Day 42
Another travel day, this time off to Salta, in Northern Argentina. We scored dirt cheap flights by going back to Buenos Aires and then onto Salta, instead of flying direct from Iguazu. We had another day of reading, Duolingo and my new favourite hobby, people watching at airports.
There were a group of asian tourists at Iguazu trying to check in. Because it was so busy there was a long wait, we were smart and checked in online so we got to go to the shorter bag drop line. The group of asian tourists kept getting bumped from counter to counter, and told to wait for some reason. Boy oh boy, they were getting frustrated! It was very intense. The asian man spat it just as we checked our bags in and left. Very funny – I wonder if he got on the flight. I love watching people spit the dummy.
To the asian tourists defence, the airport isn’t built to take the number of people flocking in each day to visit the falls. The airport isn’t any bigger than Albury’s and I can’t imagine how many more people they have through it a day. They are rebuilding the airport currently so the government is obviously onto it!
We also found out Tim has a new girlfriend. Ellen was very excited by this and went straight into stalker mode and, with our ample time at the airport Ellen found out a lot. These were direct quotes from Ellen during her 2 hour session:
- “He loves his blondes ey”
- “She was in Bronte recently. I wonder if she was visiting Tim”
- “Ooooo I found her Instagram”
- “She went to Machu Picchu last year. We are going there!”
- “Her birthday is on the 3rd of March” (We later learned Ellen was incorrect of this fact)”
- “She is 22”
- “I want to ask Tim about this photo of her, but it is from 2012”
We arrived in Salta no problem at around 10pm. New city and landscape. We are excited for some more exploring ahead!
Day 43
I went for a run in the dark in the morning up Cerro San Bernardo near our hostel. It had some beautiful views of the sunrise over the city of Salta.
We then had breakfast and headed off into the city for a wander around. The town is beautiful, it feels like a different country. The buildings are mostly Neo Colonial where we are staying and all the roads are small and one way – like a little village.
There were lots of protests going on around the city regarding school teacher pay. A local told us every year the teachers negotiate pay because of the inflation rates, apparently in the Salta province this year the government was only offering a 25% increase when the inflation for the last year was 45%!! Hardly fair! He also said that during his school days there was a teacher strike for 3 months, he didn’t have to go to school at all and they automatically passed the school kids that year. Crazy stuff.
We then went and hiked up Cerro San Bernardo (where I ran in the morning) to show Ellen the views over the city. The 1200 steps and the high elevation had us puffing. Totally worth the views.
A bit tired, we headed back to the hostel for a siesta along with the rest of the Argentinian population. I am hooked on the idea of a siesta!
We then went to a museum about the Inca’s. They used to sacrifice their children to the gods! This would involve taking the children to the highest mountain they could find (often greater than 4500m+) and then give the child herbal tea to make them fall asleep. They would then bury the child. A few tombs have been found, and because of the high altitude & cool climates, they are well preserved. A mummy was on display in the museum. Very creepy stuff! We weren’t allowed to take photos in the museum, and we got into trouble by the security guard because we were using our phones for google translate but he thought we were taking photos. He came in telling us off “no fotografia!!” We showed him what we were doing and he was impressed with the google translate app, and left us laughing after I said “Mi Espanyol es malo” (My Spanish is bad). There are less tourists here, so less English speaking locals, but everyone is super friendly and goes out of their way to help us understand which is nice!
We had dinner at a rare vegetarian restaurant and had an early night. We are heading off on our road trip tomorrow. We have been travelling at a quick pace and are starting to slow down a bit! Listening to our bodies 🙂
Day 44
We went and picked up our car in the early morning. Today is the first leg of our road trip from Salta to a small town called Cachi. We headed out of the city in peak hour traffic, I am stoked I can now drive like a local. Completely nailed the 4 way intersections with no lights or give way signs – the key is just don’t hesitate or you will get beeped at.
After driving for around an hour, we were out of the hustle & bustle of the city and we were starting to see some massive mountains with Cacti scattered all over the place! The mountains rose to over 3000m high which the road went up and over, with nice views of the valley below. It was so green!
Once we were up the top we started cruising across the plateau of the mountain, the scenery completely changed. It turned to hot, dry, dusty, barren landscape scattered with big grey, red and orange mountains and cactus! We stopped a few times along here at viewpoints and we could feel the elevation taking effect on our bodies. A small walk would make us puff a bit, but it could have been the 250grams of chips we ate prior to the walk…
We (just Justin) had a bit of nude photo shoot (sorry) at not one viewpoint, but two. We didn’t quite have the right cactus at the first location, it left a bit too much exposed. Anyway – lookout #boyswithplants you have a new model.
