emilyonearth

Yesterday was another day of exploring the north of the country, as I drove up to the small town of Purmamarca and then on to Salinas Grandes – the salt flats.

Purmamarca is famous for its “hill of seven colours”. It’s a very small little town with lots of wee artesanal stalls, and streets that are easy to get lost in! I stopped and had a wee wander around, briefly considered buying a llama jumper and becoming Mr Smith (if you know, you know), and then continued on my way.

The road I was driving along was winding and climbed very high! Think the zig-zag bit of the crown range, but amplified to reach over 4000m of altitude. A good test of my gear changing skills!!! Then, once I got to the other side, the salt flats weren’t far at all.

Apparently the area was quite volcanic in the past, which brought a lot of minerals to the surface of the earth. A salt lake formed in the valley, and later dried out, leaving the salt flats behind. There is still a lot of salt in the ground water, and this seeps up through “eyes” in the salt, and allowing the salt flats to replenish themselves as the salt is harvested (harvested??).

The rainy season is only just beginning, and I was hoping it would be wet for pretty reflective pictures. What I hadn’t thought about though was that if the salt flats were covered in water, I’d get wet! By the time that I left, the water was evaporating, and my shoes and the bottoms of my trousers were white and stiff with salt!