In Salta, in the north of Argentina, not far from
Bolivia, we signed our lives away for a 3 day
adventure in a 4x4 driving accross the desert, which
they call the Puna. It was truly stunning. I am surprised that it isn't classed as one of the wonders of the world. The Pacific
ocean used to cover this area ages ago before the
formation of the Andes, leaving large expanses of salt
deposits. We drove over some pretty high passes (up to
a headache inducing 4500m), past some typical hills
full of cacti and some pre-Inca ruins at Santa Rosa de
Tastil to a mining town calles San Antonio de los
Cobres. It is really amazing to think that people live
in these places. It is so dry and desolate; the
nearest civilisation is 200km of dusty dirt track
away. We drove even further through another small town
called Los Positos, which was even smaller and more
isolated than the 1st place, where we had a nice cuppa
tea. Our final destination was a small town at the end
of the world called Tolar Grande. We went walking in
the surrounding desert to a lookout on top of a sand
dune and also to the Ojos del Mar, ponds of very
viscous salty water. The scenery was a stereotypical
desert image. We saw quite a few rotting carcasses of
picuna, cows and donkeys who didn't make it in this
unforgiving climate. And it is true that everything
looks a lot nearer than it actually is in the desert.
On our way back, just like in a bad dream, we walked
ages but the village never seemed to be getting
closer! We also walked through a 200m tunnel called
'El Tunel del Hombre Muerto' (the dead man's tunnel).
It gets its name from a drunken guy who died there.
Also, we felt the tremors of an earthquake during our
second night! I thought Christophe was shaking the bed
for a laugh but it was no joke. We found out in the
morning that there had been an earthquake in
neighbouring Antofagasta, Chile.
Photos Argentine
Carnets de voyage Argentine
Vidéos Argentine
Carte Argentine
Guide de voyage Argentine
Santé Argentine
Billets d'avion Argentine
