Since my last update, we´ve been to San Pedro de Atacama, back to Argentina an visited Salta, Cachi, Cafayate, and Tilcara. A lot to cover, so expect this to be the biggest post yet, with LOTS of pics.
The journey so far:
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From the beginning. From La Serena, we caught our first ever "Cama Premium" service to San Pedro de Atacama. The seats on these buses recline a full 90 degrees, making for a damn fine sleep! It cost us just 7,000 pesos more than normal Cama (about 8GBP), and included dinner and breakfast.
We arrived in San Pedro de Atacama at around 10am, and walked the small distance to our hostel. San Pedro is not a big town. It´s more of a large village. Adobe houses front dirt streets, and the town has a lovely central square. However, it´s probably the most touristy place we´ve been, and it´s chocker-block full of backpackers. The whole facade of the town is a front, as it has geared itself to be a "postcard" South American village. In fact, the dirt streets are sealed to give it an authentic rustic feel. Tour operators line each street and it is also EXPENSIVE. Our hostel, nice as it was, cost 30,000 pesos per night (about 35 GBP). Cheaper places exist, but they are hard to find.
Saying all that, it´s still a very nice town, and it´s an awesome bas to check out local sights. Situated at 2,400m amsl (above mean sea level), it can also cause light headaches and fatigue. Not proper altitude sickness but the symptoms can start at this altitude. It is nestled in an enormous valley between the Andes-proper to the east, and the Cordillera de Domeyko to the west.
No idea what he was doing, but he was cute as heck
Volcan Licancabur seen from the Town Square
The church in San Pedro. Currently under reconstructionWe did one tour in our time in San Pedro, and that was the "Valle de Luna" tour. It starts off with a drive around the region, with an explanation of local geology, which I found interesting. It includes some mini-hikes, and an exhilarating and breathless (literally - you´re at altitude and lose your breath a lot easier) run down a giant sand dune. The tour caps off with a visit to Valle de Luna (Valley of the Moon) to watch an incredible sunset. The colour change in this area over the period of sunset is sublime and has to be seen to be believed.
Also, we bumped in Simon and Cath in San Pedro (Simon being the lively English bloke I mentioned we met in Santiago - he of the Israeli Space Lizards fame), and did the tour with them. We went for a drink afterwards in a real local bar. They were getting ready to do the San Pedro - Uyuni trip the next morning (more on this trip later) and I probably ordered one jug of beer too many. Sorry guys! If you´re reading this, it was great to catch up with you again, and hopefully we´ll bump into each other up north somewhere.
Trying to conquer my fear of precipices!
Volcan Licancabur towers over the basin
We are about to run down this massive dune
Running down the dune!
Shooting into the sun sometimes pays off
Sunset over the Valle de LunarAnyway, we decided to postpone other trips in the region as we were going to make one last visit to Argentina, then return to San Pedro to cross into Bolivia. The three day trip to Uyuni in Bolivia is supposedly one of the highlights of any South American adventure.
So we caught a cockroach-infested bus back to Argentina (one fell on my head as I was chilling out listening to music) and saw some of the most beautiful scenery yet.
These were taken through a dirty bus window, so excuse any IQ issues
The bus passes through an altitude of 4,200m amsl and you can definitely feel the effects. Luckily, our symptoms were wild (harder to breath, slight headaches), but one poor woman on our bus really struggled the whole way. The bus trip took a total of 12 and a bit hours, and crosses the Andes, skirts the southern edge of the Altiplano, and crossed more of the Andes and then descends to Salta. The descent was torturous, as the road suddenly becomes about 90 minutes of hairpins. If you get slightly carsick, the novelty wears off pretty damned fast.
This represented about 10% of the amount of hairpins down this mountain. Not too pleasant an experienceWe arrived in Salta at about 9pm, and caught a taxi to our hostel. And the hostel was rubbish. There was no curfew, and even though our room was upstairs, the sound of drunken idiots watching TV at full blast made its way into our room. At 3:00am, it mercifully died down.
So early the next morning, we checked out and moved to a very nice hostel down the road (Hostal de Cerro). It was run by an Argie family and only had locals staying there. Very nice.
Oh, and just to backtrack, because this is important, after we arrived in Salta, we went for dinner at a local restaurant where I had the BEST STEAK of the entire trip. Sweet Jesus it was good. If you´re in the area, I´ll give you directions to the restaurant. It´s etched permanently in my brain. I reckon I could find that place in the dark by smell alone.
The next day we spend looking around Salta, and we were pleasantly surprised. Expecting just another city, it is pretty laid back, and has a viewpoint with a beautiful lookout over the city, accessed by Cable Car. The city centre is charming with another beautiful square. One of the coolest things about Salta (and indeed, the entire region up here as I´m discovering) is the amount of fruit trees (mainly oranges) that line the road. You can pick the fruit off and eat if you so desire. Imagine that along any other city side-walk.
One of Salta´s few beautiful churches
earning an honest quid
sunset over the square
A row of orange trees!
