I had a plan to set foot on my sixth and seventh continents by early 2026. This involved an expedition to Antarctica (another story coming soon) and a bit of time in Argentina before the Main Event. Salta and Jujuy (pronounced “hoo-hooy”, as in “hoop”) are the northernmost provinces of Argentina, with some great landscapes worth seeing.
Buenos Aires
It was a painful one-and-a-half-day journey from Munich via Rome and Buenos Aires to the city of Salta, the capital of Salta province (henceforth, “Salta” refers to the city, unless I explicitly mention the province). In Munich, the usual S-Bahn service to the airport was not running. Google Maps showed that the replacement bus service would get me to the airport in 40 minutes, leaving me an hour and 45 minutes to catch the flight to Rome, with no immigration to pass through. The ride, which should have taken 40 minutes, took an hour and 35 minutes. I ran into the terminal, where I was able to use the first counter I came across, which had no queue, to check in. The plane was already boarding when I arrived after a security check, which also went smoothly. The flight to Rome and the onward connection to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE) airport presented no further challenges.
In Buenos Aires, for my onward flight to Salta, I had to switch from EZE to Aeroparque Jorge Newbery (AEP), with a 2-hour bus ride in between. Aerolíneas Argentinas changed my flight from 5PM to 8.40PM. I would learn over many flights that cancellations, postponements and general chaos were the order of the day when flying in Argentina. As it was just morning, I had time to see a bit of Buenos Aires. At EZE I picked up a SUBE transportation card that would work in Buenos Aires, a local SIM card and, finally, Argentinian pesos at the Banco de la Nación Argentina (BNA). Despite Argentina’s disastrous financial situation, I did not experience any currency chaos during my trip. My credit card provided a very good exchange rate and the most convenience; converting cash in Euros to pesos provided the optimal exchange rate; some places also accepted cash in US dollars or Euros. I went into the city, dropped off my luggage at a kiosk that would hold it for a fee and explored for a bit.
I took a bus to Caminito, a multicoloured tourist hotspot. Throughout the area were murals and other representations of Argentinian football legends, especially Maradona and Messi. As I moved away from the tourist area, I found myself on residential streets surrounding Boca Juniors’ dark blue and yellow stadium, La Bombonera. Boca is one of Latin America’s most prominent football teams. Many of the buildings in the area had the same colours. Fans in blue and yellow thronged the area, which was noisy with drumbeats. It turned out to be Boca Day, a fan event when interested parties could visit the stadium. There were heavy security and roadblocks in the area; an Uber driver later told me that watching football matches in person in Buenos Aires was dangerous and that only home team fans were allowed at games.
Having had my fill of wandering around Buenos Aires in the summer heat, I collected my luggage and took my flight out of AEP to Salta.
Salta
Once I had had a night’s sleep, the first order of business was to climb the nearest hill, San Bernardo. One may also drive or take the cable car up. The Way of the Cross, Christian representations of Jesus’ trial, crucifixion and death, was implemented with stations along the way. My best guess about the number of stations had been 12, but I figured it could also be 14 or 15 (actual number: 14). Imagine my annoyance when I saw “XIII” shortly before the summit and could not find one more. After taking in views of Salta from San Bernardo, I went down to the plaza for lunch.
Every town I visited on this trip had at least one squarish or rectangular plaza. Typically, this would be a green space with trees and grass, a statue at the centre and seats for people to relax and hang out. Significant buildings, such as a church or government buildings might be next to it. Due to the timing of my visit, there would likely be a Christmas tree there, often made of bottles or fairy lights. In places such as Tilcara and Purmamarca, this was the place where the vendors set up shop to sell their wares to tourists. In Salta, the plaza was a place to feed pigeons and listen to the church bells making music.
The Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (Museum of High Altitude Archaeology) was next to Plaza 9 de Julio (9th of July, 1816, the date of Argentina’s declaration of independence from the mother country, Spain). I found it educational. Two things struck me: 1) the Incas conquered the area only a few decades before the Spanish arrived. 2) A particular religious ritual to link two villages involved marrying two children from each village. During the wedding ceremony, the adults would put them to sleep with drink and then bury them alive. The museum had three such mummies of kids aged 6 to 15. As I visited on a free tour, they only displayed the 6-year-old, buried in a seated position, his (actually) 500-year-old face and fingers visible in a good state of preservation.
Red rock canyons
My first excursion out of Salta was southward, toward Cafayate. While the rest of the tour group I joined would return to Salta at the end of the day, I would remain in Cafayate one night. The road to Cafayate is famous for the Quebrada de las Conchas (Gorge of Shells). The Rio las Conchas (Las Conchas River) flows through this canyon with flaming red rock.
We stopped to explore La Garganta del Diablo (the Devil’s Throat), a smaller canyon. It was a short walk through the gorge as we were not permitted to climb up and explore. We had high walls on either side between which I imagined water flowed heavily once upon a time and still flowed when it rained.
A few minutes’ drive ahead was El Anfiteatro (the Amphitheatre). We walked into an area where 30-40m high vertical red walls encircled us on three sides. The name also refers to the acoustic properties of the space. None of the humans tested out these properties, but we did not need to. A flock of parakeets flew around squawking, their noises increased in volume and echoing off the walls.
We had a late lunch at Cafayate, where I checked into my guest house. I wanted to do a waterfall hike nearby. I set off rather late, at 4.15PM. Sunset would be at about 8.10PM. The first 5.5km was a flat, dusty and boring road, but the mountains in the distance were beautiful. I walked this part quickly enough, but ought to have taken a taxi instead.
