A-C-B: On to Purmamarca

On October 24th Carlos, Joan, and I traveled through several climatic zones. The long drive north began by crossing the dam outside Coronel Moldes, where I declined the chance to participate in bungee jumping from the edge of the dam. For some reason I neglected my photo-taking duties today until much later in the drive; my apologies.

We drove around the western edge of the city of Salta, a city of just over half a million people, and continued north on the old tourist road between Salta and Jujuy, a city of about 350,000, rather than the new highway.  In the vicinity of La Caldera, a curious name because there is no volcano in the vicinity, Carlos pulled over for a birding stop. La Caldera is at the bottom of this map:

The trees, still wet from yesterday's rain, would let loose an occasional drop tinted yellow from sap. Two policemen drove by and chatted briefly. Eventually we left -- I have little to report in the birdwatching department -- and the road turned away from the valley and into the heights.

The excursion through the mountains was slow but scenic. The route was well forested due to the moist air from the southeast. Being an old road, the track was narrow; signs warned that the width was no more than 4 meters / 13 feet. Some switchbacks were marked as only 3 meters wide. Fortunately trucks no longer take the picturesque way, just cars and motorcycles. We wiggled and wound, and the road reminded me of the lateral road in Bhutan, except that the pavement was in better shape here. We made a second birding stop, hoping to spot a cuckoo, but no luck today. At the crest of the range was the border between Salta province and Carlos' home province, Jujuy.

As we dropped into the next valley we decided it was lunchtime. At the Dique La Cienaga (see map above) we pulled into a lakeside club, the Club De Pescadores (Fishermen's Club), where I had trout and Joan tried the pacu, a white-fleshed fresh-water fish described by Theodore Roosevelt as "delicious."

From there we continued on to Jujuy city, where we picked up more gasoline and, off the road north of town, made our third and final bird stop of the day.

Again, no photos, but a few colorful toco toucans did fly by, the largest toucan species.

We bore north following the valley of the Rio Grande, gaining altitude. The river's name is due to the width of the riverbed, not the water.

The channel may shift during the wet season.

A closer look ahead.

The terrain slowly lost vegetation as we ascended; the moist southeastern air drops its water as it rises, eventually drying out, and no moisture arrives from the west over the Andes mountains. The average annual precipitation at Purnamarca, today's destination, is 14.3 inches / 364 mm. By comparison, Columbus, Ohio receives on average 38.1 inches / 968 mm, although in 2018 it was 55.2 inches / 1403 mm, a new record.

Along the way we could see the beginnings of the effort to restore the narrow-gauge railway between Jujuy and the Bolivian border. Originally the lifeline of the valley, the railway faded as the automobile took over; demoted to a tourist attraction, the last run was in 1993. The reconstruction began in 2016 but much work needs to be done to accomplish the needed rerouting in spots, and installing rails and signals. Here's a map of the rail network at its maximum in the 1950s.

The green circle is the area of interest. Click on the image to enlarge.

The town of Purmamarca is just off the main north/south highway. Our hotel, La Comarca de Purmamarca, was closer to the far side of town than Carlos expected. We shot by it the first time but located it after turning around.

Our home for the next two nights.