Salta, the beautiful North

Arctic winds and subtropic humidity called for something more in the middle, like Argentina's North. So the last stop before Buenos Aires would be this pearl of a city.

Salta is a really beautiful town with colonial architecture. I especially enjoyed the central square around the cathedral with some really great cafés and St. Francisco, a beauty of a church that unfolds it's whole picturesque potential at sunset and after dark. An added benefit is that Salta is a lot cheaper than every place in Patagonia and though there are tourists, it felt a lot more relaxed and closer to everyday life.

I spent a nice time just sipping café con leche and eating huge steaks. A tour of the area led me to the Great Salt Fields, Salinas Grandes, that I found really beautiful.

The Train in the Clouds leaves close to Salta as well. This project was approved in 1916 and due to great execution opened "only" 32 years later in 1948. The goal of the line was to foster trade and use the ports in Northern Chile. Since the 1970ies the train line has become more of a tourist attraction. There is a valley with interesting steel bridges, that looks like the set for a Western movie, boasting hundreds of large cacti.

After this, we drove along the highest road in Argentina at around 4100 metres. So not only did I cover several climatic zones in two weeks, but also over 4000 metres difference in altitude. Although it is not the Aconcagua (the highest point in Argentina at 6999 m), it felt like an achievement.

The last stop was Purmamarca in the Jujuy-province, famed for it's seven coloured hill that I personally found rather underwhelming, compared to e.g. the coloured canyon in Egypt. What I liked more was the church there, which was built in 1648 - not that special by European standards, but one of the oldest on the new continent. A little touristy market around the church added to the atmosphere, as it was probably more colourful than the famed hill. See for yourself.

Saline, the water is used to harvest the salt

Nice reflection at Salta

The main square and cathedral in Salta

St. Francisco at dusk

Nighttime cathedral

Nighttime St. Francisco church

On the way to the Salinas

My other friend - cuter than a butterfly?

This is a lama - compare the hair to a guanaco

Fresh Salt

Colourful scarves at Purmamarca

And the less colorful seven-coloured hill

Road trip-material

Iguazu Falls (Argentinian Edition)

And here are some impressions from the other side of the falls. Both national parks are really well maintained and are prepared for masses of visitors. On the Argentinian side, you will have to wait a while to board a train to the three main trails you can take to see the falls. This helps the administration to regulate the number of tourists on the trails at any time - not that it wouldn't be full already - especially on the walkway to see the biggest fall: The Devil's Throat.

Another attraction are the animals there. I made friends with a blue butterfly, that sat on my hand for around 20 minutes. Most other people were more impressed by the coatis trying to steal their food. They are everywhere and really annoying. Cute to watch, but really annoying.

If I had to choose the prettier side, it would probably be the Argentinian one, although I found the Brazilian one more relaxed, but see for yourself.

Devil's Throat - short exposure

Devil's throat - long exposure

There are hundreds of waterfalls

Made a new friend

That is what they should eat - not food scraps

HDRs from Patagonia

Finally had the time to work on some HDR-pictures from Patagonia today. These go with my latest posts. Tomorrow I will start writing the posts for the North - if work and house hunting leaves me some time.

The Lighthouse at the end of the world

Dead Beaver Trees 1

Dead Beaver Trees 2

Ushuaia

Las Islas Malvinas /Falkland Islands

St. Christopher 

Lago Fagnano 1

Lago Fagnano 2

The Bridge

Perito Moreno 1

Perito Moreno 2

Perito Moreno - my favourite shot of the glacier

Perito Moreno - and a close second

Torres del Paine 1

Torres del Paine 2

Torres del Paine 3

Waterfall (a small one)

Torres del Paine 4

Torres del Paine 5

Ice Age in El Calafate

As mentioned in my previous post, I count myself among the ignorant Europeans that mostly associated Argentina (or South America for that matter) with nice hot temperatures and the Gauchos just short of being as barely clothed as the stereotypical Brazilian samab dancer (just with a different hat). Well, to say the least, I am now impressed by the microclimate in this region as you can actually get four different seasons in just one day.

My trip to the Perito Moreno Glacier today showcased all this petfectly. Yes, I was going to hike on a glacier and yes, I was dressed for the ocasion, but still this was the second time in two days that I was extremely happy I had bought my first pair of long underpants since kindergarden (thanks Pennies). The way from El Calafate through the national park led me right into a full-blown snow storm again. The driver had to stop as the road two metres ahead was not visible anymore. I already thought about what use the hiking would be if I wouldn't even be able to see the glacier. From time to time there was a sign announcing a viewpoint - the view was always white noise - snow, wind, nothingness. Would I really be at the sunny Iguazu Falls in just a day?

Luckily enough, as soon as I was on the boat that brought an excited crowd of tourists toward the glacier over Lake Argentino, it started to clear up. Perito Moreno is part ofnthe third largest ice mass in the world stretching over parts of Chile an Argentina. This is especially astonishing as El Calafate -according to the knowledgeable guide - has about the same latitude as Berlin or Glasgow in the Northern hemisphere - and I remember being spring in Berlin to be a lot warmer and without a glacier slowly moving along the Kurfürstendamm and calving loudly at the Brandenburg Gate every once in a while. The area is also only around 100 metres above sea level, which usually isn't where you would look for a glacial area as well.

The glacier here has stayed more or less stable ever since the last Ice Age due to the special microclimate made possible by the cold air flowing over the Andes from the west. The front of Perito Moreno is stationary and the whole thing does not move a lot, which keep the upper and lower area in balance. The glacial area used to be bigger in the past, also stretching over the lakes such as Lake Argentino we had just crossed. In the pictures, you can see the end of the glacier meeting the lake. The top is between 50 and 70 metres above the level of the lake and below the water it stretches for another 80 to 100 metres. At the core, the whole thing is up to 700 metres thick and there it moves around 2 metres a day, which obviously causes friction with the rather stationary end parts and leads to frictions and large parts of the ice breaking off - the last time this had happened in March. It is definitely a humbling feeling to see this huge mass of ice and to hear it cracking when it calves smaller bits.

Now I am ready for a warmer climate and want a few days of summer before returning to what the Bay Area calls winter soon. Next post will be from Iguazu in subtropic climate. Hasta Pronto!

That's how it looked like when I arrived - the snow melted during the day

The glacier cat 1

Glacier cat 2 - quite a playful thing

A little lake in the glacier

The guide checking the way

Look at those crampons

Decent Irish whiskey with glacial ice

The airport with the azure blue lake in the back (that's my flight to Bs As