There was plenty of green between Salta and the Paso Jama

Salta was my first major city since Santiago and the first thing I noticed was that the city was surrounded by greenery. It was drizzling, but that didn't bother me because I had a few things to do

For 20 days, the display in the Sprinter had been showing “Service A is due!” I had been looking for an authorized dealer on the Puna and found Rolcar SA in Salta. You could book the service and appointment online.

There weren't many usable campsites or parking spaces around Salta and El Portal de Cerrillos in Cerrillos had good feedback. 

The day at Mercedes went as planned. In addition to the service, I wanted to change the tires and have the Sprinter checked. While I was waiting in the lounge, the master mechanic and the service employee came by every 1-2 hours and showed me minor problems. Brake pads through, a rod on the front axle was defective, various O-rings were broken and other little things.  By 17:30 in the evening, I had what felt like a new Sprinter back. As part of the service, the van had been cleaned inside and out (unfortunately not the living area 🤪) 

On the second day, I took an Uber to the Centro. Hector, the driver, gave me a short tour of the city and a few tips. Although Salta was founded in 1582 and has over 600,000 inhabitants, there aren't many sights and I got through them in 2 hours. 

I had a coffee in the Plaza 9 de Julio, had a look at the Mercado Municipal San Miguel and the Basílica Menor y Convento de San Francisco from the outside. In Parque San Martín I was amazed at how quickly the city empties at 14:00.

I hadn't done the Salta Free Walking Tour as there wasn't that much to see and I hadn't looked at the city from Cerro San Bernardo as visibility was too poor that day. 

The Museo de Arqueología de Alta Montaña (MAAM) was the only place where I stayed longer. I hadn't realized that the Inca conquered South America at the same time as Christopher Columbus discovered India.

I remembered the book by Eduardo Galeano “The Open Veins of Latin America”. It describes how a few Europeans brought Latin America to its knees and that the continent never really recovered until modern times. Colonialism became neo-colonialism and in the 20th century the exploitation of the continent by Big Corporations, together with a small elite class of locals.

This and more went through my mind as I tried empanadas saltenas for lunch. They are very small compared to the Chilean ones, but definitely delicious. 

With my diesel and water tanks full, I set off on the RN9 towards Jujuy. The route between Salta and El Carmen has countless bends and leads along narrow dirt tracks through an almost tropical forest.  Beautiful!

San Salvador de Jujuy (approx. 250'000 inhabitants) was then quite sobering. Although it is the capital of Jujuy Province, it exudes the charm of a government and financial center. Shopping and through, I told myself. 

I actually wanted to go via Libertador General San Martín and the RN83 to Hornocal and then to Humahuaca. But the weather forecast for the Parque Naciónal Calilegua was bad and the clouds were hanging low in the eastern mountains. I was also able to reach the Mirador Cerro 14 Colores del Hornocal via the RN9

So I took the RN9 into the Humahuaca Canyon. I slowly climbed from 1,200 m above sea level to 3,000 m above sea level. The RN9 goes directly to the Bolivian border at La Quiaca and at Purmamarca you take the RN52 to Paso Jama and Chile. My first stop was Purmamarca. Lots of activity!

The town's attractions include the Cerro de los Siete Colores and the artisan market. There was a post at the entrance to the town, there were all kinds of stalls in the village for tourists who wanted to buy (aka the artisan market) and grilled tortillas were sold on the street corners. They were really tasty!

The Cerro de los Siete Colores didn't really knock my socks off.

Argentina has more to offer. An hour further north, I dropped off my laundry in Humahuaca and prepared for my trip to Cerro 14 Colores del Hornocal.  I wanted to tackle a circular route along the RP73, but the weather wasn't stable. 

Humahuaca is a nice sleepy little town. There was a proper market on the Friday and a few stores and market stalls in the town center.

There weren't many tourists around.

After I'd done my laundry, I headed up the mountain range along the RP73 for 22 km. The road was good, the sun was shining and at 4'430 m above sea level it was pleasantly warm at 12 degrees for a change. It was very busy at the Mirador and at 18:00 I decided to take a pitch (at 4'300 m.a.s.l. my new highest) nearby.

I had everything ready for a drone shoot in the morning, but the weather changed and I fled from the dark clouds and wind. On the descent to Humahuaca, the mountains were hidden in the clouds. 

Humahuaca lies at over 3'700 m.a.s.l., but it was green in the valley. It stayed that way along the RN9 to Abra Pampa. The Río Casa Colorada was carrying water and I had a look at the Inca Cueva with the drone, but missed the descent to the Puente del Diablo. 

So I headed to my northernmost destination in Argentina, the Laguna de los Pozuelos. The lagoon has salty water, is a maximum of 1 m deep and covers an area of 7'000 hectares. Here I should find 3 species of flamingo and also have a nice approach via the RP7. 

I was driving behind a pickup truck with a cabin on the RP7 and wondered when I had last seen an Overlander. It had been a while and as the vacation season in Argentina was over, there were hardly any camper vans on the road.

However, I didn't get to see much of the flamingos at the Laguna. They were too far away from the shore even with the telephoto lens. But the 2 hours at the lagoon were deeply relaxing and only the approaching storm drove me away. You can stand at the ranger station, but it's not a burner.

With the storm clouds breathing down my neck, I looked for a place to spend the night. There was a riverbed with a lot of water. Depending on how much water came down, things could get nasty. A sports field in the middle of nowhere was out of reach for me because the ford no longer existed. 

At a construction site above the Río Miraflores O Abra Pampa, I found a llama breeder. He had no problem with me staying here for the night.

And then the rain came! My first rains after the Temuco. It was harmless compared to what I saw on Insta -> RN51. That was 2 days after I had driven the same route. 

The next morning everything was back to normal. No mud and only the occasional puddle.

I drove along the RP11 through a green, picturesque landscape, saw the Lago Salar de Guayatayoc and looked for a place to park  before the RN52. In hindsight, I would say that driving on the RP11 was the best part of my Jujuy exploration.

The RP11 was at times the best ripio, but otherwise quite OK. Although there weren't many options on IOverlander, I had just seen a couple options at Lago Salar de Guayatayoc, where the road runs along the lake (-23.283137, -65.949417 or -23.287862, -65.950424). They were definitely better than my pitch (-23.520370, -65.990652) not far from the RN52.

At the Salinas Grandes de Jujuy (212 km² in size and situated at 3'350 m.a.s.l) salt is mined and then lithium. It is also a tourist hotspot.  The 3,000 ARS entrance fee includes, among other things, employees who take pictures of you. The good thing was that I was allowed to fly my drone here. 

You can also book a guide on site. You can then drive your own car on a route that includes two stops. The first stop is at the crystallization pools, where the extraction and use of salt is explained. The second stop is at the eyes of the salt desert, Ojos del Salar.

I skipped this and drove on after 30 minutes

I had actually expected a landscape similar to the puna around Antofalla, Cone Arita and Tolar Grande. Dry, brown/red/grey, dusty, a semi-desert. Further north, everything was much greener, suitable for agriculture. I did some research, but on the internet you mainly find the semi-desert-like pictures of the Puna. 

Along the RN52 to Paso Jamas it didn't really change. Even before the village of Jamas (4'088 m.a.s.l.) it wasn't really semi-desert.

I was interested to see what the altitude profile of the tour through Jujuy province was like. After I left San Salvador de Jujuy, I was actually above 3'000 meters all the way. Not bad. I didn't notice much of it physically.