Salta, Argentina (part II) & San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

wednesday morning ben and i set out in our VW Gol and headed north in hopes of getting to the state of Jujuy and visiting Tilcara, Purmamarca, and the Argentinian salt flats. we thought we were following the map and heading north of route 9, which looks to be a straight shot Jujuy, but either the map did not correctly show the path or we ended up on another road. but, the road we ended up taking was well worth the mistake. the road, which I believe was either route 9 or route 34 (its hard to tell since route 9 starts and stops and picks up in different places throughout the region), was incredible. the twisting, turning road (where we could not go much
faster than 30km/h at any time) took us through the mountains and jungles surrounding Salta. we left our windows down and it was like listening to one of those animal sound CDs you can buy...crazy bird calls and other noises that i cant pretend i know the origin of. we definitely found that the road less traveled is well worth the trouble.

we made it to Jujuy a little behind schedule so instead of stopping there, we continue north in hopes of getting to Tilcara to have lunch. the road was under going major construction, which further slowed us down, but i was able to make up some time on the paved sections by cruising at 140km/h....pretty sure the VW Gol was not made to hit those speeds...ive never heard or felt a car shake like that. we got within about 10km of Tilcara when traffic came to a stand still. from where we were it looked like an accident with a car on fire about 200 meters up the road. ben got out to see what was happening and came back a few minutes later with the news that the road was blocked from side to side with several cars by some locals who were apparently not happy about something. they had also started a fire on the side of the road. after hanging around for a bit, watching the lines of cars continuously grow on both sides of the road block, we decided to give up and make our way to Purmamarca.

we arrived in Purmamarca without incident and were treated to the incredible site of the Cerro de los Siete Colores, which is a series of mountains and hills next to this incredibly small town that displays layers upon layers of natural colors. it was hard to imagine that this phenomenon could occur naturally. we hiked around the area for a while, taking in this gift of nature, and then bought some local meets and bread to take with us to the salt flats. the slat flats, while only being about 50km away from Purmamarca, took a while to get to because of the incredible ascent and swtichbacks that we necessary to conquer in order to climb the Andes. on the way to the salt flats we reached a high of 4170m above sea level. but, the car successfully got us to the Argentinian salt flats knowns as Salinas Grandes. for those of you who havent visited a salt flat, it is difficult to describe. it is an endless desert of white that is so bright and blinding that it is difficult to see and make out anything. we hung around for a while, taking pictures and enjoying our lunch, before climbing back in the car to head back towards Salta. because of the road conditions we were not able to make any stops on the way back to Salta. we had to return the car before the company closed since we had a 7am bus the next morning.

thursday morning we climbed in the double decker bus for our trip to San Pedro de Atacame in northen Chile. along the way we picked up what looked like to be a high school soccer team. ive never seen such an ordeal. i think the entire town came out to send these guys off and it took almost 2 hours to load them and their luggage. the bus, which was supposed to arrive in San Pedro at 4pm, ended up arriving at 7pm, thanks to the soccer team and some other delays we encountered at the Argentinian and Chilean border crossings. but, we made it. we also were able to find space at a great hostel near the center of town.

friday we spent the first part of the day checking out our new spot. starting at 3pm, we climbed about a bus with about 20 others for a tour through several valleys, mountains, and rock formations in the area, including Valle de Marte, Valle de la Muerte, Tres Marias, and Valle de la Luna. at the last stop, Valle de la Luna, we stopped for about 40 minutes to watch and enjoy the sunset. it is called a lunar sunset here, and for good reason. the landscape could not be described as terrestrial. we returned to San Pedro at about 7:30pm only to leave again at 9:30 to head to the middle of the desert to observe the stars . this late night excursion may be the highlight of
my trip up to this point. we arrived at the observatory (a small house in the middle of the desert surrounded by 8 fantastic telescopes) before the moon had risen and were treated to indescribable views of the milky way several other star clusters and galaxies that im embarrassed to say whose names ive already forgotten. we were then treated to the fantastic view of the moon rising over the Andes which was soon followed by Jupiter. there was also 2 telescopes pointed at Saturn, which were so strong and the sky so clear that we were able to make out the shadow of the rings on the planet. a little later in the night we were able to make out 6 signs of the zodiac, clearly layed out in a path from one end of the horizon to the other. it is easy to see now how ancient people came to think that these stars had incredible meaning and power. i wish i could write more about our experience last night, but all of it still has not sunk in with me yet. plus, i need to get going to catch our next bus which leaves in about an hour to Iquique, another city in northern Chile, but right on the beach. it is supposed to be the paragliding mecca in south america....cant wait!