The actual trail was slower going than I had imagined as it was not on a straightforward path. I had to cross a stream from the waterfall multiple times as I did not want to get my shoes wet. The hike was now more enjoyable, but the sun was disappearing behind the mountains earlier than indicated by the sunset times on my phone. Less than a kilometre from the end, I decided to go no further. I took a dip in the river to cool off and then headed back. A couple of friendly guys gave me a lift for the last 3km to the plaza, limiting the hike to 12km.
Next morning, I took a public bus back to Salta, considerably more comfortable than the van in which I’d travelled the previous day. One reason to take this trip is to watch the beautiful scenery. Surprisingly, everybody had their window shades closed. My window seat neighbour fell asleep almost as soon as the ride started, so I took the liberty of opening the shade and enjoyed the sights.
Salt flats
I joined another tour group from Salta to visit the large salt flats, Salinas Grandes, northwest of Salta. We crossed into Jujuy and passed through San Salvador de Jujuy, the capital. The route also went through a 4,170m high point, which introduced a slight risk of altitude sickness. People actually extract salt from these salt flats.
We had passed through the village of Purmamarca, north of Salta, to get to Salinas Grandes, further west. We went back there for lunch. I had my first taste of llama meat, which I could not particularly distinguish from beef. As the group was leaving, I took my luggage and checked into my apartment in Purmamarca.
Multi-coloured hills
Purmamarca is famous for the Cerro de los siete Colores (Hill of Seven Colours), which is right next to the town. I hiked a loop around this first thing in the morning. The colours of the hills were varied, as promised, and seeing them lit up by the sun is fantastic. Flaming reds, purples, greys and blacks, all next to each other were a sight to see. The colours are formed by different types of rock of many different ages somehow being aggregated next to each other.
I took a local bus to Tilcara, further north, and arrived early before noon. Tilcara has its own gorge called Garganta del Diablo. It was an enjoyable hike with a steep initial section from the trailhead, but I did not find the canyon or the waterfall that beautiful. It was windy and provided great views of cardones, regional giant cacti. I combined the route with Pucará de Tilcara, a pre-Inca and Inca-era fortress, which I found boring and not worth the entry fee.
A northward tour from Tilcara took me via Quebrada de los Señoritas and Humahuaca to Hornocal. Quebrada de los Señoritas, the Canyon of the Ladies, is another beautiful red rock canyon.
We had lunch at Humahuaca, where I dropped my bags at my apartment and then rejoined the group for our ride to Hornocal, the fourteen-coloured mountain. Unfortunately it was cloudy and rainy when we got there, so we did not get to enjoy the mountain in all its beauty. The tour dropped me back in Humahuaca afterward, as the rest of the group returned to Tilcara.
We passed a herd of vicuña as we were arriving at the Hornocal viewpoint. Throughout the trip, we could see animals nearby in pens as well as in the distance. We observed llamas and alpacas in domesticated form, as well as wild guanaco in smaller herds in the distance. I also saw a variety of birds.
Local performance art
I rode a comfortable bus back from Humahuaca to Salta. That evening, I went to a Peña to experience local performance art. Salta has a street filled with restaurants where artists dance and sing for the amusement of the guests. I picked one whose performers were dancing in the street. A wiry girl in a flowing blue dress and a guy dressed as a gaucho (cowboy) danced together. Inside the restaurant was a band of two guys. The dancers used handkerchiefs heavily as part of their act, which had a clearly romantic tone. I could see a clear Spanish influence, my best comparison being to flamenco, but with less emphasis on foot tapping.
There was one other performer, a fat woman who shook and showed off her mildly-covered bottom. As we had lunch or dinner at restaurants, performers would often show up at designated spots to play traditional or locally-written music. These added to the charm of the places we visited.
Throughout my visits to the natural formations, our guides had been keen to show off the acoustic features of certain formations, using them to play flute melodies such as The Lonely Shepherd by Gheorghe Zamfir or The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel.
Leaving Salta
Bookending the trip were my flights to Ushuaia. The Main Event, Antarctica, was coming up. I would fly to AEP at Buenos Aires via JetSMART and then on to Ushuaia by the same carrier. However, I only had an hour and 50 minutes to board the second flight – and they would not transfer my luggage! Security in Salta was really quick, but things worsened afterward. Someone was occupying my aisle seat on the plane; I took the window. My seat did not recline. The plane smelled of urine. It took off 40 minutes late and correspondingly landed 40 minutes late.
My nerves were wracked as I needed to pick up my luggage, use the toilets, check in, go through security, get something to eat and then board in just 60 minutes. The luggage arrived reasonably quickly and I ran to check in, arriving with only 40 minutes to the time of flight departure. A woman welcoming people before the JetSMART counter told me that check in was closed. I told her that I had just arrived by the delayed JetSMART flight from Salta. She talked to the man at the counter and let me load my luggage. It was already boarding time as I arrived at security, but I passed through quickly. The gate had the “last call” sign. It was another tight airport experience. I made it on board… and realised that none of the seats on the plane reclined.
From the same trip
At Ushuaia, I boarded MV Hondius for my trip to Antarctica.
After Antarctica, I visited South Georgia on Hondius.
I concluded the trip with a visit to the Falkland Islands – and saw a 44-year old iceberg at the end of its life en route.
One reply on “Colours of Salta and Jujuy”
Very interesting report, Vijay. I bet you enjoyed every bit of it, inspite of certain inconveniences. Thank you for sharing.