Colored mountains and salt flats

After spending one night in Salta again, we headed north to Purmamarca, home of the Seven Colored Mountain -

This is actually considered the “poor cousin” to Fourteen Colored Mountain, but more on that later.

This is the little town of Purmamarca, nestled in along the gorgeous mountain chain -

On our first afternoon here, we drove west (and up) to Salinas Grandes (salt flats). I thought we were high the previous day, but this area topped that at 4170 m (13,680 ft)! Along the way, there were beautiful hillsides…

…as we climbed into the clouds.

The vicunas along the road were blasé about our passing.

As we descended from the heights to approach the salt flats (still high at 13,440 ft), we could see the blinding white for miles. We drove out on the flats on a road used by salt mining trucks (which weren’t there on the Sunday we visited).

The geometric shapes made by the salt were pretty cool -

As we left, we came upon some more vicunas, and I just couldn’t resist more pictures (I just loved the little bent knees) -

On the way to the Fourteen Colored Mountain, we passed this adobe bus stop literally out in the middle of nowhere:

This time we did some serious climbing into the clouds…

…to top out at 4350 m (14,270 ft). Fourteen Colored Mountain was spread out in all its glory, but unfortunately, clouds blocked the sun intermittently.

It was really impressive, but because it was so far away, it kinda lost something in comparison to its poorer cousin, back down the valley. It sure was a lot easier to get to than Rainbow Mountain in Peru, where we had to hike several km at 16-17,000 ft!

I was glad I had my long lens, to capture the detail of the layers.

On the way back to Purmamarca, the afternoon light was just right for the Painter’s Palette:

Next, we’re off on a 7 hr bus ride, crossing into Chile to stay in the Atacama desert area for several days.