Salta from the cerro lookoutIn the afternoon of the following day, we caught a bus to Cachi - about 150km outside of Salta through incredible mountain and canyon filled scenery. The bus was very basic and was filled with locals rather than tourists and gringos. It stopped halfway at a cafeteria in the middle of nowhere where we had the tastiest empanadas yet. Nothing has come close. Anyway, we arrived in Cachi at around 5pm and found a hostel next to the bus station. Cachi is another beautiful village, but with not a lot to do. But we stayed two nights because it was so relaxing. Lately I´ve been feeling a little rushed and it was nice to kick back in this little bit of heaven that is completely isolated from everywhere.
Another elaborate cemetary. Very common down here.
The church in Cachi
Sunset over Cachi
One of the roads leading into Cachi. Fran and I hiked up to this point
Another cute little kidFrom Cachi, we then went back to Salta to catch a connecting bus down to Cafayate. The connection was at 7:30pm which meant we had a few hours to kill. So we left the safety of the bus terminal and were hit by what felt like Mike Tyson wearing gloves of ice. Where previously our time in Salta was pleasantly warm, now it felt like 5 degrees with a wind that made a mockery out of anything "windproof". BUT I did manage to find a camera store that had more gear than anywhere else in South America so far! It had D300s! Non-photographer friends will roll their eyes at this point, but some Jessops stores in London don´t stock these cameras. So that was 15 minutes of heaven strolling through the store.
Back to it. We caught our bus to Cafayate, with the aim of being there for two nights only. We were there for four. There is so much to do in the area, and it´s another very chilled out place. We were met at the bus station by people advertising their hotels/hostels as is pretty common at bus stations here. Usually we politely tell them we have a reservation somewhere (when we do!) and we had indeed already pre-booked at a place called Rusty-K. Anyway, for some reason I gave one guy a chance to sell his hostel, and it turns out he was an owner of Rusty-K come to meet us and take us to the hostel. I´ve no idea how he knew we´d be there. So he put us in a cab (which he paid for) and followed us to the hostel on his scooter. As soon as we arrived, we were given wine and joined in a BBQ, then sat around the common area chatting to other travellers. We then hit a bar that, from 10pm to midnight shows movies for free on a projector, after which the bar kicks in proper.
The next day we went on a tour organised through our hostel to a place known as Garganta del Diablo (literally - Throat of the Devil). It was just Fran, myself and our guide Ismael, who spoke no English and we still speak no Spanish! However, the trip was SUPERB and was worth every penny. Ismael spoke plainly and clearly and I found I could understand a fair bit (which I figured out was due to the tour being an explanation of ecology, geology and fauna where the Spanish terms are based on latin origins. Since I love science and have a general knowledge of a few subjects, I was able to pick up quite a bit since the English words are similar).
Anyway, it kicked off at the start of an area known as Quebrada las Conchas where we walked through incredible wind and water swept rock formations. We saw a fox and a few condors here as well too! Just beautiful. It was a sign that the day was going to be good.
The area was, millennia ago, a massive lake (hence the name - "concha" means shell) but the lake drained out and mountains formed on it´s eastern flank, rising to 3,000m amsl. Huge, but babies compared to the Andes on the other side, which hit 6,000m without sweat. The area is hugely mineral-rich, evident in some of the most colourful rocks I´ve ever seen. Red for iron, white for clay (more evidence of the mezoic-era lake), green for copper, brown for sulphur, and blue for something that I forget now! Thankfully NO mining is allowed in the area, meaning the park stays pristine.
Fran buying vegies for our dinner
Cafayate
Just chillin, readin the news!
That´s Fran in the foreground there
Ismael and Fran
Another church! This time in Cafayate
After I took this shot, the little boy shook his head, telling me "don´t do that again"
You turn up to one of these places, choose your steak, and then get well fed. Two MASSIVE pieces (a foot long each) plus drinks for two people? 30 pesos. About 6 GBP
Cafayate´s wine regionThe rock formations themselves are out of this world. The forces that created them are huge, powerful, and beyond our small minds to appreciate. Over time, in some of the spires, wind and water have made holes in which birds next during season. Also, we learned that the cactus of the region grown at a hare´s pace of 2-3cm per year. I suddenly had a profound appreciation for the 9-10m giants that are scattered about. Ancient. The world is truly an amazing place.
We came across stone cairns which Ismael explained were tributes to Pachamana (Mother Earth). Also, we saw first hand evidence of the ancient lake:
Sulphuric rocks
Crazy rocks
More crazy rocks
Me, Ismael and Fran
Huge upheaval evident in the slanted rocks
Under-exposed, but this guy was selling stuff by the side of the road, and we had to stop
High tide in January and February sees this "rio" flood
Ancient fossils
And moreThe rocks in these pictures were well hidden and Ismael had to dig through piles of seemingly random rocks to get to them. This is due purely to theft, he explained, as people like to take these types of rocks for themselves. Pretty sad.
Back to Pachamama quickly. If you´re ever in South America and notice loads and loads of road-side "shrines" everywhere, with their kennel-like appearance, and coke bottles inside, we found out what they are. Apparently they are offerings to local spirits and to Pachamama made by local farmers and land owners to appease their deities and to ensure good harvest.
