Departamento de Doctor Manuel Belgrano

We flew to Salta and picked up a rental car and then drove a few hours to the town of Jujuy.
Disaster was narrowly averted after we learned our rental car had been given away because we were over 1 hour late picking up the car (despite the fact we’d paid in full, in advance). We scrambled for nearly an hour until we finally found a helpful lady at the Alamo counter who was able to find a cancelled reservation that we could use – PHEW! We needed a car for an 8-day tour around Northern Argentina and going by bus would have been miserable and expensive. All of the companies were totally out of cars because it was a long holiday weekend – not only Easter, but also a holiday remembering the Argentineans who died trying to take over the Malvinas (Falkland Islands). It is very obvious that Argentina strongly believes the Malvinas are Argentinian. We see signs at border crossings, post offices and other government buildings essentially stating that the Malvinas are forever Argentinean…

Jujuy was a very cute town with a very different feel from other parts of Argentina. People look more Indian and less European and the food is so much better up North! Tamales, stews, the best empanadas we’ve tasted…Yum!
While here, we did several day trips. One day we drove north to Humahuaca and Tilcara. Humahuaca was a cute town full of adobe buildings and a beautiful old church where there was traditional dancing on display celebrating Good Friday. Tilcara was a small town surrounded by some very pretty red rock formations. On our second day, we drove to Salinas Grandes (the great salt flats) through stunning desert and high mountains. We also stopped at Purmamarca, another cute adobe town famous for its’ spectacular hills of 7 colors – beautiful rocky hillsides colored by many minerals.
Because of the holiday weekend, the roads and towns were teeming with Argentinean tourists.Read more