Peso for a Pisso

Despite full intentions of an early night, somehow it was midnight once again before we got to bed, which made getting up at 6am pretty hard. But we managed it and pretty soon were bidding farewell to Salta as we headed off on a tour of the region which was to end in Tilcara.

We were incredibly lucky to once again be the only people on the tour, just us and our driver/guide Tony. We headed north out of the city and first stop was at the railway of the clouds. This is the famous railway which runs over the Andes into Chile. Actually all we saw was the station and the train line but it was interesting to hear about nonetheless.

Just outside of the town is a fantastic viaduct which the train runs along. 200m long and 28m high, it is a great sight amidst the incredibly steep mountain sides.

Next stop was a tiny town called Santa Rosa. This was basically a toilet break, although we also got a hot drink as it was very cold. Nights out in that region can get well below zero but especially at the higher altitudes the days can be quite warm – if you are in the sun and the wind isn’t blowing that is. Santa Rosa was also our first experience with the locals selling handicrafts. It is a real tourist circuit we were on and not surprisingly, it is amazingly spectacular, however that also means in every town you are immediately surrounded by people wanting to sell you things, usually knitted things of llama wool.

Directly behind Santa Rosa is the remains of a pre-Inca city. It would have housed around 2,000 people and includes a cemetery and terraces which they used to grow things. We drove most of the way up to it but had to walk up a fairly steep path and at 3,300m it started to give us an idea of what we are going to experience when trekking at higher altitudes.

On leaving Santa Rosa we started to see the mountains that we had come for. The area is rich in minerals and as a result the hills are red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, blue and green. The photos do not do them justice, they are stunning, especially against the intense blue sky. In some areas there was snow on the top of the volcanoes (all dormant) which are the highest peaks, most up to around 6,000m. Ironically there isn’t much snow because it is winter and there is less precipitation.

Vegetation is very low as the area only receives about 80mm of rain in a year. There are lots of huge cactuses. They can reach up to 9m tall and some are over 500 years old so date back to the time of the Incas, but they only grow up to altitudes of 3,000m. The people generally graze sheep, goats and llamas. Llamas are particularly important as they provide transport, wool, meat and leather.

It was about then that our guide introduced us to coca leaves. We chewed them to help combat altitude sickness as we went over two passes of over 4,000m. Yes, they are the same coca leaves from which cocaine is made but given it takes 3kg of leaves to make 1gm of cocaine and we were chewing 10 leaves at a time I think we aren’t likely to become addicts! You basically chew it up until tiny and then swallow it. It tastes somewhat like chewing tea leaves, not bad but not brilliant.

We continued through stunning scenery, really it is hard to describe how beautiful the mountains are.

We stopped at another small town, San Antonio de Los Cobres (3,775m), for lunch. For 30 pesos we got a three course lunch and it was fab!!!! We started with a vege soup which thrilled us because we have been wanting soup ever since Amy first got sick. After the soup we had llama schnitzel with rice and salad. Llama was delicious, really close to veal and we loved it. Finally we had a choice for dessert, Amy and I had a custard and Anna had apple jelly. All in all it was a great meal.

Amy also succumbed to a very cute little girl and bought a llama wool llama doll before we left.

After lunch we had a long drive out to the salt flats. We all feel asleep at some point. The salt flats are small compared to what we are going see in Bolivia but it was really interesting to see anyway. They are blindingly white and from what we understand they harvest the salt by digging big pits, that fill with water from the water table below and allow the salt to go into solution and crystal in crystals that can be dug out with a spade.

This was also where the term peso for a pisso was coined as it cost Amy a peso to go to the port-a-loo. While she was doing that we discovered they were selling gorgeous plaques made of carved slate for about 10 pesos each. They are lovely and we each bought some.
Our final stop was a small town called Purmamarca. To get there we went over another pass of over 4,000m and then down a road which dropped 2,000m in a very short distance. At the bottom was the famous 7 colours mountain – that is right, there are 7 colours clearly featured in the mountain. It is a really stunning area and is a big tourist attraction with lots of flash hotels. We stopped for a hot drink and to look at the markets although resisted the urge to buy anything.

Finally, given we were the only people on the tour we convinced our lovely guide to drive us to Tilcara. It is 20 minutes the wrong direction for him as our tour was actually meant to go back to Salta, but he happily drove us to Tilcara and we tipped him well for it. We have found ourselves a hostel for the night and tomorrow morning will get on the bus to the Bolivian border – should be exciting!