NW Nomad

THE Local Guide to Salta - Available Now!

Finally...We have been working for ages on this guide ever since we stopped the monthly, then bi-monthly publication of NWNomad News (mostly due to constant printer problems and late delivery).

Publishing the ultimate guide to a location has to be spot on and we think the BACK.Yard Guide to Salta (and Jujuy) - the first of many BACK.Yard Guides to follow, is just that.

What you'll see in BACK.Yard Guides is...

A local's advice on the best itinerary and how to make the most of your valuable time, What to bring, when to go, driving and renting a car. Each area, from Salta city, to Cafayate, to the pueblos in the north have a dedicated page featuring what to do, where to stay and eat and some history of the sights and sites. It's just like having a guide with you on the road although BY Guide is best read before leaving home as it offers a ton of invaluable and, more importantly up-to-date, information on the area you're investing your hopes in.

All about renting a car and managing driving in a foreign culture, BY Guide helps all the way.

There are special pages on handicrafts, local foods and even a recipe for the revered Salta Empanadas.

Even better, the 36-page guide makes a great souvenir, loaded with professional photos.

The BY Guide to Salta is only $7.99 and can be purchased here or by clicking the "BUY NOW" button on the sidebar. Please come back and let us know what you think.

 

Coming soon - BY Guide to Buenos Aires and BY Cook Salta.

Mendoza to Salta Guided Tour (Day 4)

From El Penon, which is almost Antofogasta de la Sierra, there are two options to descend again and continue north to the Cafayate wine region and the rest of the Calchaqui Valley or to continue across the puna to San Antonio de los Cobres.

We descended so as to visit Quilmes ruins and to experience some good food and hospedaje in the pueblos but first we drove 40km on towards Antofogasta so as to enjoy some of the 200 volcanoes resting dormant along the ruta.

This is the chance for some spectacular photography - colours and volcanoes and glaciers and high altitude light - but it's not easy. Ansel Adams waited all day for perfect light on one shot but we don't have the time.

The journeys from this point have a looping effect but it is impossible to see everything without backtracking at some stage.

It is never dull returning through one of the gorges as they look totally differnt viewed from the reverse angle - an entirely new vista. And of course there are vicuna at various points along the way, so cute how they lift their heads to check us out.

From San Antonio it is possible to descend into Salta through the Quebrada del Toro which is the route followed by the train to the clouds. As I have stated before, it's better to drive this route unless you're a train buff so as to stop at Santa Rosa de Tastil. Or the drive continues north along a sand track (old ruta 40) that comes out at Salinas Grandes from where you descend to Purmamarca.

Salta Seasons

The advantage of visiting the NW in winter is that you have wonderful light for photographs.

Now however, certain days have hit over 30 degrees centigrade and although it cools down again in the evening, the blossom and flowers are ready to burst.

Gauchos

Today being Santa Rosa de Lima, Saint's Day as well as Corpachada - the last day of homage to Pachamama beofre the new harvest year, I had to post a couple of photos reminding everyone of the festivities.

But I am paying homage to a couple of clients I had from Pennsylvania who posted these photos of their trip.Here we place a stone on the Apacheta - a roadside tribute to Pachamama for a safe journey - add a stone to the pyramid or coca leaves, cigarettes, beer bottles.

I chew coca leaves most of the day while driving - it keeps me focused and staves of peckishness (The Coca Leaf Diet as opposed to the Bolivian Diet which is automatic if you take the bus in that country). The client's doctor at home had freaked her out in regard to altitude sickness as though we were going up Everest. I suggested she take home some coca to show him what the Incas used for mal de puna - it works as does eating sweets and chocolate.

Here Nick free climbs in the Devil's Throat. Travelling with me entails either a great deal of adventure or at least the photo opportunities that make it seem that way.

Oooops - too much coca

No Nafta (Petrol/gas) in Salta Province

I just arrived back from a trip to the US and got up at 5am the following day to get clients from Cafayate. I pulled into the service station nice and early. "We've had no Nafta for four days" the playera told me. Because I used to live in Cafayate, I knew which mechanics would be stockpiling petrol to sell on the black market but even they were running short. At least I managed to get the clients back to Salta city.

But there has been no Nafta in the city for me to refuel. Or rather, there was some and I went to the station as soon as they filled up but the lines waiting were like this from both sides and they ran out before I got to the front.

My client asked me why there is no petrol in a country that has enough oil to service itself. Good question. But no one has the answer. The newspapers give no clue. An internet search turns up the Governor demanding that the stations post signs saying they have none instead of making everyone wait. But no reasons. No one is saying anything.

One paper mentioned the corte de ruta in Santa Cruz. Who is blocking the route in Patagonia? Teachers on strike. This is nothing more than lies. Teachers haven't been striking since last Christmas, which is how long this problem has been going on, nor do we in the NW get gas from Patagonia.

Argentines like to blame foreigners. I've been told it's the Spanish (who own the oil fields and petrol pumps) selling it back too high. It's possibly typical Argentine business mismanagement (at Christmas they blamed it on the holiday. As though that doesn't occur every year) but more probably a government excuse to jack the price yet again.

I'm not sure what to advise visitors. If you come you may be trapped but it's a day to day situation that could vanish overnight until the next time.

