Our first weekend in Argentina was a total success, and I can take zero credit for it! Honestly, the first weekend of each round is tough… you either book something before arriving (without the benefit of being in the country and getting advice from locals) OR you scramble at the last minute when you arrive. Well, we beat the system this time! We booked the trip to Salta without Googling, researching or even looking at a map – we simply bought the flights because Tamara (Meadows’ teammate and my friend) was going!
I suppose we should have known it would be amazing. As we were sitting in the Air France lounge during our trip from Istanbul to Buenos Aires, a very intoxicated Dutch man walked up to us and demanded, “Where are you going??” I couldn’t help but laugh! I had no idea who this person was, but he was so interested in us. We engaged in a brief conversation with him, in which he drunkenly fumbled with his phone to find photos from his Argentina trip. Sure enough, he visited the beautiful salt flats and had nothing but rave reviews!
Meadows and I traveled with Tamara and another teammate, Anne. We flew out after work Friday to Salta. We stayed there one night before being picked up Saturday morning for two days of adventure!
Our tour guide, Pablo, explained that the salt flats are roughly three hours from Salta. Since we opted to spend Saturday night in Purmamarca, we made the two and a half hour drive there first to drop of our luggage and pick up lunch.
The drive itself was pretty incredible. We drove into the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a canyon that stretches all the way to Bolivia! With a wide spectrum of colors, we wound our way through the Jujuy Province.
We stopped just outside Purmamarca to take in the Mountain/Hill of Seven Colors. WOW! The various colors result from different types of rocks and their different ages. Some of them are estimated to be 80 to 90 million years old! If you’re interested in learning more about the different colors, check out the Wikipedia article (it’s awesome).
We arrived in Purmamarca, dropped off our luggage and headed for the market. Our tour guide went to the grocery store to prepare a picnic for us while we shopped. Local shops and vendors opened their doors and displayed their best handcrafts. We loved all the vibrant colors!
The area is known for its alpaca wool, as there is a large alpaca population in the region. So we bought matching sweaters!
After a bit of shopping, we loaded up the car again and headed for the salt lake. Our ears popped as the car wove back and forth up the mountain. You can see how high we were getting!
At last, we reached the top – 4,170 meters above sea level!
Within minutes from the altitude photo, we arrived at the salt flat (or “salar”). I can honestly say that Salinas Grandes are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before! The hard, dried salt overtop of the lake shines so bright and extends for miles and miles …525 sq km to be exact.
The contrast between the insanely blue sky and the bright white and cracked ground is breathtaking. The photos look fake, but being there was truly surreal.
I dared Meadows to lick the ground to see if it truly tasted like salt. Being the good sport he is, he did it and even posed for pictures! Of course, he said it was very salty.
We enjoyed our picnic on the hood of the car with no one else in our sights!
We took a million photos, including some Coke-themed ones for Meadows’ department photo contest.
Pablo got really into staging the photos, so we took even more ridiculous pictures. (Seriously, how did he come up with these?!)
With the Fourth of July just two days later, we posed with the American flag!
When we thought we could not take any more photos, we walked a short way to the salt pools. Here, the hard layer of salt is removed so that the sun will crystallize the salt water. They do it for salt mining purposes, but the result is a beautiful series of blue pools glistening in the sunlight.
I couldn’t get enough of them! Tamara even dipped her feet in a pool, but it was quite cold.
We snapped some final photos before departing the salt lake. As we left, we noticed a giant film crew and set. Naturally, we snuck on set to see what it was. Apparently, they were filming for a nature documentary series!
As we drove back to Purmamarca for the evening, we saw some of the local animals on the side of the road. They’re called guanacos!
Once back in Purmamarca, we drank wine on the patio and watched the sunset before dinner. The entire setting was perfect: great company, delicious wine and the most stunning view. The best end to the best day!
On Sunday, we hiked around the surrounding mountains to get a better look at the colors. The photos truly don’t capture the natural beauty that surrounded us.
Somewhere along the way, we picked up a canine companion! She stayed with us for our entire hike, usually staying close to Meadows.
We made our way back into town, packed up the car and drove back to Salta. Pablo made sure we had enough time for some awesome empanadas and a walk around the city center.
Thank you to Tamara and Pablo for a fabulous weekend!
This will be remembered as Ann and Meadows’ incredible earth adventure. This blog is particularly interesting to me; I would have loved to be with you, but your narrative and pictures are almost as good as being there. Much love. Dad
We’ve got a lot of lost dogs all over the place
Salt Flats taste like salt, that’s how they get their name.
I wasn’t that drunk and my name is Jan! I didn’t mean to be so forward, but very glad you had a good time. The pictures are amazing, glad you didn’t take my recommendation with A GRAIN OF SALT!!!!!