Paso San Fransisco naar Salta

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Winding down the road from Paso de San Fransisco to Fiambala was beautiful again. The scenery was constantly changing, different colours and rock formations. It was a ride into the past and the remains of how the earth was created could be witnessed around every corner. While cruising downhill for 250 km on paved road we saw no other cars!
In Fiambala there was the first gas station in 500 km. From Fiambala we drove to Tinogasta, there we saw a short cut on our map. It seemed to be a nice ride trough the mountains to Londres, it was twice as short in km…
We asked around in town for the shortcut, people responded the road was out of service, it was to dangerous, not accessible. We asked around more till we finally found someone who just pointed us the way and wished us good luck! It is always about asking the right people…
The road started just out of town. The first section of the road was a big dump yard for all the waste the city produced. For miles the sides of the road were covered with plastic, and rubbish, sometimes still smoking because people set fire to it. From there we had to cross a couple of river beds and suddenly we were surrounded by huge cactuses. We went up hill into the mountain range, here the road started to become narrow and winding with very steep cliffs, the road was only 2 m wide and covered with rocks. Sometimes there had been landslide that made the road even more narrow. It was an adventures ride and we started to think it was actually dangerous! Jura got out of the car, to check the road in front of the car. We drove for four hours on this track, hoping there would not be any cars coming from the other side, because there was no way we could pass each other. But off course there was nobody driving here besides us! In Londres we found a very nice hostel in an old colonial building with huge rooms and high ceilings.
The next day we visited an old Inca village, Ruinas Shincal. Just before Cafayate we stayed in a very nice Bodega, winery with hotel. We took the 68 to Salta, passing national park Los Cardones. The scenery was beautiful and the rock formations spectacular again. Finally we arrived in Salta, we stayed there a couple of days to do the laundry and check out the city. Es mui tranquillo aqui! It was different from the other Argentinean cities we saw, the streets were very busy and there were many tourists and indigenous people. It was a very lively city, with many things to do in the surroundings. We checked out the nightlife here in a street that resembled Stratumseind in Eindhoven.

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