One guy in Puerto Natales reckoned they were just roadside markers for victims of accidents. That might sound correct, but when you´re in the middle of Patagonia, with nothing in site for hundreds of miles, and you see lots of these shrines, that explanation falls a little flat.
We also found out that puma are common in the mountains; our guide having seen them several times (at night only). We drove to a few more interesting spots, one of which afforded us a view of the river as it snakes it´s way from canyon to valleys.
View as the "Rio" snakes it´s way through the valley
God rays shine over the valleyThe penultimate stop was at a place called the Anfiteatro (you can translate that one!) where a natural canyon formed by a waterfall now gives beautiful acoustics. A few people were there playing music which sounded so incredibly pure. We discovered that a music festival is held here every July, so if you´re in the area at this time, go visit! Be warned though, it is COLD.
The final stop was at Garganta del Diablo, which is another canyon carved into the cliffs. Take a look at the following pics. See if you can figure out if the camera was pointed up or down.
Optical Illusion 01
Optical Illusion 02
The Anfiteatro... that little speck at the bottom is me
Music players at the AnfiteatroThat night, we met a Dutch/Norwegian couple who had hired a car from Salta. They kindly invited us with them the next day to visit the ruins at Quilmes. The guy, Evo, started well by driving the wrong way down a one-way road. It then took him longer than acceptable to get out of the small town! Mr Lawler had to step up and direct us out.
Quilmes is located about 50km from Cafayate, and is set against a large hill, and evidence of fortifications on it´s flanks tells a story of its past. At first glance, the ruins are rather ordinary, with no explanation as to the meaning of any of the buildings or sites. Over the course of a few hours there though, they definitely grows on you. Climbing to one of the fortifications gives you a good overview of the settlement. It is very extensive, and at one point, housed 5,000 people. The area has been occupied for approximately 2,800 but the fortress was really built around 800 AD. During the time, the Quilmes people resisted the mighty Incas, and were finally overcome by the Spanish after 130 years of resistance. The Spanish decided to evict everyone from the city, and marched everyone on foot to a reserve outside of Buenos Aires: a journey of over 1,000km in which many hundreds of people died.
During their time, the locals harvested maize, fruits, and other vegetables, and exchanged these items for meat that nomadic hunters of the area caught.
All in all, a great day and I learned a lot about these fascinating people.
The ruins at Quilmes
Evo tries macroThe next day, our penultimate day, was due to be a trip to the local wineries on bicycles (again!) as Cafayate is a larger region for wine production than Mendoza (at least in terms of growing space). Unfortunately the wineries were all closed (being Sunday) and our bikes were rather poor. Fran´s brakes barely worked. So we walked around instead.
At 4am the next morning, we woke to catch our bus back to Salta to get to Tilcara, which is further north. One of the hostel owners, Walter saw us and offered us a lift to the station. "Oh do you have a car" we asked. "Yes, but I have no license" came the reply. So we packed our bags in the trunk "leave it open" he says "it´s only a short journey" and drove to the station, trunk open. From there we caught a bus to Salta, and waited two hours for our bus to Tilcara.
It was only a short journey to Tilcara, but a world away from a big city. Population circa 5,000, it´s very laid back and the faces of the locals start to take on that of the Altiplano natives: sun dried, weather beaten, leather skinned faces with serious stares. At least, they are serious until you say hello or give them a smile. Then it´s like you´re a long lost child.
Situated at 2,400m amsl, I was expecting to be a little breathless, but I coped well. Fran though, on the second day when we walked to a local waterfall, lost her breath quite quickly. A shot of ventolin fixed her up!
Tilcara is based at a halfway point between the highlands (southern Altiplano) and the lower regions of Salta and surrounds. In pre-Hispanic times, there was a large community based here, and they prospered well due to their location, facilitating trade and travel between the two regions. The ruins of this community are just on the outskirts of town, which we went to visit.
More churches!
Now in concert!
Market stall
Walking back from a local lake, this is the view of the fields surrounding Tilcara
And Tilcara
Too rusitc for me NOT to take a picture
Cacti. And lots of em
The ruins at Pucara
more ruins
and more
and more
and more
More cool rock formationsOn our final day, we went to visit a waterfall which was about 2 hours hike away. Expecting something a bit tepid (this being pretty arid country), I was pleasantly surprised:
Exif around 1/3 second. Hand-held too! 
Same goes
Same goesWe then caught a bus to San Salvador de Jujuy (ask Fran to pronounce that one.. ha), for just one night as our connection to San Pedro was the next day. It looks to be a gem of a city though, so if you`re in the region, swing by!
So here we are. Back in San Pedro, about to book a trip to Bolivia.
I`d better get off now, I`ve been on here far too long!
But before I do, remember more pics are on my Smugmug galleries. If you want better quality images than the jpegs on this blog, run a "slideshow" from Smugmug. The pics are much bigger there.
I hope everyone is doing well. Lots of love.
Adam
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