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Published: June 23rd 2009
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The province of Salta in Northern Argentina is nicknamed ¨Salta La Linda,¨ as the pretty one. I spent four days in this region, based in the colonial city of Salta but exploring the provinces of Salta and Jujuy on excursions organized by my hostel. It was a reprieve from city-dwelling as I adventured into places of extreme natural beauty and surprisingly diverse landscapes.
After my thirty hour bus journey from Santiago, Chile across the border into Argentina and then north all the way to Salta, I arrived exhausted and got a Hostelling International hostel with nice, hot showers. I explored the colonial city of Salta proper and found Franciscian churches and beautiful plazas complete with orange trees and all the trappings of Spanish influence. I organized my next few days, arranging a couple of mini-bus tours that would allow me to glimpse the area that I had heard so much about. I was keen to see what so many people called their favourite part of Argentina. I watched the sunset from St. Bernard's hill, which I ascended via a Swiss- made gondola! What a funny, out-of-place contraption.
The next morning I was on my bus at 7 a.m. heading
towards Humahuaca, a site on UNESCO's World Heritage List. I snoozed on the road as dawn greeted us on the highway, waiting for the first of the small towns we would be visiting on the way north. Everyone on the tour spoke Spanish so I was able to immerse myself for the day, which was really refreshing after speaking so much English in hostels. Our first stop was Purmamarca, where we had some time to explore the little village. I walked around the main plaza and found a beautiful cemetary where you could really see the mixture of indigenous pagan beliefs and Catholic faith. This small town was set against a stunning backdrop of the Quebrada de los Siete Colores, where the mountainside is bright with at least seven distinct colours due to minerals in the earth. I will eventually post photographs to show the beauty of the area.
We continued on to Tilcara and hiked through pre-Incan ruins before visiting a museum on the archeoogical diversity of the region. The time had flown by and we headed to lunch in Humahuaca but, being contrary, I wanted to avoid the touristic restaurant they took us to and find something
cheap and vegetarian while exploring the historical centre of this town instead of watching other travellers eat. Humahuaca is a very traditional place with the townspeople taking pride in showing off their culture such that it doesn't seem contrived or affected for toursits, which was very refreshing. We stopped a couple of times on the way back towards Salta, notably in Jujuy where there was a beautiful church and another lovely plaza. That seems to be the priorities - beautiful church and lovely plaza - and it lends a relaxed atmosphere to these places.
After a night out and a day of rest and traveller's errands I headed off on another excursion day for an even longer adventure this time. I was to follow the route of the Tren de las Nubes, the famous Train to the Clouds that has run intermittently reccently and was out of my budget. Instead of by steam engine, we went in a minibus to a maximum altitude of 5000 m visiting small towns and exploring some pre-Inca ruins before ending up at the salt flats in the north of Argentina. Although the salt flats were an amazing landscape I intend to visit their
much larger counterpart near Uyuni, Bolivia so they were only a preview of what I will see later in my trip. Still, watching the sunset as it turned the mountains purple and cast everyones shadows into ridiculous caricatures was beautiful. As well, it's good to know that I am okay at altitude although it was definitely difficult to breathe at points and I dozed off in the car on the way back, which was long and bumpy and didn't deliver us to our hostel until after 11 p.m.
As much as I enjoyed my tours in Salta and the things they allowed me to see I found myself wishing that I could explore more independently without worrying about a tight schedule or other people's complaints. If I am ever back here I will try to get a group together to rent a car to make it easier to go at our own pace and see exactly what we want to see. Still, the guides I had helped me to appreciate the natural beauty of Northern Argentina that is very different from the hustle and bustle of cities like Buenos Aires. A very different few days of adventure.
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Aunt Jean & Uncle John
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Thanks for the latest installment
Can't wait for the pics; but, I guess we have to. We are loving your stories and the mental pics you create for us.