Feeding time at the zoo

We have both had quite allot to eat whilst we have been in Salta...

we started off feeling full all day long after eating just one normal meal, but now can eat ice cream after it as well... 

I think Nic said I would go on about the vehicles here in a blog.. well there are lots, and not to bore you too much.....The most exciting vehicle that I have seen here is the Hillman Avenger!!! yes still alive and kicking here in the big A. There are also many Renault 12 still going strong (some not so strong) but they seem to be able to keep just about anything going here.Good to see loads of bull nosed Mercedes trucks hauling everything around, but it looks like Scania are the trucks to have out here.

The picture above is of me looking at a piston!! these types of shrine are to be found on the side of all roads. Some are shrines to Gaucho Gill (a saint of the road I think) others like this one seem to be a shrine to the motor vehicle.. Very interesting I hear you say....

What more can I say..... Beer cake and crisps.

Just a shot of happier days... The shirt you see me wearing is no more.. It was a sad day when I realised that the sun had reduced it to shreds... What fun we had together.. Farewell old shirt, you will not be forgotten.

Tomorrow we will set off again, up into the mountains, sort of heading back to Buenos Aires, but as I am sure you realise... it will not be that direct a route.

Until next time.

Llama drama

Of course, NOT a good photo. But it does illustrate typical llama behaviour. You see, even though it is totally beneath their dignity to exhibit any interest in people at all , here they come. Drifting by in the early morning, ever closer and closer , because secretly they HAVE to know what Jon,s up to, and its not until they have their heads virtually over the coffee pot, that they can then move on, pretending that they just happened to be going past you. 

Salar del Hombre Muerto !!!

Jon is letting his normal high standard of sartorial elegance slip a bit. 

 

Over a couple of days we dropped down from the high "puna" (over 4000mtrs ) to the semi-tropical lowlands of Jujuy and Salta (1000mtrs ).Cruisy cycling down the stunning Unesco Quebrada de Humahuaca.....the rocks colours are quite fancy.

 Llamas. Quite distainful creatures....they really look down their noses at you, ignoring the fact that their owners have decorated them with ridiculous tufts of coloured wool. Vicunas . Are wilder and well camourflaged....they don´t photograph easily. Chinchillas. Bonkers animals. (also a bit of a photo challenge.....have several though....(photos not chinchillas ). They also live high and they have to have steep eroded rock formations to bound around on....they are inbetween a rabbit and a kangaroo but on cliffs at around 4000mtrs. All these animals have something in common with us . They can´t stand mosquitos...which is obviously the reason for living so high.

 Somewhere highish in the morning

 Here we are. The Salar del Hombre Muerto. You can see why .....

 Jon in high altitude cycling mode....stylish eh ?

I like this sign. Regardless of the fact that there´s not a tree capable of growing anywhere near here , you know what they mean.
The inter active bit. Now if you like bit of  challenge you can enlarge this....maybe spin it around ...and then you might be able to see our wandering route from Buenos Aires out west across into Chile, up the coast , back into Argentina, up north , and then back southwards to Salta where we are now. Last night was 4th night in an actual bed since we started. We are carbo loading on ice -cream before making up the final stage of our trip.