Explored this 16 block or so dirt road oasis town for a few days with the Dutch twins (Franca and Lieke) that I met in Caldera. All the buildings seem to either be hostels, restaurants or tour operators but somehow this pueblo manages to avoid most of the tourism tackiness that usually follows the foreign herds.
Rented bikes for 3 days to explore the surrounding landscape that has a strong resemblence to the red rocks of Southern Utah.
Valley de la Luna with salt floor
Great mountain biking trail that wound its way along canyon floor
Franca cruising under and through the turnThe perks of traveling with girls
Biked out of town in seach of a lagon with directions scribbled on a scrap of paper (i.e. turn right at the tree). 40 kms later we shockingly ended up in middle of desert / middle of nothingness (pictured below) far away from water. I headed back to town for a siesta while the girls continued to search out this pool of earth´s life blood.
Well soon after I left the girls got a flat tire and just happens the first car with 3 Chilian guys hit the brakes and gave the girls a ride back to town. The hombres were on their way to a hot spring and invited the girls to come along and somehow I ended up being "invited." Anyway the guys were great and we lounged in the hot springs and then went out to dinner with them. After dinner we drove again out of town, kicked the truck into 4WD, drove around a national park gate, and drank wine by ourselves in park usually quite crowded during normal hours starring up at the sky.
Walter, Hector, Hans, Franca and Lieke at the hot springs
Also, lucked into a free star gazing tour out of town with some large telescopes (this area is rumored to be one of the best places in the world to look up at night)
Salta
A largish town (500,000ish) with a authentic but friendly vibe. Highlights include being the only tourists at a local market and eating cheap, doing laundry for the first time in a month (a much needed thing since I only have 2 shirts), Asados (BBQ) on the hostel roof, playing in pretty competitive soccer games organized by the hostel with people from Argentina and the international futbol powerhouse nations, and listened to one of the better international complaint session about America from several who had started imbibing early in the afternoon.
Next
Taking a night bus tonight to the Bolivian border and crossing tomorrow. Franca and Lieke are staying in town and I´ll be traveling the next bit with a guy from England and a guy from New Zealand that I met at the hostel here.
ps, I´m running on 2 hours of sleep from a BBQ that went late into the night so if any of the above doesn´t make since this could be why.
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