Salta & Jujuy

View from my hotel room: San Fransisco church is a landmark in Salta city

Salta and Jujuy are two provinces in Northwestern Argentina with a great variety of beautiful landscapes and fascinating flora and fauna: perfect places to explore with my friend Peter Jaspers-Fayer, especially when our home in Guelph is gripped by winter weather!

Salta is also a bustling city of 600 thousand people with a rich history and a youthful, contemporary vibe. We made it our home base to acclimatize, change money and rent a car.

Peter taking in the crisp, clean air and wild landscapes on the way to Cafayate

The red, wind-sculpted rock reminded me of the Southwest USA

Our first foray was south through the wild Quebrada de las Conches to the town of Cafayate, which has become the centre of a region renown for its high-altitude vineyards. 

Lunch with a bottle of local 'tinto' required a siesta before setting off home to Salta.

Morning view of the Hill of Seven Colours from our room at Tiny Eco Cabins, Puramarca

Puramarca: cute but very touristy

Next we drove north to Puramarca, an adobe village in the mountain desert of Jujuy. Because of its proximity to the Hill of Seven Colours, Puramarca has become a popular tourist destination. It seemed that the only businesses in the village were hotels, restaurants and craft shops catering to the visitors.

Jumping for joy at Salinas Grandes

So cute I could just hug you

Our next stop was Salinas Grandes, a salt flat in the Puna, a vast, treeless wilderness high in the Andes. 

We were disappointed to see so much plastic waste at 14,000 ft. but pleased to have a close encounter with vicuñas, llama-related camelids who's wool is among the most-prized in the world.

Next we will head to an area called Las Yungas, a forested mountain area to the east of the Andes that will be wetter and warmer.