We've both enjoyed our time in Salta and could certainly have spent more time here. There's lots more to see in surrounding area including Quebrada de Humahuaca and the indigenous villages and Quebrada de Cafayate. Still, we've got a date with a 4WD in a few days to take us to Bolivia so we need to head on! We got a taxi to the bus station for our 0700 bus to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile and set off north through Jujuy before turning west and climbing up through the foothills of the Andes to the high plateau. The landscape changed as we climbed, becoming very arid. Despite being cool outside the heat of the sun turned the bus into a green house. Coupled with travelling over several 4000m plus passes (the highest point Simon recorded on his watch was 4683m) made for an uncomfortable journey at times however the scenery was stunning. Wild, barren landscapes, salt flats, lagoons and snow capped volcanos. We reached the border at Paso de Jama just after lunchtime and had the slowest crossing to date, not helped by the bus being full of western travellers and apparently the computer system was faulty. For the first time the Argentinian and Chilean immigration was at the same border point, no 'no mans land' to cross here. Frustrated with the delay, after we'd been stamped out of Argentina, our bus driver took our passports and went off behind the counter to get us stamped into Chile. It always feels slightly uneasy to lose sight of your passport and we were relieved to get them back in our hands again. From here we continued west with the road descending before ascending over further passes until we finally dropped into the salt flats that surround San Pedro de Atacama. We'd booked to stay at Hostal Quinta Adela which was a 20 minute walk from the bus station. It was good to get off the bus although the temperature outside was in the high 20 degrees even at 2500m. The roads here are mostly unsealed but we managed to drag our bags and avoid having to convert them into rucksacks. We arrived at the hostel to find no one home, even the guard dog was asleep in the sunshine. After wandering around we found someone who showed us to our room, a bungalow by the side of the main building. We dropped off our bags and headed back into the main town to book a few tours for our time here. There's certainly lots to see in the surrounding area and, unless you have your own car, the easiest way to travel is on an organised tour. We compared prices at a few companies before opting for three tours with one company. San Pedro itself is a small town with a few streets clustered around the main plaza. The church is being renovated so unfortunately we didn't get the picture postcard view of it. The scale of tourism here has driven up prices but it's a must see place on our 'to visit' list. In the evening we went to a local restaurant and had huge meals, ribs and chips for Simon and chicken, egg and chips for Diane. The town is extremely busy with tourists despite being low season, most of whom seemed to be ambling along the main street. It's a bank holiday weekend, with Independence Day on the 26th May, so no doubt that has increased the number of visitors. Our hostel is about 10 minutes from the centre but does benefit from being away from the noise which we were glad off as we headed off to bed.
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| Climbing up to the high plateau |
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| Life on board the bus |
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| The end of the road? |
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| A long wait at immigration |
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| Crossing the salt flats |
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| Collecting salt |
I'll think about the salt flats when I'm next putting salt on to food.
ReplyDeleteThe bus journey seemed a little tedious and uncomfortable, but made up by the scenery I would expect.