Salta Province

April 2023

Salta

We drove across Argentina in 3 days, staying one night at a YPF petrol station, and one night at the side of a railway line, desperately trying (and failing) to spot anteaters. We drove about 500 km a day, with lots of podcasts to keep us going. It wasn't too hot, so it was much more bearable to do long driving days than the first 2 times we'd driven across Argentina. The only thing that did get a bit tedious was all the police checkpoints. These popped up every few miles where we were asked where we'd been and where we were going. Ever amused with our right-hand drive vehicle, the police wished us a good trip, and on we went. 

We arrived in Salta late in the afternoon and stayed at a municipal campsite in the city for £5 with the biggest swimming pool we'd ever seen. It was out of season, so it had been drained. 90% of the campsite was this pool, so we walked across it to get to the showers. The next day, we had a touristy day in Salta, which, despite the cloud and forecast rain, was very nice! We went to see the cathedral in the main square, had coffee and cake for lunch (becoming a bit of a habit), and went up the cable car to the top of Cerro San Cristobal for views over the city. 

The cable car was painfully slow, and despite there barely being a queue, we waited 40 minutes to get on! At the top, we befriended some street dogs who were wearing little coats with "Don't steal, I get cold too." in Spanish on the back. Opting to not waste more life waiting for the cable car back down, we walked down the hundreds of steps to the bottom. However, Em was wearing Converse trainers, which made her ankle feel horrible. We had booked 2 nights in an Airbnb just north of the city centre which had a gym and a pool, for £15 per night. We headed there, made dinner, and headed out to a strip of bars nearby. The bars all had traditional bands playing and traditional dancers. We went in one bar, ordered half a litre of wine (for £1.35), and within minutes, Justin had been heckled to the dancefloor to be taught Quecua dancing. Em's ankle was conveniently very sore from the hike, so she opted to be the camera woman (and primary wine drinker)! 

While we were in Salta, we luckily met up with some friends we'd met 6 months ago when we both shipped our vans on the same cargo boat to Uruguay. We had been on wildly different journeys in the meantime, but we happened to be in same city at the same time, so went for a coffee and then back to their much more fancy Airbnb for wine. 

Ruta 68 - Salta to Cafayate

From El Carril, we joined the Ruta 68, a breathtaking paved road that winds through valleys with insane mountainous scenery. We had to stop every few hundred metres to take photos, the main attractions being Garganta del Diablo, El Anfiteatro, and Tres Cruces. The first two are remarkable stone structures where extinct waterfalls have carved cavernous openings through the mountain. Tres Cruces is named after 3 crosses at its entrance but is a viewpoint over orange-brown mountains with lush greenery running alongside the river in the valley. At El Anfiteatro, named after an amphitheatre, an excited British guy, came running over, having seen our licence plate. He and his girlfriend are travelling for 4 months and are 1 month into their trip. He was from Dorset and went to leave us to it but it was one of the few British accents we've heard for the last 6 months, so we chatted for a while. 

We camped at Garganta del Diablo and befriended a cat with some ham. We drove the rest of Ruta 68 to Cafayate, stopping at El Sapo, where Em spotted a little fox running alongside the river. We saw a baby donkey on the side of the road that had a broken leg, and his mum was doing her best to protect him. We also stopped to admire Quebrada de las Conchas, La Yesera, El Obilisco, Las Ventanas, and Los Castillos. 

Jujuy Province

May 2023

Humahuaca, Purmamarca & Tilcara

From Salta, we drove north to Jujuy province. The valley was spectacular again with huge colourful mountains and tiny, indigenous towns dotted across the landscape. We first went to Humahuaca, at 3,012m. The main attraction of Humahuaca is the '14 Colours Mountain', reachable via a 20 km, steep gravel road that takes you to the viewpoint at 4,350m. We naively set off up the track, but it very quickly became clear this was near Pedro's limit. At the higher altitude, he has less power and is less able to efficiently cool his engine. This, coupled with the strenuous uphill gravel road proved too much and at 4,100m, close to overheating, we turned round. We had been warned about this happening by some overlanding friends who had just done this journey, and sure enough, as we reached the town again, our check engine light and transmission warning light came on. Great. 

We have a small Bluetooth OBD reader and it was showing an error related to our diesel particulate filter. It was unable to regenerate because Pedro was working too hard at the altitude. We were also aware of an issue with diesel in Argentina, as is the case in much of South America. The high sulphur content of the diesel here can cause blockages in the DPF, meaning it needs cleaning more regularly or an additive is needed for the diesel. 