Day Trip Salta to Salinas Grandes (Salt Flats)

Finally the rainy season is over. It dragged on into April even up on Salinas Grandes at 3350m above sea level where they would normally not expect more than 100mm or 3 inches per year. A day trip from salta is not the ideal way to enjoy the area - too much sitting on a tour bus. If possible stay overnight in Tilcara and see Purmamarca and the hill of Seven Colours before the tour buses arrive then go up to salinas.

The Puna is the natural environment for the shy Vicuna but if you look closely you often see them on the edge of the salinas, camouflaged by the terrain.

It looked like a beautiful clear day on the salt flats - the usual searing blue sky. (I'm not actually seven feet tall).

But rain clouds started rolling up the valley from Cachi/San Antonio de los Cobres and I suggested to the clients that we descend.

On both the Cuesta de Lipan and the Cuesta del Obispo that takes you to Cachi, you often find yourself looking down on these oceans of cloud stuck in the hills, looking like huge white lagoons.

Once you go into the cloud, the rain starts and the visilbility is zero. I was really glad the Don was driving - the poor visibility requires the utmost concentration and I had the chance to snap while inside the cloud.

The cloud was deep and lasted the entire descent of over 2km of altitude - 2000 metres but at the bottom of the Cuesta we were presented with a brilliant rainbow dipping over Purmamarca, literally dividing the storm from the sunny afternoon.

 

Guest post by English Guide

http://santelmoloft.com/2011/02/21/a-trip-to-salta/

A post I wrote about Salta activities for San Telmo Loft in Buenos Aires - A great place to stay!

Colome with Salta Guide

Just back from a five day trip with two world-trotting and great fun Canadians. When we planned the itinerary, I suggested Colome over Hacienda de Molinos for the location and the activities. The client wasnt sure she wanted to spend $US400 but one advantage of certain hotels in the NW is that they give the guide complimentary accomodation and the client doesn't have to finance the guide.

We had lunch with the oenologist at an artesan bodega in Cachi and continued along the ripio road south. The road from Molinos is savage but not a problem in the SUV although the client (who usually rents a car when travelling) said they couldn't imagine driving it in a rental.

The art museum with the magical light show at sundown is a cultural treat apart from the quality of the bodega. The special reserve Syrah is only available at the estancia as they have only made 1200 bottles. The client declared it his favourite in the area (And I made sure he sampled them all). Breakfast on the terrace overlooking the pool, massages, horse-back riding, tennis - if you can take the heat. They said they wished I had pressed them into staying two nights.

The pool at Colome

It is slightly complicated when planning the trip for people to understand the distances and difficulties involved in this beautiful landscape. People can ask us for all the advice they need and hopefully they understand that our recommendations are based on our desire to see everyone enjoy their visit rather than to extend to a pricier option.

From Colome we continue back to Ruta 40, see the Vicuna farm and artesans at Molinos when open and then travel to Cafayate through the incredible Quebrada de las Flechas (Arrow Gorge). No client from anywhere in the world has ever seen anything like it.

On top of the world in the Quebrada de las Flechas

 

Best 4-DAY Itinerary for Salta and North West

People often ask about the best itinerary for the North West region and this is detailed at the post 'Best Six Day Tour'. The tour covers both the Northern circuit into the Jujuy pueblos and the southern circuit to Cafayate and Cachi.

Wide angle required!

If you don't have six days? What should you miss out? You can do the tour more rapidly in four days by passing from north to south in one day and by missing the second day in the north. Uquia and Humahuaca are popular pueblos on the tour bus circuit because they are next to a major highway and easy for them to access.

My advice (and I canvass opinion from every one of my clients as well) is not to miss the Southern portion from Cachi to Cafayate. Others may recommend giving it a miss because the road is rough and they don't want the extra exhaustion in driving it nor the potential damage to the car. You dont need a 4x4 to drive it but having driven both, it is much much more comfortable in an SUV.

DAY 1 - Salta to Cafayate and Quilmes Ruins

DAY 2 - Cafayate to Cachi

DAY 3 - Cachi to TIlcara

DAY 4 - Purmamarca and Salinas Grandes

WIth this route you see everything and manage to exhaust the driver.

The pueblos along the Southern route are unspoiled by idling minibuses (although I plan our route to avoid these as much as possible) and uncrammed with people hawking 'artesan' goods from Ecuador. Instead, you might get asked to stir the locro being made on an open fire for school lunch and chat to the dinner ladies in Seclantas.

Photo Manfred Hellberg

It's not the usual kitchen but the locro smelt good. The school is across the cobbles from the pale pink church with hand-painted marble columns inside.

The Iglesia at Seclantas

Weather in Salta and NW

The weather is a vital component of any holiday and especially here in the NW where the coloured rocks and hills look so much better when the sun sets them off.

People are often tracking the weather report for Salta when they arrive and ask me to change the schedule when the drizzle sets in. No one believes me when I say that the weather in Salta has nothing to do with what's happening outside the city. This is because Salta sits in a basin in the valley and regularly displays London weather - low dingey cloud and cold rain.

When you get into the Valle de Lerma on the Southern route, the weather instantly changes. Cafayate has 320 days of sun per year. More incredibly to the north, the rain pursues you past SS de Jujuy and immediately changes at Volcan. 

The last clients from UK flatly refused to believe it could change and were amazed when we passed through the cloud to the other side - the cloud breaking against the side of the elevation and retreating like waves on Brighton Beach.