Another case of guidebook misinformation. I opted for Tilcara instead of Purmamarca, because according to the guidebook, it was overpriced. I didn’t want to stop here, but the bus to Chile is one day later than I had calculated, and it starts here, not in Tilcara, thus I decided to spend the last Argentine night here, instead of extending the stay in Tipcart then taking an expensive taxi to catch the bus. It was an extremely wise decision. I found this room on some Argentine booking site that just forwarded my inquiry to the hotel. After lengthy correspondence in which I had to assure the owner multiple times that I really intend to come and won’t set her up (she is not equipped to take a deposit), here I am, in the second nicest room of the trip (on par with Cordóba). It only costs 20 pesos (5 dollars) more than the room in Tilcara, but as compared, that one qualifies as unarmed robbery. This room is in a real house (the other one felt like a mud hut), with high ceilings, has a night lamp, an armoire to hang my clothes and place for the towel and toilet paper in the bathroom. In Tilcara I kept the toilet paper in the curiously present bidet – there was no other place to put it. Although officially the hostel has no WiFi, I managed to connect to the city’s free network, thus I’m not cut off the world. The Waira’s owner refused to call a taxi, saying that this is a village and taxis don’t operate like that. Fortunately the bus station wasn’t far, I could drag along everything, including the large bag of wet cloths. They allowed me here to use the clotheslines in the sun, it’s still not quite dry, but I turned on the heating and that hopefully will help. Yes, the room is even equipped with an electric heater, and a number of blankets, will come handy at night at 2200 m.
They let me into the room immediately after arrival. I went out to walk around the seven-colored mountain, for which Purmamarca is famous and met a Polish priest living in Cordóba. In the afternoon I run into Antonio from the previous hostel, and we went to the Salinas Grandes (75 km from here) by “remiss” – that’s sort of a taxi that only goes when it’s full. It costs 50 peso per person, and I invited him as he is young and short on money – I hope one day somebody will invite my children or grandchildren. The Salinas Grandes is the most spectacular thing I have seen so far, and ranks high on the world list as well. It’s a wide, totally flat valley, some 150 km long and where we stopped about 50 km wide in my guess – covered with dazzling white salt. NaCl. It looks like snow, but it’s salt. I tasted it. I pulled out my boots and walked barefoot for a while. The surface was cold (the salt flats lie at 3400 m), and very rough, like walking on sharp pebbles or unfinished cement surface. At the same time it felt sticky, probably the perspiration/body heat dissolved some salt. Not enough to feel soft. I tried to break off some crystals, I couldn’t, its too hard. For mining they prepare small pools with water, the water evaporates and the salt recrystallizes in powder form. The air is saturated with salt too, my lips tasted salty. The crystals on the surface have all kinds or irregular shapes, like pavement from salt; I wonder how the photos will work out.
The road there is spectacular too, it goes over a 4170 m pass with many hairpin turns on both sides. The bus to Chile will take the same way, but you can’t touch the salt from the bus, and it’s not pro to take photos through the bus window.
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