Purplelake: Day 11 – Jul 2, 2019 Tilcara, Pumamarca to Salta, Argentina

We took a tour of Remy’s studio after breakfast. Remy is the French artist owner of the tiny B&B (only 6 rooms) with his Argentinian wife Anna. He is an incredible guy. He does painting, sculpture, fixing his roof, and cooking dinners for us. He only takes 10 mins afternoon break every day and has very regimented schedule. His family (brothers and mom) still run a winery in Cote d’Azur region near Nice. We promised to visit his family winery and check out his other paintings while we are there in August. We are impressed with his colorful style of painting that we bought two works from him on the spot. The price we got was a steal compared to the price he charged during his exposition in London just last week. I am hoping his works will appreciate later like Picasso’s!

Posing with Remy Rasse in his studio. He is very passionate about Andean and Central and South American cultures and sceneries

We bought this piece - Woman with birds of peace - framed with cactus wood

Our second piece was featured in Remy's exposition catalog titled Woman with nature's harmony

Pucara de Tilcara is a pre-hispanic and pre-Inca compound which has been restored. Its strategic location high up on the hill made it one of the most important sites in the trade route from Bolivia down to the Southeast lowland. We saw more huge cardones (cacti) in the garden there. Big enough to be used as main support beams for houses. Next we drove to Pumamarca, a town famous for its Mountains of Seven Colors. From Pumamarca, we drove up steep mountain pass to 4150m to get to the Altiplano which is the high plateau between the East and West Cordillera. Near the top of the mountain pass, our car came to a screeching stop due to a family of vicunas blocking the road! What a sight! The young vicunas were so cute! This is as close to seeing vicunas in the wild as one can get! We are so blessed.

This is like a giant cactus jungle!

This cactus is almost triple my height!

Restored ruin of Pucara de Tilcara

This ruin is set in dramatic landscape overlooking key trade routes

Mountains with Seven Colors - near the town of Pumamarca

There is a hiking route to wander near the base of all the colorful hills but we ran out of time

A whole family of wild vicunas blocking our way 4000m high

Vicunas were hunted almost to extinction for their fine fur before they were protected since 1970s

This baby vicuna is so cute

OK. Ready to make way yet?

Leaving the Quebrada de Humahuaca, we drove down the other side of the mountain on the main highway to the Chilean border and soon came to a familiar landscape we first saw in Bolivia two years ago, Salinas Grandes, a giant salt flat on a lake as far as your eyes could see. This one is not as big or white or pristine as the ones in Uyuni, Bolivia but nonetheless is impressive. All the small houses and even banos at the visitor center were built of salt bricks. We did not linger long there as the wind was very wicked blowing fine salt particles everywhere.

Going down the other side of the mountain was not as steep. You can see the white salt plain ahead which is Salinas Grandes

Salty Toilet! Banos constructed of salt bricks!

Here in Argentina, you can pay a guide to guide you to drive on the salt flat in case you fall in

The strong wind whipping up the fine salt grains gives you the effect of "salt" blasting

Where is home?

Salt blocks harvested from the Salinas are used to build houses

Salta is 3.5h drive from the Salinas Grande and we wanted to make it back by 4:30p. Today July 2^nd is the total solar eclipse day for South America, specifically for Chile and Argentina. Although Salta is not right on the Total Eclipse path, we should still be able to see over 95% of the eclipse if we were lucky. However, as it turned out, the sky got cloudier as the day progressed. By the time we reached Salta, there were only patches of sky that were not covered with clouds. As we waited, the sky around us became visibly dimmer. Luckily, near the maximum eclipse, the cloud just broke enough for us to get a quick glimpse of a crescent Sun! Ever since the Great North American Total Eclipse we witnessed in Eugene, Oregon, in 2017, we were hooked on chasing total solar eclipse everywhere if possible. We are thankful that our opportunity here in Salta was finally rewarded.

After returning our rental car at the airport, we took a taxi to check in to our hotel in town. It’s ironic that after we checked in, we found we were given a room with a fantastic western view of the city. Had we known this before hand, we could have come here sooner and enjoyed the eclipse from the comfort of our hotel room!