This past weekend I spent 5 days exploring northern Argentina with a few of my housemate’s and their family from France. I agreed to go, although I know virtually no French, and I don’t regret a single minute. The weather, as you will see, was very cold because we were at such a high altitude, but the sun was always out! The scenery and natural beauty is indescribable and photos do not do them justice. But I’ll try my best to give a brief synopsis of the trip.
Thursday, May 12
We set off to the north toward Humehuaca. As we passed through Jujuy, the landscape only became more and more beautiful. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the side of the road, and our server brought out a folder full of newspaper and magazine clippings of things to do in Jujuy. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have time to squeeze it all into this trip, but now I know all the good places for when I go back!
We made a stop at the Tropic of Capricorn!
And rested at a shrine to the Gauchito Antonio Gil
Friday, May 13
And oh, was it a Friday the 13. We continued north on the route, and came to the Bolivian border. Two of my roommates had to renew their visas, so we thought it would be a perfect day trip. (Because Argentina allows tourists 90 days at a time in the country, it’s very common for foreigners to leave for a day, and the 90 days start over again. The country does little to police this habit, even though it’s not exactly legal.) And we knew that prices in Bolivia would be much lower, so the market was another appealing perk.
Well it turns out Bolivia has caught onto this habit, and made a rule that you cannot enter and leave the country in the same calendar day. However, we didn’t learn this until after we had passed through Argentine immigration. So, we tried to enter back into Argentina, but because you can’t re-enter the country without having gone to somewhere, we couldn’t. We were stuck in Bolivia for the night.
We parked our rental cars at a town nearby (because you cannot cross borders with rental cars), gathered our belongings, and trudged toward Bolivian migration. All of my French companions had no problems entering the country. In fact, the guards were chatting with them, asking them questions, and acting quite friendly. And then it was my turn. I presented them my US passport, and a guard snapped at me, “This requires a visa.” To which I replied, “Ok, what do we need to do to get that?” And he thrust a paper in my had and told me to wait. I filled out the forms, turned in my passport and a photo, and he simply set them aside and continued with the people in line. After several minutes, someone else took the papers to be processed and informed me to “Wait some more.”
By this point I was near tears. Never in all my travels have I felt treated differently because of my nationality. But this was a clear exception. They called my name and I had to pay the entrance fee. Since I didn’t have US dollars, the preferred method of payment, I paid in Argentine pesos. The fee in my passport says US$135 and I paid upwards of AR$700. The conversion between the dollar and the peso is approximately 4. You do the math. I paid about $200 pesos more than I should have. And I didn’t realize this until I was resting in our hotel. Oh well.
Aside from the fiasco that was customs, we had a lovely time in Villazon, Bolivia. We bought lots of gifts at the market for super cheap prices! But, needless to say, I was ready to get out!!!
Saturday, May 14
After almost two and a half hours in Bolivian immigration, we finally retrieved our cars and entered back into home sweet Argentina. Since it was such a hectic stay in Bolivia, we pretty much beelined to Purmamarca. This was probably my favorite place we stayed the whole trip. The town is so quaint and quiet, and the square is full of artisans selling crafts. It also had some of the best views of the whole trip – and the scariest roads!
The highest point of the trip.
No, that’s not snow – it’s all salt!
Lunchtime in the ruins near Salinas Grandes!
Sunday, May 15
We returned back to the province of Salta and visited the famous Tren a las Nubes. We didn’t take the train, though, because the round trip is something like 17 hours. I can only imagine how beautiful it would be!
We climbed the viaduct, which is a famous Saltenan landscape.
I couldn’t help but take an OHIO picture – the sun was just too perfect!
Monday, May 16
We left San Antonio de los Cobres and made our way back to Salta. There are ruins in Santa Rosa that we stopped and hiked, and made a few new friends along the way.
We got back to our house at about 3 in the afternoon. I had to be at school at 8, so I spent most of the afternoon getting things ready for my classes.
When I came back from teaching, I entered to a balloon-filled kitchen, a full dinner and birthday cake! What a surprise! Despite how exhausted we all were, they had somehow found the time and energy to throw me a birthday party!
I sure am one lucky girl!
That really sucks about customs. I had the same issue in India. It's rather infuriating!
ReplyDelete...but everything else sounds awesome!