Humahuaca is a very small, very indigenous town with one mechanic. We found him and after a few attempts, and breakdowns in communication, Monday morning came and he was able to see us. One such breakdown in communication, we arrived at 8 am as instructed, Em jumped out of the van to say hello, the mechanic went round to the driver's side, ushered for Justin to move up, jumped in, and off they drove, leaving Em coatless in the freezing morning not knowing if Justin had just been kidnapped! The Monday morning was also after a Sunday night of a big football game, and the results of the local elections. 45 minutes after opening time, we sat in Pedro anxiously waiting outside the garage, when the mechanic turned up clutching a Red Bull and a litre of water, so we assumed it had been a heavy night. 

While we were waiting a few days for the mechanic to have time to see us, Justin had got a tour in a Vauxhall Zafira (definitely not a 4x4 as advertised) up the mountain that we had narrowly failed to ascend ourselves. The driver used his horn about 300 times to warn other drivers he was coming as he hurtled past everyone (including 4x4s!) on the narrow hairpin bends. Em was suffering from altitude sickness so decided to give it a miss. The view from the top was spectacular! As the name suggests, the mountain has lines running across it that look like two rainbows (14 colours). These were formed between 14 and 50 million years ago, as a result of various waterways eroding the rock to reveal different coloured minerals. It isn't known why they separated in such a way, and why they are in perfect lines! 

We also drove to a nearby ceramic shop, Paseo Arte Guanaco, with an enormous llama statue over the doorway, where we could try our hand at making bowls - see the video below for Justin's hilarious attempt. While we were there, they showed us a 15m tall cactus in their grounds, and let us feed their baby goats! 

We drove down the Ruta 9 to the towns of Purmamarca and Tilcara. We spent a night in Purmamarca, another lovely little market town, where we enjoyed local street food, hiked in the Cerro de los Siete Colores (another colourful mountainous landscape), did a bit of shopping for llama wool jumpers, and bumped into some South African overlanding friends we had met in Salta. 

May 2023

Salinas Grandes

We drove to Purmamarca, with a vague idea we could get a minibus up to Salinas Grandes from there. We arrived at 10.50 am and by 11 am, we were on a minibus, with 10 other passengers frantically sucking on coca leaf caramels in anticipation of the high altitude. As Em had popped a travel sickness pill, she, for once, wasn't the kid on the bus being sick. The actual kid on the bus being sick made the whole minibus stink but we couldn't help but feel sorry for him and thrust a plastic bag his way, as we swayed around the tight hairpin bends to dizzying heights. Although it was a good quality, tarmac road, we were glad we didn't try and take Pedro up there. Especially, as the 3-hour tour only cost £6 each. Along the way, we spotted vicuna and donkeys, one of which poked its head right through the minibus window for a nose scratch! 

Once we reached the flats, we had a quick pit stop to buy hot tortillas and use the toilet, then a local guide got on the bus, and we drove out onto our own private part of the flats. We weren't clear but it seemed like you weren't allowed to drive yourself onto the flats without a local guide. Salinas Grandes are the third largest salt flats in the world, at 82-sq-miles, and 3,350m above sea level, and were voted one of Argentina's Seven Natural Wonders. We were fascinated by the strange hexagonal pattern on the surface of the white immensity. From a quick Google (our Spanish wasn't good enough to understand the guide's explanation), it is the product of water evaporating leaving behind salt that shrinks and contracts, which builds tension and makes the cracks grow until they meet another crack, forming a polygon. Then, salt blown by the wind builds up in the cracks and becomes an elevated 'frame' around the polygon. 

We were also interested in the industrial side of the salt flats. Lithium is contained in salt-water brines beneath the salt flats here, and at the two larger salt flats, in Bolivia and Chile. These three countries form the 'lithium triangle' known for extraction of the 'white gold'. Brine is extracted with pumps and directed into large pools, where the water evaporates, leaving a mixture of lithium and other minerals. These are separated using a chemical process, and then sent off and used to make batteries. It is estimated that lithium from these three salt flats accounts for more than half of the world's lithium! Investment and development in lithium mining in these areas have grown in recent years and are in danger of destroying indigenous ways of life. This is because lithium extraction requires a lot of water, diverting the resource away from the activities indigenous people rely on to make their livelihoods - rearing llamas, growing vegetables, and artisanal salt harvesting. Having studied similar controversial topics in her Conservation Masters, Em found it interesting to witness first-hand a place where those least responsible for climate change - indigenous people in the Global South - are paying the price for the shift away from fossil fuels. 

With all that in mind, we could still appreciate the raw beauty of the natural wonder and had about an hour up there to wander around and take pictures. The guides were great at helping everyone get clever optical illusion photos. We then bid farewell to our guide and hurtled all the way back down the mountain, stopping to admire the view a few times. The driver seemed to be struggling with the altitude and looked a bit wobbly on his legs at one point!