Friday 17th January 2025; Of trains new and old - travelling to San Antonio de los cobres
Sadly it was time to leave Tilcara and its beautiful scenery. We ate breakfast once again on the patio and packed out things away.
The night before we had a WhatsApp sfrom Gabi, who looks after the apartment to say that she wanted paying in large denominations of US dollars, such as $100. It was bit late to tell us that as we had brought the money over from England and the biggest notes we had were $50, and we didn't have many of them. The confirmation only said to pay in dollars.
When she came, she explained that there is a less good exchange rate for lower dollars notes but accepted what we offered. The money situation here is quite exceptional.
On the road between Jujuy and Tilcara there is a newly restored railway, heralded by government billboards. Joan had just commented on it as the railway crossings have no barriers, but we hadn't seen any trains. So at Purmamarca station it was a surprise to see two, brand new trains.
Today were were moving on to San Antonio de los Cobres, a mining town on the altiplano that is famous for the Tren de las Nubes.
As a child Joan watched many travel documentaries with her parents. In particular there was one called the Flight of the Condor which first stirred her interest in South America. That and a drama called The Voyage of the Beagle. Whether it was the flight of the condor or another programme, she recalls an amazing piece about a train in the high Andes so high, there was oxygen provided on board. This is the train of the clouds.
The line ran from Salta to the Chilean border on a narrow gauge line. However today only a short section is functioning, and that leaves from San Antonio.
The shortest way to get to San Antonio is via the Salinas Grandes. However this means you would miss out on seeing some of the magnificent engineering that takes the train up to the altiplano.
So we drove back down to Salta. Joan has learned how to download Google maps to an offline phone so we were able to navigate getting road Salta easily and start the journey uphill via a long but beautiful valley valley.
The Ruta 52 is mainly a paved roads with short stretches that have been washed away by streams. We were glad we had a high clearance SUV. For about half the journey the road and railway line criss cross each other, like the Great Rocks Line and A6 south of Buxton in Derbyshire.
There are Meccano like bridges crossing the hillside and at one point you can see an old line running below a newer upper line.
The climb up to the Altiplano was less challenging than yesterday. There were still multi-coloured hills and srange rock formations.
We got stuck behind a wide load with escort but the truck pulled aside.
As we climbed we could see snow topped mountains.
The top of the pass was just over 4000m, and we soon began to drop down onto the altiplano. Grazing by the side of the road were a herd of llama and guanacos. They were not at all rimid and watched us curiously.
From here it was a long straight road to town.
On Google maps, there seemed to be loads of places to eat but walking round the town everything was shut.
The best restaurant on TripAdvisor was called Quinoa Real, and we peered through its windows. The door opened and two women explained it would open at 7.30 pm.
Hungry, we managed to find a small store that sold bread and beer and not much else.
Back in our room we had an inprmptu picnic whilst Joan booked the train ticket for tomorrow. They were eyewateringly expensive.
We headed out again into town, passed what looked like a derelict petrol station but we had seen people using it earlier.
Quinoa Real was now open and it had a variety of options for veggies, as well as llama stew. There was a french group of four who were heading to San Pedro de Atacama the next day. The food and hospitality was very good. (They did veggie pies and chips|)
Tired and feeling the altitude we went back to the hotel to sleep, or in Joan's case, cope with altitude induced insomnia.
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