On the Road

This past week, I took one of the most unique trips I’ve experienced since arriving in South America. Over 5 days, 850 miles, and 2 provinces, we discovered the beauty of northwestern Argentina’s nature.

We started in Jujuy, Argentina’s northwesternmost province. I had previously heard of it from the song Viva Jujuy by Mercedes Sosa, which our culture professor Lara introduced to us. I knew it was famous for its desert landscapes and indigenous influence, so I was excited to get to know the area. Buenos Aires is far more European than indigenous, so I was also particularly interested in learning more about the native communities. 

On the first day, we visited Los 14 Colores de Hornocal in Quebrada de Humahuaca. This is a mountain range known for its triangular shapes and array of colors. I had never seen anything like it. We were in the car for hours and drove through the mountains to get there, but the headache and stiff knees were absolutely worth the sight. The photos could not adequately capture the true extent of the colors:

They also could not capture the effects of the altitude, which were evident for the whole group. We were at over 15,500 feet above sea level, so the air was quite thin, especially for someone like me who grew up about 10 feet above sea level. There was a hill that led down to the viewpoint of the mountains (which could not have been more than 80 feet tall and certainly was not that steep), but when we went to climb back up, I had to take two breaks just to get up the hill. Once I did make it up, I was wheezing and felt like I had run a marathon. It was then when I realized just how high up we were. 

I should mention here that the only one in the group who did any actual driving was my friend Petr from the Czech Republic. I wanted to pitch in, but I’ve never driven in the mountains. More importantly, I can’t drive stick, and the rental car was a manual. My aunt tried to teach me last year, but I stalled the car out at least four times and may have accidentally taught my niece and nephews some rather impolite words in the process. We all agreed it was better for everyone that I not give it another go on this trip (seeing Petr navigate the winding and unpaved backroads of rural Argentina made me very glad it was not me driving, as I would have never trusted myself not to pop a tire). Petr didn’t mind doing the driving, so we passengers traded off navigation duties. I was in charge of the tunes and the snacks. We were in the car for so long that we went through multiple playlists (including one of my 10 hour playlists), so I got to introduce the car to country music (or subject the car to country music, depending on how you feel about it). We also listened to Czech disco, show tunes, pop, EDM, and basically every genre of music you can think of. It livened up the long stretches of road for sure.

The next day, we visited an ancient village called Pucará de Tilcara dating back to the Incan Empire. It was made up of different archeological sites, like religious and residential buildings the indigenous people of the area used to occupy. I was particularly impressed by how the people used their knowledge of the landscape to their advantage. For example, the doors were just openings, but they were quite low. This is because warm air rises, so lower doors kept more warmth in (while it is certainly hot during the day, the desert gets very cold at night, when the villagers would actually be in their homes).

One example of a building in Pucará de Tilcara

Unfortunately, the main point of the settlement was a pyramid that was totally inaccurate to the time period. This is because it was built in the 1930s to honor the archeologists involved in the village’s restoration. That meant tearing down the building that was originally there. While the pyramid was impressive, I could not get over my irritation at the loss of history it caused.

The pyramid

After heading out, we explored a village where a local festival was taking place. I’m not clear on exactly what the festival was celebrating, but it seemed to be a mix of a national day and a religious celebration (many people were gathered at the church to sing). We enjoyed street milanesa (breaded meat) sandwiches and carbonated corn juice (which was actually quite good) and watched many people ride their horses through the village.

We then took a pit stop in the village of Purmamarca, where we met some llamas, before heading on the long trek to the Salinas Grandes salt flats. The salt flats were completely unlike the rest of the landscape. Rather than being red, sandy, mountainous, and rocky, they were blindingly white, flat, windy, and featured hexagonal patterns in the salt. We had to get a guide to lead us out to the flats (lest we get lost— there aren’t exactly many landmarks out there), where we learned that there is an active volcano nearby and that a Paraguayan company harvests the salt from the flats for commercial purposes. It was very impressive to see just how far the flats stretched and how different landscapes can look in the same area.

Salinas Grandes also had these waterways, which act as salt depositories

The third day, we made our way to Salta Province, where we started by exploring the city of Salta. I was particularly impressed by a church we encountered with beautiful architecture, but by far the highlight of Salta was the gondola ride up a hill. We could see the whole city and the mountains from there. 

Probably my favorite church I've seen in Argentina so far

Salta, as seen from the gondola

After leaving the city of Salta, we drove down to Cafayate, taking many pit stops at miradores (lookout spots). The most notable was the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat, like in Iguazú), which is a very tall red rock gorge. I could have stayed there for hours, admiring all the colors in the gorge. I definitely noticed a difference between the landscapes of Jujuy and Salta. Salta had redder, more intense colors, as well as more greenery. The landscapes of this particular drive were some of my favorites of the whole trip. We also met up with another group of di Tella students, which was a nice surprise. 

Garganta del Diablo

View from a mirador

That morning, we took a guided hike to three waterfalls in the hills of Cafayate. It was a bit different than previous hikes I’ve taken in that it involved scaling many large rocks. I really enjoyed that part. I like rock climbing, and I view it as a puzzle to see how you can get nature to work like a staircase. The final part of the hike was the last waterfall. To get there, we had to shimmy across a ledge and hold on tightly to handholds. If we fell, we’d land in the river 15 feet below. This was actually less terrifying than you might think, but I was definitely aware that 100% of my concentration needed to be on not accidentally maiming myself. Luckily, with the guide’s help, we successfully crossed the ledge and were rewarded with a lovely waterfall view. 

Post-ledge — I was holding on tight, and there is more room to walk than it looks (promise!)

The view of the waterfall

After that, we drove down to the village of Cachi, our last stop before returning to Jujuy. We enjoyed many more miradores on the way, including a particularly impressive jagged landscape, until we arrived in Cachi. Out of all the villages we visited, Cachi felt the most authentic. Almost nothing was geared toward tourists. Rather, local shops and restaurants were king here (I had the best dulce de leche medialuna at a local bakery). It was really nice to interact with the locals, buy local crafts, and get a feel for the more traditional side of the Andes. We then drove through the Parque Nacional Los Cardones for more mountain and desert views before returning to Jujuy to fly back to Buenos Aires.

The jagged landscape on the way to Cachi

A view from Parque Nacional Los Cardones

I haven’t taken many road trips in my life, so this was a really unique experience. The landscapes here reminded me a lot of the American Southwest, but with their own distinct feel. I felt so lucky to be able to see that kind of natural beauty. And that’s not the end of the adventures! Since it’s midterms week, but my midterms are projects (except the marketing exam I already took), I have more time to travel. I will be sure to update the blog with more stories.