Paso de Jama - Bus ride to Chile

With a mixed feelings (mainly Lisa), we start one of the most beautiful bus rides in the world at 9.45am. We are really looking forward to it, but we also have some respect for the many curves and the altitude! But it turns out to be completely unfounded :)

The road winds up the Andes in many switchbacks just behind Purmamarca until it reaches the pass Altos de Morado at 4,170m. We are diligently sucking on Coca candies and Jan is slurping Coca tea, a natural remedy for altitude sickness. After that, we go downhill through a dry valley, where the 200km2 salt desert 'Salinas Grandes del Noroeste' is located. The view is simply indescribable! Passing the town of Susques, which is considered the highest town in Argentina at nearly 3,700m and can be reached on an asphalt road. It goes uphill again until we reach the Argentine-Chilean border at over 4,200m in the middle of nowhere. It is really 'breathtakingly' beautiful here, literally.

The border crossing is completely uncomplicated and the officials are very friendly. After all (fortunately only a few) bus passengers have passed, there is a not so bad tasting Labbel roll with cheese and sweets for lunch on the bus. The journey continues and reaches its highest point at 4,800m - we have never been so high before! The landscape is so incredibly beautiful, with its salt lakes and lagoons, volcanoes and sand dunes, that we can hardly believe it. The many llamas that we can observe in the wild truly live up to the name 'Lama Pass'. After a total of about 6.5 hours, we finally reach San Pedro de Atacama - located at only 2,450m. The first time we are almost sad that a bus ride is over and we would prefer to go back immediately to see everything again. But for now, we are looking forward to 4 nights in San Pedro.