Querada de Humahuaca

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North of SALTA
Off to the Querada de Humahuaca region. Got our car and some empanadas and hit the road. Feels good to be in a car. Paul's driving, as he's the only one with a drivers license, even though its issued from Cook Island (long story). I left my at home and am a bit bummed cause I do love to drive. But it's been nice to look out the window and just enjoy the landscape. The road just north of Salta is super windy and I do get car sick so we had to stop off for a bit so I could breath a bit easier. It was such a pretty drive though - fabulous mountains full of trees and a long luscious lake. Argentina is very fertile.

Finally got of the windy road and headed up a straight-ish path towards Humahuaca. This area is just Gorgeous. Red, pink, white and sometimes even green and purple rock make up these mountains. The ever changing landscape kept us so entranced. We got to Purmamarca in the later part of the day and wondered around the tiny town admiring all the crafts from the region. Decided it was too late to head up the long curving mountain to the salt flats so we got back on the road heading north and went to the town of Tilcara for the night. Found an amazingly cute and fabulously maintained b&b called Duan Juan. We got two Cabanas (one for me and one for Amy & Paul) for approximately $20 each. Amazing deal considering how nice the the rooms were, Only wish we could have gotten there earlier to really enjoy them. It was freezing cold when we finally got to Tilcara so we got some food and listened to some local music at a Pena down in the square and then went straight to bed. The morning was much warmer and we had a sweet little breakfast and at least got to enjoy the view of the mountains from our cute little porches for a few minutes before heading back down to Purmamarca to get to the Salt Flats. Most of the places we've stayed out ask you to check out by 10am. This has not been ideal for this trio....who love to sleep in.

The Salt Flats
Again to Purmamarca to only pass it by and zigzag up the Cuesta de Lipan a road leading to the Chilean border. We were told to stuff coco leaves in our mouth (which Paul did repeatedly, without taking the ones already in his mouth out - leading him to look like a chimpmuck for a good part of the drive) as the step climb up and down the 4200m mountain can potentially cause altitude sickness (called puna in Argentina). We didn't have any problems, as we all really enjoyed the taste of the coco leaves. Amy even made some tea out of them the next day. The drive up the mountain took about 2 hours and we seems to almost cross to mountain ranges before hitting the salt flats. i guess I've seen a lot of barren land before and as expansive as it was, I just wasn't as impressed with the actually destinations as I was getting to it. Seem like I've heard that many times before in my life. Its truly is about enjoying the ride. We did get out and take some pictures and video. I also bough some art from two guys sitting out in the scorching sun cutting into slate. They even had ski mask on to keep the sun off them. What an amazing way to make a living. We maybe spent 30 minutes there total and headed back down the mountain. Hit the little town of Purmamarca again for a stop over to stretch our legs before heading back down towards Salta.

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