Disco in the Puna
The next trip involved a crazy guide called Juanjo (that’s Wanko in English) who was addicted to coco leaves and disco music. It was quite surreal (but very enjoyable) speeding around the mountains listening to Abba (in spanish) and E.L.O. He took us to some of the highest peaks we’d been to in Argentina (up to 4500m) where we began to discover the meaning of altitude sickness.
The tour followed part of the route of the ‘Tren a los Nuebes’ (train to the clouds), through the puna and on to the salt flats. A ‘puna’ is simply a desert or plateau over 3000m, to put that in perspective Ben Nevis is 1344m at the summit. The Salt Flats were quite incredible, thick enough to drive accross and stretching as far as you could see. The workers who extract the salt get paid next to nothing and often loose their sight as the salt acts like a huge mirror reflecting the sun. En route to finishing the tour in Purmamarca, we descended over 2000m in just 16km of very steep, windy mountain road – with a Phil Collins soundtrack of course.
The night was spent in Purmamarca, finally finding a decent room after doing a runner from our first one. Pumamarca is incredibly small made up of a few dusty streets… not the ideal place to try and call parents and got several weird looks when asking for ‘wi fi’. Several bottes of wine later and some local folk entertainment we had a good night and much needed sleep. Purmamarca is home to the ‘Cerro de los Siete Coloures’ (the mountain of seven colours) – absolutely stunning in the morning sun.
Now where’s the bus to Bolivia?
Valles Calchaquies
The Valles Calchaquies are one of the most spectacular landscapes of the Andes. Setting off from Salta and heading to the small town of Cachi and then on to Cafayate we travelled in a 4×4 on a 2 day tour. Our guide spoke little English so we were forced to imporove our Spanish. He gave us our first taste of coco leaves which are incredibly popular here…not sure what to make of them but the taste was pretty gross. The landscape changes dramatically from grassy mountains to red rock cliffs and enourmous cactus forests. We spent the night in Cafayate and found time to do a spot of wine tasting and visit a goats cheese farm. The wines of Cafayate differ from what we had previously encountered in Mendoza. With the higher altitude and different minerals in the soil, Cafayate is best suited for producing the white wine ‘Torrontes’, although there are still good reds to be found. A small ice-cream shop also sells novel Malbec & Torrontes ice-creams.
Salta
Another 17hr bus journey took us to the northern Argentinian town of Salta. The people of Salta look much more indigenous than those of Buenos Aires and Mendoza, which are far more western-ised. The town itself has some beautiful colonial buildings and tons of great Parrilla´s and Puñas ( traditional restaurants and pubs with folklore music and dancing ). The town is popular with tourists as a starting point to explore the Argentinian Salt flats and the Valles Calchaquíes.
Southern Hemisphere Shenanigans... 