Up to the Mountains

After the great night on the bus getting no sleep, we had an Asado (BBQ) at the hostel and had another early morning (Saturday) for a tour around the mountains outside of Salta. The entire day was amazing. We started out in a big gorge following the tracks of the Tren a las Nubes (train to the clouds) that has been closed for repairs for about the last 3 years. From there, we headed higher up into the mountains where the scenery is somewhat similar to southern Utah with red, green, and orange rock formations everywhere. The next stop was at pre-Incan ruins among enormous cacti at about 10,000 ft. After lunch in a shady little mountain town (we tried llama!), we went to the salt flats called Salinas Grande. It is insanely enormous and looks like it´s on another planet. From the salt flats, we hit the highest point of the trip (almost 14,000 ft) and wound down the steepest, craziest road we´ve ever seen.

After we got back to the hostel, another asado was waiting for us (grilled veggies, salads, and of course enormous amounts of meat).