For my holidays my husband and I went to Tucumàn, Salta and Jujuy. We saw some of the most amazing sights I have ever laid eyes on and we had quite the adventure.
To start with, we hit the road early Friday morning and arrived in our first Destination of Raphael with nary a speedbump in our way, which only deserves a mention as it was the last day of our journey that such could be said for our wee car.
Upon our late evening arrival to Tucumàn's Capital city we noticed out water was leaking (again) and that the oil temp was slowly creep creep creeping its way into the danger zone. By the time we reached the street where our hotel would be the light was on and Jamie was in full on panic mode. I literally had to command him to pull the car over onto a sidewalk driveway and put on his caution lights...I mean what? Do we actually have to be seeping black smoke from the engine to warrant an emergency situation pull-over? I may not drive but I know when enough is enough.
The next day we got ACA (the argie version of AAA) to tow us to the slowest Mechanics in the world. They were brothers, Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-my-thumbs, and two of the largest men I have ever laid eyes on and no wonder. They work next door to their home and have their sandwhich makin' mom stopping their work every three hours like clockwork to provide them with much needed sustanance. Did I mention these men are middle-aged? Did I mention the frequent food breaks did nothing to speed up their progress during the rare moments they were actually looking at the car? Three days later in Tucumàn our engine was in pieces and they'd had all their friends over to take a stab at re-assembling the damn thing in between the courses of milanesas and locro of course. When we finally managed to get our car off the floor and on the road we daren't ask questions about the black exhaust coming from behind us, the suddenly low-milage we got on our petrol and the odd way the gauge seemed to bounce around as we drove over hills. We just counted ourselves lucky to get far away from those nutters before they decided to go back in for another look.
We finally got out of Tucumàn which actually, FWIW, is an amazingly beautiful city if you can get to the outskirts...the city itself is sort of like an abandoned world's fair town. You can tell it had its glory days once upon a time, but now it looks more like a run-down Detroit. The hills around though are absolutely stunning!
Ben rides his first horse
Incan ruins outside of Tucumàn
When we arrived in Salta we were glad to have left Tucumàn but still worried for the car which was spewing gasoline now upon opening the tank, and still awfully black looking. We were anxious to get the car up to Jujuy, so the next day we drove up scenic route 9 to Jujuy's capital city. A very windy road and a very dodgey car...but we made it alive with our safety monitor Benjamin shouting from the back seat "Be careful, Daddy! Be Careful!" as he looked out his wondow and saw nothing but sheer cliff and jungle vines.
But safe and sound we did arrive and that is where our car died a sudden sad death...luckily ACA to the rescue a very speedy mechanic saved the day, and our car. Three Cheers for the guy! He was good. Very good.
With a healthy car and fresh drive for scenery we were on our way to Humahuaca, Las Salinas Grandes and Cafayate. It was a goregous drive around the Andes, and I can only post pictures to allow them to speak for themselves, as my words just wouldn't do them justice.
Hills of Humahuaca
A Salta Horse
The tower of Humahuaca
Las Salinas Grandes
Ben tries to steal a villager's goat.
The Devil's Throat
Maimara's cemetary
Purmamarca's marketUnfortunately we had to cut our journey short a bit as we were robbed. Some little shits broke into Ben's room and made off with some coins, some jewelry and two laptops (aka my LIFE's work...GONE!) Bastards. Luckily Jamie had his on disk...so only half our life is gone...weep for me. I still do.
Our house was a bit beaten up but nothing like they do back home.
I will edit this later for photo additions and tell you all soon about the farce of a sham of a mockery of a police investigation our "crime scene" became. CSI? I don't think their detectives are quite that savvy yet. Oh well.
Until then.
Our house was a bit beaten up but nothing like they do back home.
I will edit this later for photo additions and tell you all soon about the farce of a sham of a mockery of a police investigation our "crime scene" became. CSI? I don't think their detectives are quite that savvy yet. Oh well.
Until then.
