Flo and I boarded a bus for Salta. The 17 hour journey actually went very quickly. We treated ourselves to Cama class tickets (which is a slight upgrade from my usual Semi-Cama) and sat at the front of the top deck. If it were not for the Andes still following us to the west, I am sure I could be forgiven for saying the green, rolling countryside very much reminded me of home (England or New Zealand). Salta is the capital of Salta providence in North Argentina. The city itself is surrounded by mountains and so enjoys a relatively balmy climate, which we noticed very quickly as we stepped off the bus. It was considerably warmer than 
Mendoza and with humidity levels to match.Salta is home to one of the most talked about tourist attractions in this area, Tren a las Nubes, which quite literally translates as Train in the Clouds and so matches its adventure. We were a little disappointed to find that it was closed almost a year ago and there is no hint of a re-opening soon. I was happy to find out that it was heller expensive and very touristy anyway and that we could quite happily follow that route by hiring a car.
After sorting out our bearings in Salta with a cable car ride up San Bernardo Hill where we were promised an unforgettable moment with some specially designed water falls in cement (and it really was quite something - sarcasm Broom), we decided that hiring a car to explore the area around Salta was the only way to experience this a
rea and it saved us less than half the money on tours and obviously improved our photographic opportunities.And so El Corre Caminos (The Road Runner) was born! Our little red 3 door car that quite literally did go ´Beep Beep!` before rounding every corner to warn on comers of our presence....
We headed southwest of Salta to a place called Cachi which took us through Quebrada de Escoipe before climbing into the hills where we were treated to roughly 20kms of some gnarly hairpin bends. The mountains around us were really quite beautiful though and the valley below was a pretty lush green. By the time we hit the open road into a desert valley covered in Cacti I had forgotten about my car sickness. We half expected to see a
very peeved coyote setting a few traps here and there, but there were no flying anvils and ACME advertising here! Darn it! I was always on the coyotes´s side with that cartoon!Yeeehah, I`m back on the Ruta 40! (photo left) From Cachi we planned to head to Cafayate further south before heading north again back to Salta. We split the journey by staying the night in Molinos as the roads were pretty rough going. After Cachi I was interested to get back onto the Ruta 40 again (see previous blog) and was delighted to see that although it was still a dirt track it was a lot smaller and twist and turned through some amazing landscapes.
We wanted to stay with some nuns at a convent in Molinos but were disappointed to fins that they had closed the building for renovations and so settled on a hospedaje instead. Molinos has only one restaurant with the choice of salad or meat. Hmmm? The salad was lovely.
More cacti viewing on the way to Cayafate through Quebra
da de las Flechas and my first fox picture (about time they co-operated photo right)! It was interesting to see the way of life out this way. The locals live in little mudbrick abodes with outdoor ovens I presume they also use for kilning as they make a lot of pottery in this area. That and growing onions, sweet chilies and watching tourists go by is generally their way of life. Living off the land, the perfect way of life in my eyes!From Cafayate we had a beautiful drive through multi coloured landscapes which reminded me of parts of Death Valley, The Grand Canyon, Monument Valley and the Badlands in the States. On return to Salta, Nick and Flo decided that they would head north to Bolivia. I was sad to say goodbye but I am sure I will see them again soon.
