Tourist information here has been on the whole useless apart from handing out maps which to be fair have been invaluable.
The best information has come from reception at our hotels and guest houses with their varying degrees of English and our brilliant Spanish !!!
This information however is not always accurate or detailed enough and often you
set out not really knowing what to expect.
We set off for the day on one of these ventures looking for the mirador (view) of fourteen colours. Starts off well different scenery again then comes the dirt road, have we taken the right road, keep going we’ll find out.
Dirt road means very dusty indeed and if you do meet another vehicle do not travel close behind as you can’t see a thing and dust comes through the air conditioning which is on full belt. Dirt road also means bumpy, rocky and corrugated.
So we start to climb and climb and climb. We climb for 8 kilometres and it’s getting steeper, one in four Chris tells me....thank you very much. I am now trying not to look at these bends and have both feet rammed into the footwell. Buses are not allowed on the road the bends being too sharp. Thank goodness. Most of the time we have the road to just us.
Scenery is changing again as less wants to grow up here at this altitude though we do spot a few hardy llamas. Not sure they are actually llamas there are at least four that are a variety of llama (camelids) I have a chart somewhere to identify them.
I get out lots of times to take photographs just loving the sights we are seeing.
Anyway we eventually reach the viewpoint and find a few bikers up there though where they came from I don’t know because they didn’t pass us. Clouds are closing in but we are lucky it clears for a while for us to enjoy the vista.
The best spot was from down a pathway looking over the edge. The altitude hit Chris so I set off alone, there were others about so felt ok. Coming back up the slope was hard though even the youngsters were struggling. I did at one point feel a bit panicky not getting enough air so rested, concentrated on the view then set off again slowly. Even a few steps are exhausting, quite strange. Just over 14,000 feet the highest we have been. It was worth it a great day out.
Back to our lovely Purmamarca village for a meal in cute restaurant with live music and friendly French couple.
Our most fantastic drive and highlight of the holiday was to be the next day.........in my next blog