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We continued on through a few little towns made of mud bricks and straw & mud roofs, until finally we arrived in Cachi at around 2pm. We had a hangry Ellen on our hands at this point so we went and got some lunch, it is so cheap here! $3 AUD for some chips and a huge sandwich! Ellen was stoked with the find.
For the rest of the afternoon we had a nap in the park (where a stray dog joined us), wandered the town and did a short walk to a viewpoint of Cachi. Two stray dogs (includeding the one that napped with us) followed us all afternoon and would get barked at by other dogs when we walked in their territory. The streets are so cool, only one street was sealed, the rest are dirt roads.
We then went and set up camp and had a relax with our cheap red wine! I got drunk by accident after only a couple of glasses! I blame the elevation! Dinner was again a vegetarian restaurant which was delicious.
Day 45
We both had a terrible sleep thanks to the stray doggos barking during the night! Ellen now hates the dogs! We also realised we don’t have a gas canister to boil water – no coffee for us this morning!!
Anyhoo, after a gloomy start to the day we headed off on our next leg to Cafayate on Ruta 40. This road is all unsealed and very corrugated. We were assured this was a good road, I’d hate to see what a bad one looks like! Our poor little car (named Ramonda) was getting smashed! The landscape we were driving through however, was very impressive. It changed from the standard cacti, instead we were seeing to massive big red sandstone rocks! The scenery reminded us of the cartoon movie ‘Cars’.
At one point along the drive we passed a random winery, in the middle of a desert like landscape! It just didn’t seem right – but cool all the same.
We arrived to Cafayate after 5 hours of 40km/hr driving! Lucky the landscape was pretty, and we had Ellen’s Moana soundtrack. I tell you what, Mr Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson can sing, who would have thought! What can’t that man do.
We checked into our guesthouse and were greeted by our host, a lovely lady named Livia! She gave us both a big kiss when we arrived and asked questions our parents would, including; are you liking Argentina? I bet you are tired after the drive today? Are you eating enough? She also showed us how to use everything in our room, including which knob on the shower is cold and which is hot, and told us to turn the cold one on a little bit when showering or it will be too hot. She was like a Mum away from home.
The rest of the day was very laid back and consisted of; sleep –> Empanada’s –> sleep –> dinner at an Empanada restaurant –> bed. The Empanada’s were the best we have had yet! At dinner we ordered 12 and some local wine which only set us back $11 bucks! So cheap.
Cafayate is a town in the middle of a big wine region, apparently the wine is better because the grapes are grown at altitude. I personally agree – the wine was delicious!
Day 46
We had a sleep in and woke to have some breakfast served by our Mum away from home, Livia. She is the best – she used to be a Spanish teacher so she was trying to teach us some words. She is very patient indeed!
We then went to the Ruinas de Quilmes which is an hour drive south of Cafayate. They are ancient ruins on a mountain amongst cacti and had amazing views. It exceeded our expectations, we thought we were just going to see a bunch of rocks. But no, it was really really cool. This place used to have around 3000 people living in it. The Quilmes people weren’t part of the Inca’s, but were their an indepedent indigenous tribe. In the 1600s the Quilmes were defeated by the Spanish.
We then drove back to Cafayate and went to see a waterfall. I was a bit sceptical for a couple of reasons; 1. We have just seen arguably the best falls in the world in Iguazu, 2. This place is a desert so it doesn’t make sense to have a waterfall.
Nonetheless, we arrived at the parking lot of the falls, and we were completely stitched up in hind sight. We accidentally hired a guide to take us to the falls! He said we cannot do it solo because it is too dangerous, so we said ok and agreed to have him take us up there. It was pretty cool heading up, we were following a river and surrounding it was steep cliffs with cacti everywhere! In my brain it doesn’t make sense to have flowing water and cactus in the same vicinity. When I think waterfall I think, jungle or rainy area, not desert!
On the way up to the falls there were a few people coming back without guides, we were like heyyyyyy, wait on a second! Anyway, our guide took us around about half way to the top and stopped at a little waterfall. He told us this is as far as he will take us, and it will cost us extra to take us further to top. He said we cannot continue by ourselves because it is too dangerous. So naturally, we tricked him. We paid him the amount agreed (around $20) and said we will come back down by ourselves. As soon as he disappeared behind the cacti on the way down we did a U-turn and headed straight up to the top!
