Caldera, of which the last 2 were in the dark on a narrow and windy, one lane road. Luckily, there was not much traffic, but I did have to watch out for a number of cows loitering on the road.

The hotel would have been a nice place to stay during a relaxing vacation.  Only one other room in the entire hotel was being occupied.  It had an outdoor pool, a massive and lush grassy field and was surrounded by nature. That night we had some food prepared at the hotel.  We tasted our first "humita" a mashed corn dish - delicious! Unfortunately, we did not have time to enjoy staying in this place much longer, as we had to head back to the city of Salta the next morning.

November 29th:

After returning the car in Salta, we enjoyed another easy day. For lunch, we revisited the the local restaurant, I mentioned above. Then we took a taxi over to visit an artisanal market, where Rakesh bought a mate cup. We were pleased by the fact that we had an extra day to rest, as we originally thought we had to return the car and then get on a flight to our next destination. We forgot that we had postponed our time in Salta by one day, when we made our final reservation with Aerolineas Argentinas! It was a blessing!