Salta, 3 day road trip in the North

After a couple of days in Salta, we started our 7 day road trip. Where we will first visit the North, than the South of the area.

Day 1 – From Salta to Tilcara (stopping by Purmamarca and the Salinas Grandes)

We picked up the rental car, a small white Chevy, at 9 am and off we go. Matt starts to drive on the first portion of the road. Quick pit stop to fill up the tank, and then we took the route 9 to Jujuy.

The road quickly becomes very winding but the scenery is pretty nice. After being in large plains, we enter a big forest.

We drive by a laguna with a nice view on the mountains.

After 2 hours driving, we get to Jujuy and continue to the village of Purmamarca. The road is a lot larger, with a little less charm. We drive across rivers that are completely dried out.

After another hour we arrived at Purmamarca, village at the foot of the 7 colors mountain. We were supposed to go see that mountain but unfortunately the weather is pretty bad. So we decide to only make a quick stop, we will come back on our way back to Salta in a couple of days, when the weather is supposed to be a lot better.

The village is apparently well know for its local handcraft. Honestly it all looks very similar to what we have already seen in Peru and Bolivia.

Except for the lama dried sausage that looks amazing!

We continue our drive towards the Salinas Grandes, located at 37 miles from Purmamarca, it is one of the largest slat flats in the world with Uyuni and the slat flat of Atacama in Chili. We wanted to picnic along the road, but it was too cold outside, and we stayed and ate in the car. We climbed in altitude from Salta, and are now at 7,200 ft above sea level, and the weather is pretty bad. The sky is grey but we are still able to see some of the beautiful landscapes. The cliffs are grey on one side, yellow on the other and sometime with some pink in between. Incredible!

But the more we drive, the more the fog thickens. We are really wondering if it’s a good idea to drive the extra 74 miles to go see the Salinas Grandes if we are going to be in the fog.

But we stay optimistic (and let’s face it, we have nothing else to do) and we keep on driving towards the salt flat.

After a while the fog starts to become thinner,

And when we reach the pass at 13,680 ft above sea level, a gorgeous blue sky is waiting for us.

Awesome !

And we even see a few lamas… it’s been a while ;).

The route downhill to reach the slat flat is absolutely fabulous.

The landscapes are once again beautiful. We stop every few yards for Maider to take pictures. This time the mountains are bright red.

And with the sun shining, and the blue sky, the colors are even more beautiful.

We continue on our way to the Salinas Grandes, and we can see the salt flat from afar.

It is smaller and less impressive than the one in Uyuni, but still beautiful and unique. This salt flat comes from a former lake at 11,320 ft above sea level and is 82 square miles large.

The particularity of this salt is that it isn’t iodic, because it comes from volcanoes and not the sea.

The only way to visit the salt flat, is go with a guide for a 40 minute tour. So we booked a guide that hops in the Chevy with us and shows us the way to the Salar. He tells us a little about the place and of course takes the usual pictures of us on the salt flat.

As you can see, we didn’t have enough in Uyuni ;).

The guide took us to a small water formation where we can take beautiful pictures.

We even took a pic with the car, and we promise this one is done without any optic trick… the car is simply really small.

After the visit in the salt flat, we drop off the guide and notice we aren’t the only one to have rented this Chevrolet Classic!

On the way back, Maider takes the wheel and Matt is supposed to take the pictures…

Even if the road is the same to go back to Purmamarca, we seem to be re-discovering the landscape.

New colors appear and it looks amazing.

We are so glad we decided to push through the fog! We hope it will be the same in Purmamarca and the fog would have dissipated. Unfortunately not! After climbing the pass once again, and driving back down to Purmamarca, we can see that that the fog is still there.

But a lot less dense than a few hours ago.

Now we are able to see the nice landscapes on this side of the mountain.

We even stop at a mirador to take a few pictures. The view is actually pretty clear.

On one side we have these yellow colored mountains, and pink on the other side. Incredible!

