Chile and Northern Argentina

Hola!

I am currently 1,989km from where I wrote my previous post having travelled from the north of Chile to Buenos Aires in Argentina. I'll pick up where I left off, which was in San Pedro De Atacama, one of my absolute favourite towns of this trip. It is a very laid back town, with avenues of one story, Wild West buildings housing restaurants, boutiques, hostels and travel agents.

There are no cars in the centre of the small town and lots of people on bikes and strolling around enjoying the atmosphere. There is also a beautiful little plaza with lots of trees and flowers, where the sound of birds fill the air. My second day there I met up with the Swiss couple I had done the jeep tour with and, after one of the best (if not THE best) croissant I had ever had in the towns chic French bakery, we rented bicycles and rode to the Valle De Luna, which is a huge expanse of desert land with many impressive rock formations, caves, volcanoes and sand dunes. 

The desert here is said to be the driest in the world and as we cycled in the midday sun there we could certainly believe that! The landscape was worth the effort though and really did feel like the surface of the moon at points. 

We came back to the town to relax in the plaza and have a well deserved ice cream before setting off again to watch the sunset on our bikes. By the time we returned the bikes at the end of the day we were really tired but managed to stay awake for a delicious pizza, a bottle of red wine and some live music that evening. 

The following day I left San Pedro, even though I could have happily spent a week there, and made my way across the border in Argentina and to a town called Purmamarca. The bus ride there was incredible. I was lucky enough to book the seat above the driver and so was treated to panoramic views the entire way. We past salt lake, salt flats, volcanoes, desert and wound up and down a jaw dropping mountain range full of colourful mineral deposits. 

When we arrived at Purmamarca we got our first view of what the town is famous for, the mountains of 7 colours, a glorious collection of mountains right behind the town which are vividly colourful and almost defy belief! I found a cute little family run hostel and took a stroll around the tiny town before grabbing an empanada for dinner and hitting the hay. 

I had been told that the best time to see the mountains of 7 colours was at around 10am so the next morning I decided to try and find a place where I could get the best view without having to pay $10, like you did for the viewpoint in town. I had read online that there was a spot across the road and up a hill so I set off. After a bit of searching I managed to find the path and climbed up until I had a completely uninterrupted and brilliant view. The best thing about it was that I had the whole spot to myself and so could sit in silence and try to take in what I was seeing. I even managed to catch the moon setting behind the mountain, magical! (The following pictures have NOT been photoshopped, this is really what this place looks like!)

After sitting for half an hour I made my way back into town where I had a quick lunch before catching a bus to my next stop, Tilcara. 

Another stunning bus ride later I arrived and walked through the relaxed, bohemian town to my hostel. The hostel itself was awesome, possibly the best hostel I have ever stayed in. It really felt like home and everyone was so welcoming, not to mention the place itself was very cool, with lots of interesting things hung on the walls, a vegetable patch, hammocks and a cool bar area where we had a BBQ and drinks that night. 

That afternoon I walked to the nearby pre-Incan ruins and admired the mountain ranges which surround the town. Back at the hostel I met a British girl called Anna and we enjoyed a bottle of Argentinian red wine (only £3!) before the BBQ. 

The next day I had a very relaxed day at the hostel. Anna had met a tattoo artist the day before and organised to have a tattoo done at the hostel, so I watched and gave some moral support in the morning. I then spent the rest of the day chilling in the hammock until it was time to head to the bus terminal for my bus to Salta with Anna. I could have stayed much longer in Tilcara but I still had a long way to go.

Salta is a beautiful city, and after saying goodbye to Anna the morning after we arrived I decided to take a walk around and book some excursions. The first one was a city tour which took us up to the viewpoint for the city, through the centre and through the suburbs. The following day I set off on the other excursion, a full day tour to Cafayate, the wine making district near Salta.

The scenery on the way to the valley where the wine is made was once again mind blowing. Loads of crazy mountains and rock formations created millions of years ago when this area was under water (you can still find seashells in the rocks).

 We visited two vineyards in Cafayate and tried white, rose and the famous Argentinian Malbec at both as well as learning about the wine making process and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. 

We had lunch in the town of Cafayate, which was a peaceful place with a huge plaza surrounded by restaurants and independent artisan shops. After lunch we started to make our way back to Salta, stopping at the most impressive viewpoints and natural formations on the way back. 

The following day I took the bus I had been dreading my entire trip, from Salta down to Buenos Aires. The trip took at total of 22 hours!! If I am completely honest, it really didn’t well that long, I slept pretty well and had either nice views or programmes downloaded on Netflix to pass the time. 

Right, I think I’ll leave it there and fill you in on what I’ve been doing in Buenos Aires in the next post :)

Thanks again for reading!

Emma x