Tropic of Capricorn

We road through the Tropic of Capricorn today.  We are now heading back south so this is our second time passing through it. In the US Coast Guard there is a ritual that when you cross a Tropic or the Equator.  AL and I agreed we will not be doing any rituals. I may make myself a google certificate.

The Tropic of Capricorn is the dividing line between the Southern Temperate Zone to the
 south and the tropics to the north. The northern hemisphere equivalent of the Tropic of 
Capricorn is the Tropic of Cancer.

 In South America, along the tropic, the east side of the Andes receives warm and humid air
 from the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, areas in Brazil adjacent to the Tropic are extremely 
important agricultural regions, producing large quantities of crops such as coffee, and the 
natural rainforest vegetation has been entirely cleared. In and west of the Andes, however, the Humboldt Current makes conditions extremely arid, creating one of the driest deserts in the 
world, so that no glaciers exist between Volcán Sajama at 18˚30'S and Cerro Tres Cruces at 
27˚S.^[4] Vegetation here is almost non-existent, though on the eastern slopes of the Andes 
rainfall is adequate for rainfed agriculture.

Tres Crupes

Thursday. We drove up to Tres Crupes which is right at the Bolivia border. I will post pictures of this but it can in no way capture the beauty of these mountains. The layers of colors in on the mountain tops took your breath away.

This has been a beautiful region to visit. We have seen many, many backpackers here. I understand why.

Jujuy

Getting a car was easy and we out of Salta to the northern  area called Jujuly. In Spanish, you pronounce your "j"s as "h"  ( I know this from my Braintree night school) so the area is pronounced. WhoWho zee like a Dr. Suess  book. The ride took about four hours to get to one of the highest towns ,Humahuaca.  It is high in the Andes and definitely has a more Peruvian influence. The citizens definitely have a more indigenous  look to them and most of their products have an Inca influence. The town is very tiny made of all small adobe material........some finished, some not so........some they just gave up on. We followed a primitive sign, Azul Hostel, down a dirt road, to another dirt road to what seemed and felt like a river bed until we finally reached where we were going to spend the night.  The manager could not speak any English but went on and on. Trying to tell us where we could eat, what were the sights of the area, what excursions we could take. We just kept saying "si" "si" and he just kept talking and talking. 

Our hostel courtyard

Oreos for dinner

OK.....full disclosure. BOTH of us thought he said we could have dinner at  8 o'clock at the hostel and he was serving llama stew.

 We left the hostel drove the dirt roads back into town and did some sight seeing and enjoyed some wine. We finally returned to the hostel and there was no one there. We got to our room but there was no inviting smell of llama stew. The dinning area was empty.

" I can't believe this, why would he tell us dinner was at 8". " did he?"  " I distinctly heard him say 'oucho horas',  " I did too"  "I distinctly heard him say llama"  " I did too, could he have been telling us he feeds his pet llama in the morning at 8 ? Maybe"

Anyway, we made the right decision not to head back into town on questionable roads to find somewhere to have dinner. I have posted a picture of Wednesday nights meal.

Leaving Salta

They have a beautiful old colonial square in Salta The skies are a beautiful clear blue color.

On Wednesday we will rent a car and head north so see some of the smaller towns and scenery.

Salta

The bus ride ended up being 20 hours long. Needless to say I did not meet my vivofit
goal but we are happy we made it to this quaint city. We'll rent a car tomorrow and
venture out to some smaller towns.

Salta was founded on April 16, 1582 by the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma, 
who intended the settlement to be an outpost between Lima, Peru and Buenos Aires.

During the war of independence, the city became a commercial and military strategic 
point between Perú and the Argentine cities. Between 1816 and 1821, the city was led 
by local military leader General Martín Miguel de Güemes, who under the command of 
General José de San Martín, defended the city and surrounding area from Spanish forces
 coming from further north.

Salta emerged from the War of Independence politically in disarray and financially 
bankrupt, a condition that lingered throughout much of the 19th century. However, in 
the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the arrival of Italian, Spanish and Arab immigrants, 
particularly Syrians and Lebanese, revived trade and agriculture all over the area while 
further enhancing the city's multicultural flavor.

                                           

 

Last day in Mendoza

Lazy day today I did this painting. It's the view from our window in the hotel/apartment. I include a photo of the view too.

Sunday in Mendoza and everything is closed up. The town is amazingly quiet. We went to the aquarium to kill some time before we catch our 8:00 bus to Salta. The Aquarium was more like visiting a Petco. Cute for small children but not so great for adults. The museum of modern art was also a disappointment.

We caught our 8:00 bus for the 13 hour ride to Salta. It's a double decker bus. The bottom deck has seats that fully recline so you can sleep. Small world......the girls from New Zealand were on our bus and had seats down stairs with us. They are going to Tucanman the town before Salta. It was a nice ride.....they served Norton Malbec which helped but we will fly back to Buenos Aires when we are done with this area.