(For those who are interested, Jujuy is pronounced Huhoy, which a very slight catch in the throat on both of the ‘h’s)
A two and a half hour journey from Salta to Jujuy gave us an opportunity to many more pilgrims coming to Salta, this time some on bicycles as well as walking en-masse, and on the main double carriageway Route National! As before, it was an inspiring sight and we were again impressed by the determination of those taking part to achieve their goals.
A quick taxi to our apartment (Jujuy is pretty devoid of hotels and hostels) brought us to a slightly out of town centre area and a friendly host who spoke excellent English and was keen to help us enjoy our stay, recommending tours and restaurants.
Jujuy is a pleasant, rural, town. Smaller than Salta, but no less pleasant, it has a surprisingly smart shopping centre and a lovely town plaza (9 de Julio) and feels civilised and peaceful. We found a lovely craft beer pub on the edge of the plaza and enjoyed a Patagonian beer (despite being nowhere near Patagonia!)
We enjoyed some northern Argentinian culinary delights for dinner, having a bottle of locally produced wine and Llama steak (which is apparently extremely lean and a healthy option to beef) and tastes a little like lamb with the texture of beef.
Keen to see more of the area, but arriving on a weekend so car hire and drop off on the Monday first thing before we were leaving would be too complicated, with our host’s help we had booked a tour for the following day. This took us to the Salinas Grande (huge salt flats) and Purmamarca (known for it’s rainbow coloured mountains).
It was a most excellent day. The tour guide was fun and we got a little bit of information in English, which helped enormously. And the landscapes were absolutely astonishing. As with Iguazu Falls, it is almost impossible to describe, so the pictures will have to do the talking:
