October 2009: Salta, Argentina Trip

We had wanted to do a road trip to Salta, Argentina, since we arrived in Chile having heard that it was a beautiful but long drive -- 8 hours across the Andes reaching an altitude above 15,000 ft. It was advised that we arrive at the customs office before the tour buses and transport trucks. We arrived at 7:30 a.m. only to learn that the office didn't open until 8 a.m. We were in line with truck drivers for the most part and watched as more and more people arrived "early" so they too could avoid the problems associated with following tour bus and transport trucks in this climb into the Andes from over 8,000 to 15,000. Here I captured Larry early in our arrival and wait.

Gosh, and the process! No such thing as having forms available before you arrived at "the" window. And then, when the window opened there was quite the jostling for position when it was discovered that a tour bus driver was in line with us and when it was his turn at the windown, suddently there appeared at least 40 people. The truck drivers didn't like that at all and the fellow at the window wasn't pleased. We couldn't help wonder, "Hasn't this happened before?!" The reason for waiting in the first line was to prove that we were in Chile legally and what took time was needing to fill out the form proving that you were in Chile legally in addition to showing your passport. Then, those driving a private vehicle (that would be us), needed to go stand in another line at another window to prove we were allowed to take the vehicle across the border and then an "inspector" followed us to our vehicle to make sure the vechicle we said we had permission to take across the border was in fact that vehicle.

We also couldn't help wonder how it was possible that we were probably 7th in line to begin with and by the time we left, there was hardly anyone there -- hmmmm. We had arrived at 7:30 a.m. and were on the road by -- 9 a.m. Whew!

So off we were for our driving across the Andes adventure. We left San Pedro de Atacama at an elevation of around 8,000 ft. and within 20 minutes, we were at 15,000 ft.

This is the back side of the volanco outside of San Pedro de Atacama called Licancabur (which I've featured in a previous blog) where we've just reached 15,000 ft.

We almost immediately came upon herds of llamas -- I love how he posed for me!

I never tire of showing you the nothingness of the Atacama Desert.

We then came upon water! and Guanaco and I've included a link for any of you interested in knowing a tad more about these cool creatures. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanaco

Here I've provided you another picture of the barren landscape we experienced for a large part of our trip across the Andes with the beginnings of a salt flat appearing on the left.

Finally, after approximately two hours of driving, we arrived at the Argentina border and luckily, the border crossing went smooth; however, we essentially went through the same process we had gone through to leave Chile -- just not as many people.

One of the several salt flats we came upon on our trip.

Finally we arrived in Salta -- but it took us a little longer than 8 hours. We ended up on a road we shouldn't have been on (think curvy and scenic) on the back end of a long drive. It ended up being an 11 hour drive with that last part being hard on the driver (that would be Larry). We checked into our hotel and then hit the streets with a recommendation from a hotel employee of a restaurant that served Argentinian beef along with a Argentinian Malbec -- just what we'd been waiting for all day.

The following day we headed out bright and early to see the sites. We felt safe walking anywhere we wanted to go day or night while in Salta (but did stay on main roadways) but did find that vehicles definately have the right-of-way!

We enjoyed the Plaza with its many outdoor eating areas.

Now that's what I call a beer!

And our food of choice? Tamales and empanadas and Argentinian wine of course! Muy rico!

We were strolling down a street when we heard familiar music -- music from our Bolivia days! We encountered this group of people who surely have Bolivian roots as these are the costumes and dance we saw during Carnival in Bolivia.

I suggested Larry go stand by the girls to have his picture taken -- I do believe he was shy?! I wasn't!

This was a "Chia" where they poor alcohol on the vehicle and confetti to give the vehicle good luck.

Our four day weekend was over in no time and it was time to head back to Chile. Jim, this is where Larry got your rock -- we're at around 12,000 feet here -- the climb begins!

And what a climb it was -- I was quite happy that we didn't have any buses or trucks behind us or coming towards us either coming or going. We did come upon bike riders though at around 13,000 ft. -- hardy folk here in South America!