Salta - Cordoba and Puerto Madryn

Greetings, folks and I am back online. It seems ages since I last updated this blog. It is not that I have forgotten it, but it has been a topsy-turvy week. 

I still have the memories of the Atacama desert fresh in my mind. They do not seem to go away. It seems to be there in my every dream (scary at times). The barreness, openess, the brightness, not a cloud in the sky and the cold breeze so often blowing across, gave you false belief of warmth in the desert. 

We departed San Pedro de Atacama on another cold morning and boarded the bus at 8.00am after a 15mins trek from the hostel. At this height everything required more energy. For this trip we picked our seats on the top deck, front seats on the bus. Since it was to be a 12 hour day trip, we decided to take in the views of the journey to Salta, and the mountain passes along the way. We did also have to deal with a border crossing too. 

Upon leaving San Pedro, the bus drove in an easterly direction along the flanks of the spectacular Volcan Licancabur, skirting the border with Bolivia. Up and up we went until we reached the Andean altiplano (Andean highland plateau). As we ascended the Andes, we were treated to awesome views of the Salar de Atacama (Atacama salt lake. The scenery changed as we drove through the altiplano. This plateau, about 4,000m high, is a barren plain with just rocks, sand and prickly shrubs and surrounded on all sides by the brownish-red peaks of the Andes. 

Just as we thought we couldn’t get any higher, the bus embarked on another ascent which brought even higher to another plateau, about 4,500m high. The scenery kept changing with each passing mile. We were already pretty high up in the Andes but another series of mountains awaited us! I was taking in deep breaths, and feeling the strain even it was to go below deck to the toilet. 

We shortly entered this last mountain range – this was the Paso de Jama (Jama Pass) into Argentina. We reached an altitude of about 5,000m before descending.

The border control, where we stopped, was just beyond these mountains in the middle of nowhere. It was a one hour change over. Bags were off loaded from the bus, stood in line for Chilean immigration, passed to counter No.2 for Argentina entry, cleared bags at No.3 and back on the bus after counter 4. However although I did not know the altitude at that time, I was struggling for breath, and taking in deep long ones and focusing on it. I felt I just had to get down to sea-level.

The bus continued on its journey through a barren plain and soon we reached the Salar Grande, a huge salt lake at the end of which was another set of mountains (oh for the sea) came into view and soon we were climbing again. The road curled its way up into the mountains –While the ascent was rather gradual, rather like a lazy curl up, the descent was steep and full of sharp hairpin bends. Sometimes I just forgot how high I was, nor did I feel any discomfort. 

We passed through ,Cuesta del Lipán (Lipan Slope) is a section of steep zigzag on the National Route 52, It is 17 kilometers long, the slope rises from the edge of the town of Purmamarca at 2,192m to 4,170 m in Abra de Potrerillos. The road then goes down to Salinas Grandes, at 3,450 meters. . The road cut its way through the dramatic slopes in a series of hair-raising curves, giving us unbelievable views of the massive mountains with their incredible variety of green, grey, ochre and reddish hues. Absolutely stunning stuff once again. 

We soon arrived in the charming village of Purmamarca at the foot of the La Cuesta de Lipan and siite of the Cerro de Siete Colores (Mountain of Seven Colours). 

From Pumamarca it was another another hour to get to Salta. By this time, the scenery had changed dramatically. It was very green and inviting, even the mountains were covered with trees, I felt better knowing that we were descending all the time.  It was a stark difference compared with the dry, inhospitable Atacama desert! 

That bus trip was probably the most spectacular I have experienced. I can certainly recommend this trip to anyone visiting this region.

Not the best of video, but it does capture the steep descent in the bus

Salta & Cordoba

After that 100km/hour down the slopes of the Andes into Salta is felt good to be back in a town. 


