Northwest Argentina - High, remote, and beautiful

On August 30th, I crossed back into Argentina heading for the northwestern city of Salta. Salta is a wonderful city with many colonial buildings, some great restaurants, and nice museums. It also has some Western Union offices and I was still in need of some Argentinian pesos. Sheri had sent some money to Western Union when I first entered Argentina from Paraguay, but I was unable to get the cash before I headed to Bolivia. Although my main objective for northwest Argentina was the high, remote altiplano, I needed to get some cash, so I headed to Salta. And I'm glad I did.

The route to Salta crosses the altiplano of Chile and Argentina (also called the Puna de Atacama in Argentina). I passed through a dust storm with blowing sand across a large salt flat, and down an amazing road with numerous switchbacks. Arriving in the evening, I found a cheap hotel near the city center and headed out to find something to eat. I found a great restaurant and had some delicious rabbit stew and wine. Food and wine in Argentina is inexpensive (something that cannot be said for other things - see below). The next day I picked up the cash at Western Union and was amazed at the stack of 1,000 peso bills (1,000 pesos = about $1). I then wandered down to the central plaza. Salta was founded in 1583 as a Spanish outpost on the way between Buenos Aires and Lima. The central plaza is lined by buildings dating to the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, including the Salta cathedral, the neo-classical Museum of High Mountain Archaeology, and hotels and restaurants. Nearby is the beautiful Church of Saint Francis. The Museum of High Mountain Archaeology houses three incredibly preserved Inca children that were sacrificed near the summit of the 6,739 m volcano LLullaillaco and discovered in 1999. On display when I visited was the 15-year-old girl known as the Maiden of Llullaillaco. The exhumation and display of the children is controversial, opposed by some, but supported by other indigenous people. I thought the display was respectful and promoted knowledge of the Inca civilization.

Salta was nice, but I love being in the mountains and in the wilds. So I took off for the wildest corner of Argentina, the Puna. The Puna is a desert plateau over 3,000 m above sea level with some incredible landscapes. It is also remote. I first drove up the Quebrada del Toro, a beautiful canyon and the route of the famous Tren a los Nubes (Train to the Clouds). Reaching the mining town of San Andreas de los Cobres, I took advantage of what I thought might be my last opportunity for gas. The gas station was empty, but after waiting a bit, someone finally showed up and I could fill up. I then drove further into the mountains until I found a nice place to camp for the night. The road became much rougher (definitely a washboard in places) with little traffic except supply trucks and personnel for the numerous mines in the region. Next morning I had breakfast overlooking the Desierto del Diablo, then continued on to the village of Tolar Grande. Near Tolar Grande I met a French cyclist riding the length of Argentina on backroads from the border with Bolivia to Ushuaia. Being concerned about finding gas, I was able to buy an additional five gallons from someone in Tolar Grande, and after lunch at a restaurant with the French guy, I started heading further into the wilds of the Puna.

Driving across a large salt flat, the Salar de Arizaro, my goal was the Cono de Arita, a interesting perfectly shaped cone rising out of the salt flat, shaped by the wind and geology and not volcanic in origin. I found a great place to camp for the night and watched as the wild burros grazed and herds of vicuñas made their way from a spring to what I suppose was a safer place for the night.

My objective for the next day was an abandoned mine on the border of Argentina and Chile called Mina Julia. After getting escorted by some mining personnel past a large gold mine, I headed east passing a large rock cairn called an apacheta. Apachetas have been used by indigenous people since ancient times to mark travel routes over mountains and serving as altars for spiritual communion. Passing more large mining operations, I came to an abandoned mining town called Mina de Casualidad, then headed back up into the mountains. I got a great view of Volcan Llullaillaco where the three Inca children at the Museum of High Mountain Archaeology were found. The road to Mina Julia was quite remote. At one point I got blocked by some snow, but found an alternative route. Up, up, and up until finally I came to the end of the road at the abandoned sulphur mine -- getting high with Hank -- 5,230 m (17,156 ft). The mountain was a pretty yellow color and the view out over the Puna in Argentina to the east and across the mountains of Chile to the west was spectacular. A great day -- to this point.

Heading back to camp, I was feeling good. But then my rear tire blew out. Taking my time to be safe, I dug out the jack and changed the tire. Checking the air in the spare tire (I was thinking it would be low since it had a slow leak back in Columbia), I discovered that the tire was over-inflated. So I let some air out -- but the valve must of got stuck because the air kept coming out. In a panic, I started heading back to camp by Cono de Arita, thinking that if I could make it that far (probably about 10 km), I could get some help from the nearby gold mine folks. But something must have jarred the valve back in place, because the air stopped leaking.

My original plan was to head south from where I was past more spectacular landscapes, but knowing that I no longer had a spare tire, I decided that I needed to head back to Salta. But it was a long ways, about 435 km (270 miles), mostly on rough, unpaved roads. It was fairly stressful knowing that I did not have a spare, but I made it back to Salta and found a place to camp near the city. (At least I did not end up like some of the skeletons of vehicles off the side of the road down in the canyon.) The next day I went to a tire shop to buy a spare. They wanted $700 for one tire! It's not that they were trying to rip me off, it's just that any imported goods are very expensive in Argentina due to tariffs. Finally they found a spare for me for $225, which was smaller than my other tires but would serve the purpose as long as I put it on in the front if needed.

After getting a spare tire, it was time to start heading to Santiago to meet Zach and his friend, Cam. I took some of the backroads (although paved) to avoid large cities and enjoy the scenery. On the first day I headed up the Quebrada de la Conchas to the town of Cafayate. Cafayate is famous for its wines (although not as famous as Mendoza). After a good lunch and purchasing some wine, I drove on to the Incan ruins at Shincal. Shincal was a large Incan city at the southern end of the empire. I spent the night in the parking lot, making friends with a nice dog who slept the whole night next to Hank. The next morning, I took a tour of the ruins. There is not much left of them, but it was nonetheless very interesting. It was quite special sleeping in the parking lot and imagining what it was like there 500 years ago.

After Shincal, I headed to Parque Nacional Talampaya. I arrived in time to do a tour of the park in the afternoon. The park has some interesting petroglyphs and some spectacular sandstone canyons. It reminded me of Utah and Arizona, although instead of bighorn sheep petroglyphs, they were llamas. And instead of golden eagles, there were condors flying overhead. After touring one of the canyons, I headed to the campground for the night. I had some dinner at the restaurant at the park headquarters, along with some wine. I thought I was buying a glass of wine for $7, but it turned out to be a whole bottle. It was very good.

The next morning I headed to an adjacent park, the Parque Provincial Ishigualasto, also known as the Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). Both Talampaya and Ischigualasto are well known for the numerous dinosaurs discovered there. They were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. Ischigualasto has an excellent paleontology and natural history museum. I did a great tour around the park, visiting some fascinating geological formations and a paleontology lab. The tour was done as a caravan of vehicles. I made friends with some boys, one of whom spoke English very well. They thought Hank was pretty cool.

Next I headed to another national park, Parque Nacional el Leoncito. This mountainous park is famous for its observatories. I visited two of them the next morning before heading onward to Chile. As I drove south, the mountains to the west became increasingly snowy. Finally, I thought, it is beginning to look like winter. Maybe there will be some good skiing further south.