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 when you download this BACK.Yard Guide 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. Every page full colour.

The BY Guide to Salta is only $7.99 and can be purchased here or by clicking the "BUY NOW" button below (It will be delivered to you instantly via special link for download so you can carry it on your trip on Ipad or PDF Reader or print it out in full colour and bring it along). 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.

Mendoza to Salta Photo Tour (Day 3)

Is it only day 3? We've already done almost a thousand kilometres and fifteen hundred more to come. These first days between Mendoza and Cafayate are the hardest in terms of distances and facilities. I promised the clients they would have better food once we got further north,

We leave Tinogasta although with more time, we usually stop at Fiambala for the termas (I have written about this in another post) and drive for a couple of hours to Londres (so called because at the time of its founding by the Spanish, King Phillip was married to England's Queen Mary). In Londres there is the most important Inca site in NOA at El Shincal, a provincial administrative centre, it is deep in the forest with two ceremonial platforms reaching for the stars (Also covered inmore detail in an earlier post).

There is no nafta at Belen YPF and I scour around for some making us late for the planned lunch stop. We have choripan (chorizo sausage in a roll with fresh homemade chimichurri) from a street oil drum made over into a parilla - the locals seemed fascinated.

At El Eje we leave Ruta 40 and head west onto the puna, one of the levels of the Andean pre-cordillera which means 'cold desert' in Quechua but was the preferred habitat of the Inca. The Puna is situated between 3400 and 4600 metres above sea level - the light is intense and the wind blows wickedly.

These kind of medanos (sand dunes) are formed by deposits from wind erosion and give a completely other worldly lunar aspect to the terrain. The client donned his mountaineering gear to hike off and capture his photos.

 

It reminds me of the glacial ice formations at Perito Moreno in El Calafate, Patagonia.

 

The puna is the preferred habitat of the guanaco and vicuna - the wild members of the camelid family - llama and alpaca being the domesticated members. They are extremely timid around humans but there are so many groups along the way (they herd in groups of one male to eight-ten females) we have no problem getting photos whereas on the Salta and Jujuy puna, it is often impossible to find any because of the increased traffic.

We have bell tents for camping out on the puna but on this occasion the client decided on the comfort of the Hosteria at El Penon. The hotel is very comfortable with many European touches but the food is atrocious and extremely expensive - it may be better to take your own if possible. The guiso de llama was like the rock outside the front door - llama is a meat that must be cooked lightly. I promised them we would have perfect llama in Jujuy.

I wonder whether all those UFO sightings were merely strange cloud and light formations at altitude - they certainly do strange things for the camera.

Driving Mendoza to Salta (Day 2)

Another long day of kilometres today, mostly due to the lack of facilities in the area - the only decent place to stay close (60km or 120km) to Valle de la Luna is in Villa Union.

So from Villa Union in the morning it's 60km (40 Miles) back south to Talampaya National Park - Home of the Dinosaurs (guanaco and suri). It's currently 40 pesos park fee (for foreigners) plus 135 for the bus trip in the overland truck. The truck is almost 4 hours drive into the canyon. It's a beautiful visit with wildlife and petroglifos (stone carvings) but I wish they would do a convoy as in Ischigualasto as it is a little dull looking at 150 metres of stacked up mud for four hours - but perhaps I'm just worrying about lunch!

I'm worrying because through this central part of Argentina in particular, the food is appalling. It may be merely a cultural issue - the nursery rhyme about Jack Sprat was surely invented here about a cross-cultural couple. While I prefer a lomo (filet steak) any day, my partner prefers a cut like vacio, tough and gristly.

There is a cafe in Talampaya which will be filled with tour groups and places in the pueblo will take an hour to fire up some fried empanadas.(The truck ride incorporates a vino and olive stop).

There's the 60km back to Villa Union and then two hours to Chilecito through the Cuesta de Miranda (ripio). Hopefully the timing allows a snack at the cafe on the plaza and a visit to the Bodega, La Riojana. By now you'll notice all the Difunta Correa shrines along the way.

Another two hour drive to Tinogasta for the overnight stop - There is only one decent hotel with nice rooms although the public areas are like a hostel - Best to dine here also, the woks are good and actually contain vegetables. The restaurants are all milanesas and plastic garden chairs.

Check the tiny people in the canyon.

Photo Tour Mendoza to Salta (Day 1)

First off, this is not a trip for people who dont like driving or sitting in cars. The distances are large and the roads are slow going. The first day covers 650km and there isn't much option to make it less apart from stopping in San Juan City for the night - not the best idea.

Starting out early - 8.30am at latest drive north toward San Juan city, I take the 'Olive Route' to get off ruta 40 and bypass the city. This brings you out at a bend in the road and a short drive later to one of the oddest sights in the country - Difunta Correa.

Difunta Correa is a folklore saint with a massive following in the mid- and north west of Argetnina. She was a San Juanina woman who followerd her husband north towards La Rioja Province when he went to  fight in the wars of the 1850s.

Walking across the barren and arid landscape, carrying her new baby, she died from heat exhaustion and lack of water in the middle of the desert. A couple of days later, shepherds discovered her body and the baby still feeding at ther breast, alive and well. This was declared a miracle and Difunta, a People's Saint.

Her shrine is stacked with small houses and car number plates - the faithful thanking her for their prosperity. Walking around it reminds of a model village except the pilgrims are crawling on their hands and knees up the hundred and fifty steps as though ascending Mount Sinai.

The place attracts many thousands of people and more in December for her Saint's Day. Plenty of pollo al spiedo for lunch. Piles of plastic bottles at the roadside aren't rubbish but offerings to Difunta.