As we arrive at Purmamarca, we get very lucky, the sun comes out for just a minute. Enough for us to stop the car and capture the sunshine on the mountain of 7 colors.

We decided not to sleep in Purmamarca, since it’s a very touristic city, and the hostels are a little expensive for the region. So we drive up north 30 minutes to reach the small city of Tilcara, where we will stay 2 nights. On the road, we stopped, yet again, at another mirador, that offers a nice view of the mountains and the cities in the valley. Even if the sky is gray, we can still see the different colors on the mountains and it is beautiful.

Early evening we reached Tilcara, the village is a little bigger than Purmamarca, and we find a great hostel a little outside the city center that offers a great price!

For our first night in Tilcara, we went to eat in a small restaurant near the city center and got to taste a typical Argentinian dish : the locro, a stew made from corn, white beans, squash, beef, guts and bacon. The texture is a little creamy and overall the dish is really tasty.

Day 2 – The 14 color mountain and the Garganta del Diablo

After a good night of sleep (in bunk beds and with beautiful tiger blankets), we have breakfast at the hostel and head out for the day around 9 am.

Outside the sun is shining and the sky blue but it is pretty cold. There is even frost on the windshield of the car…

But the view from the hostel is already really nice.

This morning we are heading to the village of Humahuaca, to go see the 14 color mountain, from the Hornocal mirador. From Tilcara, it’s a 25 mile ride to Humahuaca. On the way we stop by a monument that marks the Tropic of Capricorn.

The landscapes are absolutely stunning.

The colors of the mountains go from ocher to bright yellow.

 And with the blue sky, the colors are even more beautiful.

Once at Humahuaca, we have to take a dirt road to get to the mirador. A 4×4 would have been ideal, but our little Chevy will have to do… The drive isn’t too complicated, just a little long since we go really slowly.

And stop often to take pictures. The views are absolutely amazing along the way.

The mirador is located at 14,240 ft above sea level. Once up there we finally see the 14 color mountain, and we are stunned.

 The mountain in front of us is multicolored! Incredible!

We stay there a while to simply enjoy the landscape, and we are almost all alone. Perfect. We are captivated by what mother nature offers us, and take a bunch of pictures!

After staying a little while at the top, we drive back down to the village of Humahuaca, and the way down offers a few very nice point of views on the mountain range. We even run into a few Vicuñas.

And as we get down, the landscape becomes a lot drier, with plenty of cactuses. We even catch a nice view on the village of Humahuaca.

We stop for a picnic in Humahuaca, and wander around town.

There are plenty of narrow and cute streets.

Early afternoon we hop back in the car to go back to Tilcara and go see the Garganta del Diablo.
On the way, mandatory picture taking stops! Maider is driving so Matt is in charge.

Once at Tilcara, we have to take yet again a dirt road to get to the Garganta del Diablo. Once again, it would have been WAY easier with a 4×4, but Matt’s experience of having to avoid potholes in Chicago happens to be very helpful!

On the way we have great views of the village and the surrounding mountains.

The gorge is at 9,482 ft above sea level. From there, a 20 minute hike gets us to a nice waterfall.

All we have to do is follow the stream, at this period of the year the stream is pretty dry, but the landscape around us remains beautiful.

Upon arrival we see a nice waterfall, much better than what we expected given how dry the stream was.

One the way back to the car we stop by the Garganta del Diablo (gorge of the devil). Pretty insane scenery once again, and nice views of the surroundings.

To end the day, we park the car at our hostel and go wander around the town of Tilcara.

The village is really cute, and a lot less touristic than Humahuaca (there are a lot less street vendors).

It is really nice to walk around the narrow streets, with colorful facades and pretty little doors.

For our last evening, Matt tastes a typical dish with lama meat. And he loved it.

Day 3 – From Tilcara to Salta (with a stop in Purmamarca)

This morning during breakfast, our host treats us with a little flute concert. This flute is here called Quenacho. Fun way to get the day started!