6.6.06 ;-)

Well, we drove down the mountain into some of THE most beautiful scenery
of the whole trip and that is saying something. We are in the Northwest of
Argentina in the valley Humahuaca, a part of World Heritage of humanity.
Nothing prepared me for the awesome, magnificent rock and colours that
confronted us at ever more hair raising hairpin bends. The fascinating rocky
landscape of many colours formed thanks to the whims of geological movement
and erosion makes a back cloth that looks like a stony rainbow and is just
Wow!! Amazingly beautiful. We stop countless times for photos, there is very
little traffic, we stop for lunch in a very small village of adobe houses and
lovely little adobe church. This village is very Bolivian with lots of
artesan shops; giving us a taste of what is to come. What can I say? Driving as
we do into remote areas to see such magnificent things some times it gets
real hard, but then the reason we are there makes it all worth while. This
morning has knocked any thoughts of a quiet cul-de-sac for my retirement into touch - I would not miss the life I am living at the moment - how ever cold it gets and believe me we get colder and it gets tougher! I just think I am so very lucky to be able to be
doing this.

We arrive at San Salvador de Jujuy with its perpetual spring-like climate,
we are looking for the merc garage (no change there ). Les has trouble with
his fuel pump and I have no fog light. The garage put Les a new part in his
truck but said they would order me a part. After trying to find a restaurant
we ended up getting a cooked chicken from a supermarket which was very nice.
We had not, as yet, found a night stop but the tourist information had told us
were there was some quiet parking. It was dark so not easy to find but at
last we were parked for the night. Tourist Information lied. It was very noisy but earplugs saved the night. We left early next morning as the park was filling up did a
trip to the supermarket and then headed off for Salta where we intended to
spend a few days. We just followed the road which turned out to be a most
beautiful cloud forest; we were all unprepared for this - I have never been in
a cloud forest before. The lush trees, grass, creepers all the undergrowth
was many shades of green and water dripped every where, after the dryness of
the mountains this was a great surprise. We also saw many birds, but it was
hard to see because the undergrowth was so dense. On our return to JuyJuy on
route to Bolivia we passed along this road again, but this time there was no
cloud, we could see deep valleys, lakes and small settlements. In Salta we
stopped on a campsite which was very nice, we met up with the young Swiss
couple who are traveling in a Land rover, we also met a Brazilian couple who
have been on the road for 4 years; also a young German couple who are
traveling with their little dog. It is very good to meet with other Over
Landers, we are always able to swap information about places to camp,
shipping and road conditions which are not good in this area. It is good to
talk to folk who are doing the same crazy stuff as we are. I enjoyed our
stay in Salta; we had a very good visit to the town looking at all the most
important buildings and learning a little about the area. We were lucky
enough to be inside the Cathedral when the bells started to ring, the sound
was very good but on going outside the sound was fantastic and we were able
to watch the guys ringing the huge bells.