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Published: December 9th 2012
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Day 70 We both woke on the 24 hour bus ride to Salta at around 8am having slept fairly well but with more or less a full day of travelling still to go, we passed the time reading (Mark now half way through the sixth book in his Harry Potter marathon), napping and eating. The food on board was quite good but was mainly bread and ham!
When we finally arrived in Salta it was around 6.30pm so we made our way to our hostel 'Backpackers Suites' and settled in. Having slept quite a bit we didn't feel too tired so took a walk into the centre of Salta via one of the night markets and finished up in the main square where a lot of the bars and restaurants seemed to be. A bit further on, we found a LP recommended restaurant called La Monumento and sat down to another delicious steak and bottle of red. Before heading back we had another couple of drinks in a restaurant with some live music where all the locals were in high spirits dancing around but we just about managed to avoid being dragged up!
Day 71 Despite the
fact we both had big heads from last night's red wine, Mark was very excited about getting up for breakfast. Unfortunately it was nothing more than cornflakes but since we were up we made an early start and headed into the centre again to try and organise a few trips to surrounding areas.
Salta was quiet in comparison to Buenos Aires but was nice enough and we spent the whole day wandering about the town where we visited a few travel agencies trying to plan the week ahead. We had a delicious lunch of empanadas and salsa and by the end of the day were pretty much sorted.
In the evening, after freshening up, we headed for some food but unfortunately this didn't go too well. We decided to stray from the ususal bife de chorizo (sirloin steak), with Mark going for the local speciality of 'belly stew'. Unfortunately, there was clearly some confusion in the menu translation and the belly was in fact stomach. Unable to eat it, we left hungry and disappointed!
Day 72 Today we got picked up at 6.45am to begin a day trip into Juyjuy province, 100 km or so north
of Salta. The drive towards our first main stop, San Antonio De Los Cobres, was through stunning desert landscapes, with red hills and rugged mountain areas and we made several stops for photos along the way. We also followed the winding mountain roads alongside the famous Tren a las Nubes (train to the clounds). After this we continuned to climb to an altitude of over 4000 km, on the way chewing on coca leaves to help with altitude sickness!
After lunch of llama steaks in San Antonio De Los Cobres, which was a small, traditional town, we headed off again to Salinas Grandes. These were huge salt planes which seemed to appear in the middle of nowhere and with a bright blue sky and nothing but vast white planes at our feet, we spent some time taking funny pictures!
Back on the bus, we took a long winding road to Purmamarca where the landscape and hills around us began to change colour to show reds, greens and yellows. At the end, we were met with an awesome sight of 'the Hill of Seven Colours' which really looked amazing from the small town where we had stopped to spend
the night.
Purmamarca itself was only a very small town where we had a couple of hours to climb up a couple of the smaller hills and admire the really incredible views, with all of the different coloured hills. After dragging ourselves away we went for dinner in a cosy restaurant where they had a live band playing and a good atmosphere. We decided to be authentic and order llama meat which is traditional for the area but unfortunately this smelt quite bad and didn't taste the best either! We did however fill up on dessert and red wine so went to bed satisfied after a really good day.
Day 73 After a good sleep at Mama Coco's guest house we had a little more time to walk around the markets which filled the streets of Purmamarca by day. For some reason there was a Red Bull F1 car in the market, which looked quite out of place but was there for a photoshoot!
At around 10.30am we boarded another bus and headed off for our second day exploring north of Salta. The landscape and surroundings during the drive were quite similar to yesterday but were
still impressive. Our first stop of the day was at an archeological site where we had the chance to explore some ruins and old stone houses before heading to Humahuaca where we stopped for lunch.
After lunch,we headed for the town of San Salvador de Jujuy and had some time to wander around the town square and had a look in the church and the government building which surrounded it. Before heading back we also made a stop at the Tropic of Capricorn and took some more photos of the impressive landscape around us. From there it took a couple of hours to bus back to Salta where we decided to have a burger and an early night.
Day 74 Today was our third day of trips and feeling pretty tired, we got back on the bus at 7.15am bound for Cachi. Like the other days,the drive was quite nice with lots of nice scenery and photo stops on the way including a chapel on the roadside at the highest point.
We also made a stop at Los Cardones National Park which was a seemingly endless flat desert landscape filled with thousands of cactus of all
different shapes and sizes!
Cachi itself was another nice quaint town which we had chance to explore before heading back to Salta, where we wandered around the night market and grabbed a pizza before bed.
Day 75 We got picked up at 9am for our day at Sayta gaucho ranch. We had coffee, bread and jam at the ranch whist getting to know the group and gauchos before donning some chaps and boarding our steeds for the day. Suzanne didn't get on with her first horse (who apparently sensed her nerves!) so was swiftly changed to a different horse. We then departed for our three hour trek, mostly walking with a bit of trotting. After a couple of hours we stopped at a long straight and did a few hundred meters of galloping, accompanied by the gauchos, which was great fun.
We returned to the ranch for an immense asado lunch with a huge selection of freshly made dishes, blood sausage, and all the bife de chorizo, and homemade red wine we could manage. Stupidly overfull, and brimming with confidence from the wine, we boarded our horses again and headed out for the second 3 hour
trek. It was an interesting ride down dried river beds and by tabbacco fields and included another longer, and faster, gallop.
We headed back with rosy cheeks and sore legs where we took a shower, drank more wine and had a delicious pasta dish with the group, and who were great fun, before heading back to Salta at around 11pm and slumping into bed.
Day 76 Another early start, we were picked up at 7:30am for a day trip to Cafayate. Again, the drive was stunning, probably the most amazing yet, with bright red desert landscapes and bizzare rock formations formed by wind erosion. There were a number of short stops to explore the landscape including a stop to clamber into Gargantu del Diablo (the devils throat) a huge rock cavern.
At Cafayate we visited a vineyard and winary and sampled the local Torrontes, before a few hours exploring and eating lunch at Cafayate. Which was a pretty and small town. There were lots of poeple carving large wooden sculpures in the town centre, which was interesting to watch.
There were more stops on the way home, the most impressive of which was Anfiteatro (amphitheatre)--a
stunning rock formation that naturally produces amazing acoustics. There was a guy there playing a pipe, which, over the sound of the nesting birds in there, sounded amazing.
Exhausted by the time we got back, we got chicken, chips and a beer at the market, before heading to bed.
Day 77 We started today with a much needed lie-in before a relaxing stroll around Salta. We went to the market and had an excessive number of empanadas for lunch, before boarding the bus for the 24 hour journey to Puerto Iguazu.
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