Day 2 was really the beginning of the big adventure, as that’s when we started on our way up into the mountains. In fact, our next two destinations were not in Salta but in the Province of Jujuy (pronounced hoohooey). The first of those was the small town of Purmamarca (pronounced poormamarka).

There are two ways of getting from Salta to Purmamarca — one easy, on the highway, and one adventurous and beautiful. Naturally, we chose the second, which took us up through what’s known as La Caldera. As we drove just a little north of the city of Salta, the terrain began to change. Not only was it rising, but it was covered in jungle vegetation. And it was winding — very winding. And narrow — very narrow.

We stopped a couple of times at the miradores (meeradors), places where you can stop for photo opps or just enjoy the view without worrying about the road. Cecilia was driving this rental car without automatic gearshift, so she was working pretty hard. To counteract the growing effects of the altitude, we both had gobs of coca leaves in our cheeks. (This helps quite a bit, and I’ll talk about the coca leaves in a separate post. In the meantime, don’t worry about it!)

After a couple of hours of La Caldera, we emerged above the tree line and found the mountains becoming more bare and rocky. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the side of a dam and reservoir called La Cienaga. The food was great and the view was beautiful, so it was a nice break in the drive. When we left La Cienaga, however, the mountain road went into a serious climb again. This time there was no jungle to cover the sheer drops on the edges of the road, so it got a bit more scarey.

Eventually we took a left turn off the highway (Ruta 9) onto Ruta 52 and on into Purmamarca. It’s a small town nestled into a “bowl”, with the mountains not only all around but very close. And the colours are truly spectacular. I walked around with my jaw dropping for two days, surrounded by all this beauty. Every direction you turned in there was another mountain, another view and another palette.

This area is called Siete Colores, and there truly are seven colours in the mountains. And it’s not only the colours that are spectacular but the shapes of the colours. I tried to sketch one day but I was defeated. The light changed every couple of minutes, and with it both the colours and the patterns. I’m including the sketch for the record, but it doesn’t nearly do justice to the reality. Neither, in fact, to most of the photographs I’ve seen, even the professional ones, because it’s not just what you see that makes such an impact, but what you feel. I can completely understand why ancient peoples worshipped mountains as gods.

We had dinner the first night in a small local restaurant which, unfortunately for the owner but fortunately for us, was almost empty. The only patrons were Cecilia and me and a man from Paris, who sat with us at Cecilia’s invitation. There was a three-piece band playing folkloric music and they gave it their all for the whole night. Cecilia paid 100 pesos for their CD, and since I don’t have anything to play a CD on, I paid them 100 pesos for this photo opp!

Before we left Buenos Aires, Cecilia’s son-in-law, Valentin, told us we had to try llama meat. We asked if it was good, and he said no, but we had to try it! So here it is. He was right, it wasn’t good, but at least I can say I tried it. Tough and tasteless. Very tough, very tasteless. But the animals are beautiful — more on those in a later post.

One other little quirk from Purmamarca. This is our hotel room, which had this beautiful, handmade headboard. The embroidery was perfectly done and the colours typical of the area. It was a thing of beauty. But is it just me, or would it not have been better to put it over the bed??

The original plan was for us to move on next day, visiting Las Salinas Grandes (large salt fields) on our way. However, despite the coca leaves, I succumbed to a bit of altitude sickness and had to stay put. Mind you, Purmamarca isn’t a bad place to have to spend an extra day!

On Day 4, though, we headed out to our next destination. Stay tuned.