Argentina trip: Day 10 (24 June)

Hey there everyone, welcome back to my Argentinean adventure. Today is the first of four day-trips around Salta which I booked through Get Your Guide for a total of  $183 USD. These trips themselves are operated by Tiamar Travel. There was a similar package offered on Get Your Guide for about $50 USD less, but it’s ratings were a bit lower, so I decided to go with the more expensive, but also more popular and higher rated option. I’ve several times used Get Your Guide in the past for small group excursions, and my experience has been that they are generally good at curating the best offers in a given area.

So I was awakened by my annoying alarm at 6:00 AM, and I started getting ready. At 6:48 AM I ate a couple of reheated pastries from the day before. It’s supposed to be quite a bit colder today, 11 C (52 F), but we will see.

At 7:24 AM I was still waiting, and I noticed there were a couple of people waiting outside the main door of the apartment. Then a message came at 7:26 AM indicating that my driver was about to arrive, so I went out, and sure enough the van pulled up almost immediately. There were already several people (maybe seven) inside. However, those waiting outside my lodging were not among them; perhaps they were waiting for another tour operator? Anyway, I found my seat and at 7:29 AM we were off.

At 7:33 AM we picked up five more people. I think this was a family. Perhaps since most people in Argentina look very similar to me I had assumed that there were not many tourists wandering around, but based on what I was seeing today, evidently Salta at least had plenty of tourists in the area. It appears however that most of the tourism at this time of year is domestic.

At 7:43 AM three more people entered. It looks like we will have a full vehicle. It’s still dark out.

At 7:45 we start the official tour with Julio giving a commentary via microphone and quality speakers. Today is what was listed as “day 4” in the package I had bought. We are going to Hornocal. Evidently the altitude to which we will be arriving is high enough that many people suffer from attitude sickness; he spends a lot of time talking about that.

At 7:56 AM we drove through autódromo. It appears to be a poorer section of the city but definitely not a slum. Finally at 8:04 we were completely out of the city, moving along swiftly on a very smooth road. Outside, it was all rolling hills

At 8:30 AM we passed through the town of General Güemes. It looked like a fairly nice place. The windows were constantly fogging over, so in order to see outside I would use the sleeve of my jacket. At 9:13 we were still on the road, and most of the people in the bus were asleep.

At 9:16 AM Julio indicated we were about to make a stop and he suggested that if we planned on buying drinks or snacks we do it then, since the future stop would be “touristic” and we wouldn’t want to waste time. He also said that after this we would steadily be gaining altitude. As announced, at 9:21 we had a 15 minute gas station stop. I think we were in San Salvador de Jujuy in San Pedrito neighborhood. Lots of people were getting food, but I had eaten beforehand so thought I would be fine waiting until lunch. At 9:35 AM the advert sign for Paris lodging left little to the imagination as to the intended clientele. Then at 9:39 PM I was waiting again back in the bus. It was rather overcast and quite cool (10 C), but Julio seemed to think the sky would be more clear where we were going.

At 9:45 we were on our way again. Julio was doing a running commentary as we went. Evidently, here due to weather patterns, you are much more likely to find snow on the mountains in the Summer than you would find in the winter. That was an interesting tidbit.

At 10:50 AM I had sort of fallen into a half asleep state the last hour, so when I opened my eyes, we were just then arriving at  Purmanarca and yes, it is now completely sunny here. It’s a picturesque village, and I understand why people like to stay here overnight. I was a bit sorry to have missed the gradual change of scenery and climate, but it was a beautiful thing to open my eyes to after the dreary overcast weather in Salta.

I saw at 11:06 that there was a lookout point (Mirador el porito), but it was 5500 for foreigners (300 nationals) but it didn’t seem that one really got to see anything all that special by going there. Just to stand there didn’t seem worth it. This reminded me of similar silly things which were charged for when I was visiting China.

It was very nice to walk around a bit, but I think I would have liked it for longer than 40 minutes.

At 11:34 AM I was again waiting again for the transport. There was a mobile ATM installed, as the physical one in the town was not working and the closest physical bank is 30 km away.

Then at 11:40 AM we departed, only 10 minutes later than had been projected. So far, this entire trip, I’ve found the roads to be excellent.

At 12:00 PM we passed Tilcara. For much of the ride, Julio, who is also the driver, keeps up his running commentary. Similar to when I was in the area around Ladakh, I found it all to be constantly beautiful, but I could also understand how full time residents would find it monotonous after awhile. Different from the area around Leh, where the mountains look barren, here the mountains many times had a green sheen due to low growing plants.

At 12:11 PM we made a quick stop at Huacalera where there is a monument to mark the Tropic of Capricorn line. There I took a couple of obligatory pictures. Throughout the trip I’ve noticed that while there are frequently opportunities to buy souvenirs, the salespeople don’t hassle or chase after you. This might be because bargaining isn’t a big thing here . . If you like the price, you buy it. If you don’t, you don’t, and everybody seems fine with that.

At 12:37 PM we arrived at Humahuaca, and at 12:42 PM we got off the bus and into the restaurant. The flag which is hanging is the flag of the pueblos originarios, which now has a similar status to the national flag which is blue and white. That’s why both of them were raised on flag day. I paid 9000 ARS ($7.26 USD) cash for my take away lunch and then at 12:51 PM was picked up by the next transport to Hornocal. Cachete is the guide and with this group we go to Hornocal.

