Humahuaca, Iruya, Purmamarca and Salinas Grandes (April 19,20, 21/2011)

Humahuaca, 265 kilometers from Cachi through a very small road, weirdly enough with a semi-equatorial climate. We left Cachi under a cloudy sky and 80 kilometers later, we find again a bright blue sky. Camping is out of question as the altitude is 2980 meters in Humahuaca and we find a hostal at locals for 100 pesos a night, a bargain here. It's clean and it's a very nice family, Moise, Margaret and their four children, that welcome us. Humahuaca is a tranquil village with the main plaza and the monument to its heroes.

In the morning, we would like to go to Iruya located 80 kilometers away from here. However, as it is a gravel road again, which we have been told is very narrow and goes through a pass at 4000 meters high, we decide to experience the local transportation means of a ''collectivo'', a local bus. The road is in the end not that difficult, just spectacular going down to Irayu for the last 20 kilometers or so. The views are again stunning, and the road ends up in this tiny village. It takes us 3 hours to drive 80 kilometers with the bus, and 3 hours to come back.

At the end of the day, we are exhausted from the sun, the heat and the dust. Although we are very high in altitude again, in the 3000 meters all the time, the temperature is around the 30's during the day. However, as soon as the sun goes down, the temperature drops. To fight the altitude sickness, which supposedly can give you headaches and difficulty of breathing, Alain and I have bought coca leaves in Salta... We are like teenagers making their first experience at braving the authorities and this makes us chuckle. We ask the locals how much we should be taking and for how long, and this made them laugh.

They eagerly tell us to take 4-5 leaves and chew for half an hour. We don't really like the taste. Alain does not chew but cut the leaves in fine pieces. He ends up eating herb... By now though, he has got the hang of it and put religiously the 4-5 leaves in the side of his mouth. Not sure if we would have been sick or not without them, but we were not sick yesterday nor today, by the way.

We end up the day at a local restaurant, Casa Viaje. Not very fancy but we try ... llama in a creamy white sauce. Okay, we won't have it again. It's tasteless and tough. We are happy nonetheless, as it was the first time we ate Llama.

Today, we have decided to stay in Humahuaca for another night, but will explore the neighborhood villages and see the scenery. We drive to Salinas Grandes and again, the scenery is spectacular. All colours are present, from ocres, to oranges, green, violet, mauve, yellow, gray, white. Each layer of rock has its own shade and at each curve, we would like to stop to take another picture.

To go to Salinas Grandes, we drive through a pass at 4170 meters high. We chewed on our coca leaves again ...

The curves follow each other and we wonder when we will stop climbing. We then start going down slowly and reach the Salines. It's amazing, it's white like snow. The temperature is about 35 degrees and we feel that our sun glasses are not strong enough because of the reverberation.

We are surprised to see one gentleman work in the heat in the Salines to get the salt out of the ''pools''. He is covered completely as to protect himself. The working conditions look absolutely dreadful and he told us that he puts a 10 hour day on, but always with his music on...

Time to go back to our local family who will prepare supper for us tonight : some ''pollo'' (chicken) with rice and salad. Healthy and a good way to end the day.

It's time tomorrow to be On the Road Again to....