Jujuy and Salta

This past weekend, I was able to travel to Jujuy and Salta to meet up with Joseph and Victoria and see a very different side of Argentina (thank you, mom and dad for the birthday present...flying time was 4 hours round trip as opposed to 48 hours in buses round trip). These two provinces at the northwestern corner of the country are extremely indigenous in character and have some of the most beautiful scenery in the country.

My trip began in the underwhelming but conveniently located city of San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital of Jujuy province. So as not to confuse you, the city is often referred to only as Jujuy and not San Salvador de Jujuy even though that's also the name of the province. This city is not particularly beautiful, not particularly wealthy, and not particularly interesting (hence the lack of pictures), but it was a central location for us to begin the trip and rent a car, and I barely stayed there for more than 12 hours. When I refer to something beautiful and incredible in this post, I will generally be talking about the province and not the city. We left Jujuy (city) on Friday morning heading north through the Quebrada de Humahuaca (kay-BRAH-duh day hoo-muh-WAH-kuh). According to translate.google.com, the word quebrada translates as ravine, gully, or brook. Basically it's a cross between a valley, a canyon, and a gorge, although Joseph, Victoria, and I had trouble defining the differences between the three, that has some amazing scenery and rock formations and a few small towns. At the center of the quebrada, the low point in this valley, lies a two-lane highway, a set of abandoned railroad tracks, and a currently dry riverbed. There were bridges over the riverbed, so I assume that it fills with water during the 'rainy season' whenever that is.

We were able to hit 'the big 3' towns of Purmamarca, Tilcara, and Humahuaca (in that order...they are three but they are not big....I just made that term up...), which all featured tourist-catered artisan markets, dirt roads, and awesome mountains. We ended up driving back to Tilcara, the town with the most restaurant and nightlife options, and stayed there in the house of a family that we found through the local tourism office after (but not because) I accidentally overtipped them.

Saturday morning, we left Tilcara and headed west over the mountain ridge lining the quebrada towards las salinas grandes, the salt flats. These are basically gigantic open spaces with no vegetation that are completely white. We drove most of the day on a dirt road that when near but not into the salinas (whoops...), but the drive was still beautiful. This road left us at a pretty dismal looking town called San Antonio de los Cobres, which is connected to Salta by the tourist trap that is the Tren a las Nubes (train to the clouds), which costs $120 USD per person. Ridiculous. Part of our plan was to avoid paying for that ticket but still see the scenery by driving on the camino a las nubes (road) in our coche a las nubes (small rental car). We drove about an hour out of the way to see what was supposed to be a very impressive puente a las nubes (bridge...part of the train tracks), but it was underwhelming to say the least.

The drive to Salta was really beautiful and enjoyable, although the sun did end up going down, the paved road ended, and we wound up on some sort of construction detour through the bottom of a canyon/valley/ravine/quebrada on a makeshift road that ran next to and periodically across a stream. We did, however, make it to Salta without incident and spent a great two days exploring the city. As you can see from the pictures below, it was a really amazing trip!

If you don't believe anything I just told you and want a second account, check http://thesmallmarsupial.blogspot.com/ in a week or so when they have had time to update their blog.

Now, as my grandfather would say, I am visiting Buenos Aires before leaving for Mendoza (Andes Mountains + malbec wine/vineyards = good trip). My visit has already been long enough to witness the rebirth of a strike in Universidad de Buenos Aires (this was supposed to have ended for good last week...), a garbage strike which left the streets smelling oh so lovely, a murder resulting from a conflict between two train worker unions, and separate subway and bus strikes at different hours today.

Pictures of the trip are here on my facebook...I took too many and had to split it into two albums:
Album 1
Album 2