He gave us a Coco candy and also suggested that we put some sort of liquid inside the nose. I have no idea what it was. He was talking the whole time, but I couldn’t hear him for most of the time because of a fan they had turned on right above me. At 1:45 PM for some reason Cachete asked us each to pay 500 ARS more which I did along with everyone else. I guess it’s an entry fee charged by the Hornocal community. Again, I couldn’t really understand anything, so who actually knows.

Finally at 1:53 PM we arrived. We were told to be back in the transport at 2:20 PM. So anyways, this was the famous 14 color hill. Yes, it was impressive, but I understand why a lot of people stayed back in the town. At 2:10 PM everyone was taking turns helping take pictures of each other next to the Hornocal sign. Despite being at 4350 meters above sea level, I fortunately didn’t feel any altitude sickness. That might have been because of the coco candy and the liquid, or maybe I just wasn’t affected. At any rate, I was happy to not feel sick. It was quite windy.

As instructed, at 2:22 PM we were back in the van and heading back down. I wasn’t really sure why we had brought this food before heading up. With how bumpy the road is from Humahuaca, it certainly does not make sense for us to eat it in the van, and there also was no time to eat it at Hornocal.

I noted that for some reason while they had thought we needed that deafening fan on while we were coming up and the guide was talking,  on the way down we were without the fan. I’m glad I at least saw the hill, since it’s one of the emblematic sites of the area, and yes I would have been sorry to come this far and then not see it.

Perhaps in response to my thoughts, at 2:40 PM they turned on the fan again, I’m not sure why, but at least nobody was talking this time. Then at 2:49 we stopped, because an older woman in the van who had not been feeling well needed to get out. I’m not sure where they took her, but I think it was to get some sort of medical attention. As if altitude sickness were contagious, at 3:02 PM while we were waiting, another passenger took ill, fainting, and they had to bring the first aid people to give him oxygen. As you may already know, not everyone responds the same to high altitudes, and I’ve been told that even someone who was fine in the past at the same altitude may take ill later on during a future visit to that altitude.

Fortunately at 3:14 PM we were on our way back down again, arriving to Huacalera at 3:46 and immediately transferring to the other transport. Cachete came through to ask for tips, and I gave 1000 ARS even though I didn’t hear anything he had said. However, he had given me a coco candy and several sniffs of his magic liquid, which might have helped with me not having altitude sickness. I would have also like to walk around the town of Huacalera a bit, but there was no time.

Once we were under easy, I, like the others who had gone up to Hornocal, ate my lunch on the bus, finishing it at 4:13 PM. The roasted chicken, 2 small empanadas, rice and a badly bruised apple were not delicious, but they were perfectly adequate. The beef empanada was notably better than the chicken one.

Again at 4:17 PM we stopped on the side of the road because the woman who had fainted earlier was again sick. Fortunately she seemed to recover quickly and then minutes later at 4:27 PM we pulled into Tilcara. We had 30 minutes to walk around here. I think this is a town I would like to stay in even more than Purmamarca, since it seemed more “real” and Purmamarca appeared to just be a tourist village/trap.

At 4:42 PM I thought that this looked like it would be a nice place to live, but I can only guess at how easy or difficult it is to make ends meet. Here for sure though, I suspect one needs a car. But who knows, maybe there is a local bus that goes around to nearby villages etc. . . At 4:45 PM we departed.

However at 5:10 PM we stopped again for 5 minutes to do photos at Maimara. There was an interesting cemetery there as well as another multicolored hill. One of the other passengers there kindly gave me his SAETA (Salta public transport) card, saying that he would no longer need it. That was much appreciated, as I hadn’t been able to find one the day before.

At 5:41 PM we again started  through the magical cloud boundary. I imagined that when we emerged, it would be all overcast etc again the same as it was in the morning. Sure enough when we got through at 6:00 PM, yes, that’s what happened.

Then at 6:28 PM we stopped at the same gas station as before and I bought an over-priced coffee with milk for 2750 ARS cash. Shortly thereafter we continued on our way, and at 7:50 PM I noted that we still had 45 minutes left of travel

Finally at 8:41 PM I was dropped off right outside my apartment in Salta. However, I decided to go straight to the nearby Paseo de las Poetas to get food. While I quickly arrived at 8:46 PM, I immediately saw it much less busy than last night. Almost nothing was open. Incidentally, I again saw two police officers. To be sure, I see police here everywhere. Was there really that much crime, or would it be chaos without them?

So at 8:52 PM, despite what might have been the case last night, I came to the conclusion that this definitely wasn’t a place to get food on a Monday night. I decided to check nearby for somewhere else. I guessed the Plaza de 9 de julio would work, I headed that way, but was resolved to stop somewhere else that looked okay should I encounter it before reaching the plaza.

Sure enough at 9:07 PM I saw a tiny sandwich place and decided to just go there, where I only paid 1600 ARS cash for a large subway sandwich. The lady working there was incredibly nice. I thought I might go back there again. I turned around and headed back in the direction of the apartment. Then walking back to the apartment. On the way at 9:12 PM this was the second time I had seen a local dance studio. . .Laura López studio. This sort of leisure class to formally do face must be very popular for people here.

By 9:22 PM I was back in the apartment with my sandwich! I continued working on my blog until 11:35 PM, when I was finally able to sleep. So that was my first small group excursion in Salta. I thought it was great. What about you? Let me know in the comments section below.