I can see why he was insisting on us not going by ourselves, the path is quite dodgy if you don’t know where you are going. The trail isn’t marked at all, and the only way is to follow the river upstream. There is also a section where you have to scale up over a mountain and then back down. I tell you what, I am glad I am not scared of heights anymore! Eventually, after getting lost a few times, we made it to the big waterfall. It is 10m high and very impressive. We didn’t have a swim because it is way too cold (the water is melted snow/ice from the mountians).
We found our way back to the car, unscathed. We realised the guide took us a different route at the start which dodged all the police, and a man with a book used to sign people in and out to make sure everyone made it back ok! We got totally stitched up! Livia will need to teach us some more Spanish, or have a word to that man for us!
We got home late, very tired and sore from the hikes. Livia was very excited when we told her we made it to the top waterfall. Livia – “It makes me so happy you had a good time. Thats the best thing I could hear”
Burger and chips for dinner! Tomorrow we head on north of Salta to check out some more rocks.
Day 47
We had an early breakfast, and said our goodbyes to our lovely host Livia – her last words to us were “I hope you have a good life”. I swear Ellen was going to cry. Long live Livia.
Today we are driving back to Salta and then north to a town called Purmamarca – around a 6 hour drive! The scenery around about 30km north of Cafayate was the best yet. Huuuuuge red rocks – we love rocks. We stopped at what felt like every viewpoint to take some photos and also let the views sink in.
We met a couple of crazy Argentinian motorbike riders who didn’t speak a wink of English. But they worked out we were Australian and loved it. They took a few photos of us – now I know what it is like to be famous. They were very funny guys, the one on the left below looks like the scientist out of Back to the Future.
As we neared Salta we picked up some empanadas’ on the side of the road. They were delicious. The people selling them were laughing at us because our Spanish was so bad. Oh well – we’ll cop that for some yummy food!
We got through Salta ok but around about 2 hours North we got lost in a city called Jujuy. Ellen & I got in an argument about directions. The outcome is maps.me cannot be trusted as it tries to take us up one way streets!
We arrived in the town of Purmamarca after 8 hours of driving, the town is amazing. It had a mountain surrounding it called the 7 colours mountain. Just incredible. I am finding it hard to take in all this scenery in one day. One can only experience so many cool rocks in 24 hours!
We then went and set up camp and had a bit of wander around town looking for some dinner. It is a very cute town with only dirt roads. We are nearing the Bolivian border and our guide books says the towns are similar in some aspects.
We had some dinner and early bed. Very tired after todays drive!
Day 48
We got up at sunrise to do a hike up to a mountain which overlooks the town and had views of the 7 colours mountain. It did not disappoint!
We then packed up camp and drove around 20km north to a small town called Tilcara, which is another small cute town with some ancient ruins on the hill beside it. We had a little poke around, reading and learning.
We then headed further north around another 40km to a town called Humahuaca. It is a little bit bigger than the rest of the small villages around in this area. We weren’t really sure what was here so we just had a look around town and ate some food.
With a big drive ahead back to Salta, we headed off at around 2pm taking in all the views on the way bac, going down in elevation it was nice to be able to breathe easier!
We checked into our hotel in Salta, glad to have some space to spread out a bit! We were both very tired after the road trip. We clocked 1100km in 5 days and rarely hit 80km/hr – so it was a lot of driving but one of the coolest things we have done yet!
Day 48
Rest day, yay! We slept in, then went and ran some errands e.g. wash some clothes, print some bus tickets.
We then went to do a free walking tour. We learnt more about the town of Salta, its nickname is ‘La Linda’ which means ‘the pretty’.
After this, I went for a run. It was hard. I blame the elevation, but it is more likely because of the amount of empanadas’ we have been eating! It felt good though, trying to maintain fitness for all the trail running I can do in Canada!
We just hung out for the afternoon, resting up. We went back to the vegetarian restaurant for dinner trying to put as many vitamins in our bodies as we can! Tomorrow we catch a bus back into Chile to a town called San Pedro de Atacama!
Salta and the surrounding area is awesome. Definitely a highlight of our trip so far, mainly because of the landscape and the friendly people. If I were to do it again I would have another day in Cafayate (staying at the guesthouse with Livia of course) to do a bike ride & tasting around a few of the wineries.
More rock spam here.
Justin & Ellen's travels 