Just as Nick and Flo were packing I was thinking about heading north on a tour to s
ee the area further north of Salta. That was when Lucas (from Czech Republic) and another Nick (from Scotland) walked into our dorm wanting to know if anyone was keen to hire a car and explore that area with them. Perfect! I knew there was I reason I changed my plans to head north as these opportunities don`t come around very often.So back into another car with a forth recruit (Maria, from Barcelona) our multicultural transport set off for the northern circuit the following morning. We travelled through Quebrada del Toro to find more dramatically changing scenery full of multi-coloured rocks and more indigenous people, again living off the land with a very simple way of life. We headed towards San Antonio de los Cobres (a ghost mining village) which would have been the same route that the Tren a las Nubes, the highest railway in the world would have taken us. The train was originally built to service the borax mines in the salt flats which is where, little did I know, we were to spend the night. I
had read that if you take the train ride they serve you tea made of the Coca plant to combat puna (altitude sickness). We learnt why first hand when we came up over the highest point at Abra Chorrillos. The air was immediately thinner and it was hard to walk around as climbing over rocks soon saw you heaving to catch your breath. Although we made sure we drank gallons of water the sudden rush of headaches between us all was amazing. On descending a few hundred metres we felt well again.Hunger soon set in but we couldn´t find anywhere to eat. As we saw lots of goats and farms in the area we sort of assumed we might be able to buy some cheese from a local. We knocked on the door of a very pretty little farm to be greeting by a coca-chewing farmer who had no queso in sight. Instead of offering us food he offered us a little tour around his farmland which turned out to be quit
e fascinating. He showed us an old Inca settlement (which you could only just make out and was very hard to photograph) and dotted around his land were rocks with ancient etchings of llama and people. (photo right) We could tell it was an archaeological dream as they were all marked out. They think some of the etchings (of man and llamas) are over 6000 years old and I wasn´t going to argue with that.Yes, so a little surprise from Lucas and Nick who had packed a tent, we found the Ruta 40 again and pitched camp, in the dark on what we thought were the Salt Flats. How do I explain one of the weirdest nights of my life...
We had stopped along the way to pick up supplies at the strangest village called Santa Rosa de Tastil. So strange, that it was har
d to find anything edible. Once the tent was up, we feasted on cheese and crackers by candlelight (well, a makeshift candle made from my Maglite torch that Maz and Phil gave me, thanks guys). We were treated to a cloudless sky and when the stars came out it was a truly incredible site. Now I´ve seen some pretty amazing skies down here, but this one was quite outstanding. We had horizon to horizon stars and with no light pollution to be found. We all lay in our sleeping bags gazing up into yonder and three shooting stars later, shared a bottle of wine and made sure we drank plenty of water. We thought, at such high altitude we would probably freeze during the night, but it was actually quite pleasant. We all shared the same tent anyway and that´s when the strangeness began...A
lthough I was really tired when we set up camp, by the time it came to bunk up for the night, I felt more awake and energised than I´ve felt in a very long time. We had really similar experiences and that was when I started seeing strange lights everywhere. I was a bit confused as to where I was a lot of the time and didn´t want to mention anything to the others. It was when I couldn´t stop seeing the bright lights everywhere that I thought I might be starting to hallucinate that I mentioned something. Ha! I wasn´t the only one seeing them! The best way I can explain them is like when you see little phosphorescent sparks in the water when you´re out at sea or watching waves. The more we talked to each other the more we found them everywhere. In our hair, all over our skin, through or sleeping bags, over the tent walls.......we still have no idea what they were. All I can think is that they had something to do with the salt that we were lying on. If anyone can explain any of this, do write me an email as it`s really bugging me.Every time I was almost asleep, memories from my past kept cropping up but completely distorted in a sense that it was quite disturbing. I was pleased to hear that Nick was having the same `problem´ so we (since the other two were more interested in each other), sat up most of the night talking. Once we did bunk down again I found sleep pretty quickly only to wake up an hour again in a mad panic and needi
ng to exited the tent pretty swiftly. I walked around our little campsite and found that the moon had set which only highlighted the beautiful sky. I sat in my sleeping bag for a while and then slept in the back of the car so that I wouldn`t disturb the others.I think we were all very thankful for daylight. Nick came and woke me up and we watched the sunrise to reveal that we were just on the edge of the main salt flats which were stunning in the distance. I´m glad we weren´t sleeping there. It would have been like sleeping on concrete and our little area was quite soft. As everyone breakfasted on yogurt and bananas I made friends with a burro who was obviously not a morning donkey!
Salt Flats checked out we headed north to Purmamarca and then beyond to Tilcara. This area is known as the Quebrada de Humahuaca which was a stunning gorge, again
with multicoloured rock and indigenous tribes dotted around the place. After the restless night however we soon became tired little tourists and made our way slowly back to Salta. There were two routes to head home, one that was three times as long as the other but on the flat and one that was short and through a meandering track. I´m not sure if we took the one we wanted but we ended up on the ´short´ pass and managed to find ourselves in dense jungle high up in the clouds. A very steep zig-zag ascent to find the same on the descent. On return to Salta it was a long, hot shower for me and straight to bed! No strange dreams this time, but very much looking forward to travelling north and hopping over the border to Bolivia! PS. It really hurts when you step on a cactus!
