From Tilcara we continued up the Ruta 9 through the Quebrada de Humahauca and past the Tropic of Capricorn. We paused for a while to take photos by the sign delineating the line of the tropics, and were pestered by kids wanting us to pay to have photos taken with a goat (the symbol of capricorn). Of course we declined!! At the site was a huge monument which we later found out was a giant solar clock, or sundial. Once we got to Humahuaca we pulled up at the modern looking Tourist Information Centre on the edge of town. It was closed and didn't look as though it had opened for some time! So, we drove into the centre of town and struggled to park in the narrow streets. Our quest then was to find somewhere ... read more

The smooth asphalt of the Ruta 52 brought us to Purmamarca and its colourful hills. The scenery was truly gorgeous at every turn and we soon ran out of superlatives in our diaries! Just outside town we stopped to take a photo of some purple and yellow hills. There we met an American couple who had read THIS blog! Small world eh!!! Once we got to Purmamarca we were surprised at how busy it was. All of the hostels seemed to be either full or way too expensive for us. The Tourist Information Centre showed us a house on the map and told us to go there and as for Fernando who apparently had a room. When we got there it was a lovely little room, but there was NO heating. The temperatures during the day ... read more

Every region in Argentina takes a 2 week winter holiday to give teachers a break from their students. Here in Salta it even includes TEFL teachers like us, so we made the most of it and hired a car for 10 days to see some more of North West Argentina. After negotiating the streets of Salta back to Grand Bourg to pick up our gear, we were soon on our way out of town. What a scenic drive it was. Ruta 51 follows the route of the now defunct "Tren De Las Nubes" which will hopefully be restored before we leave Salta. I expected a major provincial route to be a good road so it was a surprise when it soon deteriorated to rough ripio just a few km outside of the city! Our little Fiat ... read more

Last weekend we travelled 4 hours on a bus to the city of San Miguel de Tucuman, capital of the Tucuman province and generally known simply as Tucuman! It's a city of great historic importance as this is where the country of Argentina was founded back in 1816. The casa historica is, without a doubt, the must see thing in Tucuman as this is where all the history was made. Outside there are guards smartly dressed in uniform to welcome you through the doors in the whitewashed wall. inside are several courtyards and a good museum. It was rather lacking a timeline which would have made things easier to understand but we got the gist of Argentine history from it. On Friday night we went to the luz y sonido show at the casa historica. We ... read more

On Sunday we decided to do a bit of trekking. Outside the Tourist Information booth we had spied a map of the Rio Colorado Valley. It wasn't very detailed and there were no copies available so I took a photo. When we got there, it was so inutil (ie. useless!) that we only tried to look at it once! A 10 peso taxi ride from the corner of the plaza took us out to the entrance of the valley. It was a crisp, clear day and there seemed to be very few people about. That didn't change much throughout the day! We got lost walking up the valley very quickly. Someone pointed us in the right direction and gave us a bit of advice in rapid-fire Spanish. We think he lived in the nearby house, or ... read more