Continue on to San Augustin de Valle Fertil - a small town with nafta and basic accommodation. There is the option to stay here but the locations are back to front as Ischigualasto is best in the afternoon and Talampaya is best in the morning.

At Ischigualasto (the Valle de la Luna - Moon Valley) the three-hour circuit of the park is done with a ranger and a convoy of cars. There are five stops along the way, each showcasing the various lunar landscapes formed over 220 million years ago - real dinosaur country.

There is a camp site at the side of the park - well worth it on full moon nights when there is a guided tour around the glowing irridescent formations.

Hurry as these rocks are liable to fall any day now. Taking the last tour of the park, darkness will fall on the drive to Villa Union and there is a serious risk of hitting guanaco crossing the highway. All in all about a twelve hour day.

 

 

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.

Photo Sales Gallery Online

So many clients have asked about photos from the site and their trip (especially if weather and other calamities have prevailed) and I've had so much trouble with fulfillment from my Tracy Johnson Photography Website but now I have a new gallery shopfront separate from the wedding photos.

The link is here -

Photo Galleries

It's still in preparation as it takes a while to go through 10,000 photos especially when the external hard disk drive no longer wants to boot up. It would however be great if people could give me an opinion or let me know if there's something missing.

FYI - It's an opportunity for people who have yet to visit Salta and/or are planning to do so to get some ideas for their trip.

Hope you enjoy the show.

Driving &Tours in Salta - How the Roads Are

Just back from a five day tour with three Aussie chicas - great fun with the food and wine adventurers but this trip was amazing for highlighting almost every situation possible with the roads in Salta and Jujuy, NW Argentina.

This is Ruta 68 from Salta to Cafayate through the Quebrada de las Conchas - Shell Gorge. Goat herds think nothing of wandering along the highway and you have to be careful on curves so as not to run smack into a horse, cow, goat, chicken, pig etc.

Same with ruta 40 although this being ripio and loaded with washboard ruts, it's harder to get up much speed. There are however plenty of animals along the way and other forms of traffic.

We'd stopped for a photo of this unusual modern church with a bacofoil-like roof when the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse appeared from nowhere on the 'highway' - Ruta 40 is Argentina's iconic road running 5200km from the Bolivian Border down to Tierra del Fuego along the Andes. Up on the Puna in the National Cactus Park, you will encounter donkeys and possibly Vicuna on the highway.

Beautiful snow on the Nevado de Cachi after witnessing two tourists smash their car into the jutting sidewalk in Cachi pueblo, totally destroying their axle. Next morning we encountered a landslide on the Cuesta del Obispo and had to wait for the ever-present digger to remove it while four English tourists changed their flat tyre.

Back to civilisation and we stopped in Cerrillos outside Salta for some fantastic local empanadas. The owners got as many snaps of the Aussies, juice running down chins as traditionally required of a good empanada, as we did of them.

In the north llamas crossing is the adventure and currently, many road blockages thanks to an unstable political situation.

I think of London and the current violent protest riots unlikely to achieve anything but rancour whereas the 'cortes de rutas' in Argentina often find people showing solidarity despite being blocked from continuing their journey for an hour or two.

These people in Abra Pampa, a small and non-picturesque pueblo north of Humahuaca on the way and close to Bolivia, had had enough with the lies from central government. Many people in the NW claim to be forgotten, far as we are from Buenos Aires and with insignificant population for votes. Madame Kirchner made one of her grandstanding Evita promises last November that every child in Argentina would have a netbook computer. The people in Abra Pampa are not only still waiting for theirs, they have been asking for the last four years for the second stage of the construction of the school to be completed.

My clients know that we have a charitable foundation at NW Nomad to help out with school supplies and other things necessary but forgotten for schoolkids. When I first came to the NW, the schools were in a terrible state. Then Madame was criticised internationally for lack of attention to education so all the schools received a bright coat of paint and visitors see a school that appears cared for. Inside and out of touristed areas, everything continues the same.

In Abra Pampa they have to operate on four turns every day from early morning to night for each of the levels to get a few hours of schooling in - they need more classrooms.

One of the wonderful Aussie gals had brought a ton of supplies and her friends at home had given her money for aid here and in Peru - thank you Aussies in Brisbane. This was a great opportunity for her to hand out the pencils and books she had carried so far and everyone was fascinated and very grateful for the items she gave.

I dropped two gals in Bolivia and came back to Salta with the third. We had to wait an hour again at the roadblock and were diverted off the highway at San Salvador as fires had been lit, blocking it off - there have been serious riots in that capital recently over land grabs and evictions.

Thinking that not much else could possibly happen, we were pulled over in Guemes and told I'd run a red light (You can't say you did not) and that as it was night, the car would have to be impounded and a 1800 pesos fine paid in the morning. The Aussie had her flight home in the morning. It was obviously a shakedown but with foreigners, they won't take the usual 100 backhander. 900 was the absolute minimum to be allowed to pay on the spot. Much arguing later, I got it down to 400 pesos so long as I didn't need a receipt and said nothing.

Upshot is - give yourself time to get places, don't travel the highways at night, keep a near empty wallet for bribes.

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.

 

Summer Snow in Cachi

The tormentas of rainy season are finally over and although there are still diversions where roads have washed away or fallen into the rapids, they are generally good to drive.

The Car to the clouds has been in business through rainy season

The flooded Salinas Grandes

The salt flats which was under water through most of February and March and looked like nothing more than a pretty lagoon, has dried out and can be walked on as before.

Even in high summer there has been snow on the mountains in Cachi and Tucuman. These shots show the view from the Estancia we use for visitors visiting Cachi.