Salta is a city located in the Lerma Valley, at 1,152 metres (3780 feet) above sea level in the northwest part of Argentina. It is also the name for the capital city of Salta Province. It is a quite town and we were greeted by a slight drizzle. This did not dampen our spirits as we went hunting for our first PESOS. Remember we were now in Argentina. We did manage to pick out a few Argentinian $ from the ATM at the bus station. David and self have been using the APP - "Splitwise" to keep track of the expenses. It serves us well and have to issues with it.

Our residence was about 4 kms from the town centre we hired a cab to get there. A quick visit to the local grocery store was the first thing we did as we reached.

Unfortunately I took to the bed for our visit to Salta. David did all the venturing around and the walking tour too.

Salta has its old, colonial architecture, and natural scenery of the valleys westward. There is the 18th century Cabildo, the neo-classical style Cathedral, and the 9 de julio central square along with San Bernardo hill and its surroundings.

The city's museums exhibit a wide range of art work from the native civilizations that flourished in the area (Salta is located in the southernmost region of what was the Inca empire, belonging to the Collasuyu, one of the four areas of the empire until the Spanish conquest), as well as from the 16th century Spanish conquest and the colonial and post-colonial periods.

Salta used to be the starting point of the "Train to the Clouds" (Tren a las nubes), and on the way to red-soiled Cafayate, as well as to other nearby tourist destinations. This was something that I really wanted to do, but just had to dream of it from bed.

From Salta we visited Cordoba. An overnight bus journey in a CAMA (bed) (seat inclines 160 deg) bus. We were offered a hot meal. We arrived on Sunday morning fresh as a daisy. Another 2km walk with our gear to our condo. A small two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a dining area. A nice place considering that we were in the centre of the city.

We did arrive a bit late and could not make it for the "walking tour'. The walking tour is a feature of some cities, (Santiago, Salta, Cordoba) and a guide takes one around the historic places walking. The tour varies from 4 to 6 hours. A must if you have time and the legs.

CORDOBA

Córdoba is known by many as La Docta because of its many universities and science institutes. Around 200,000 people study here, which makes the city's population one of the youngest and liveliest in South America.

Cordoba - Main Plaza - "Plaza San Marin"

The walking tour takes about 3 hours

The Cathedral - Stunning. The best I have seen on this trip

The Cathedral of Córdoba (Our Lady of the Assumption; Spanish: Nuestra Señora de la Asunción) is the central church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Córdoba, Argentina, and the oldest church in continuous service in Argentina

One of the prison used in the Dirty War (1974 - 1983)

In 1610 the Society of Jesus founded the Collegium Maximum in Córdoba, which was attended by students of the order

The National University of Córdoba founded in 1613, is the oldest university in Argentina, the fourth oldest in South America and the sixth oldest in Latin America. As the location of the first university founded in the land that is now Argentina, Córdoba has earned the nickname La Docta (roughly translated, "The Wise").

The local butcher where we picked up some amazing steak

Argentinian are much like the office girls. They asked me to click pictures of the Polar on my trip to South America. How strange, error by some Government Official they erected a Polar bear Statue in the main square instead of penguins. 

Evening stroll to the various sites of Cordoba.

On our way to Puerto Madryn

PUERTO MADRYN

Puerto Madryn is situated in Chubut on the Golfo Nuevo, which is formed by the Valdés Peninsula and Punta Ninfas

The town was founded on 28 July 1865, when 150 Welsh immigrants arriving aboard the clipper Mimosa named the natural port Porth Madryn in honour of Sir Love Jones-Parry, whose estate in Wales was named "Madryn". Conditions were difficult and the settlers had to dig irrigation ditches for their first crops.[

Its sandy beaches and restaurant-lined promenade face Golfo Nuevo bay, where southern right whales breed from May to December. Ecocentro is a clifftop museum with exhibits on Patagonian nature, and a lighthouse-style tower for ocean views. Across the bay, rocky Valdes Peninsula is home to penguins and elephant seals, which are preyed on by orcas.