Humahuaca - visiting El Hornocal at 4,350m

When we wanted to take the bus to Humahuaca on Wednesday morning, we had ordered a taxi for 6:30 am and once again we had the problem that it didn't come. So we called the hostel manager, because we couldn't reach the taxi company either. Ultimately, the taxi arrived at 6:45 🚕 and we were once again 5 minutes before the departure at the bus stop🚍. Next time, we should order the taxi 15 minutes earlier than the time...

After 5 hours of beautiful landscapes, we arrived at the bus terminal in Humahuaca. In the next street (Calle Buenos Aires), the hostels lined up next to each other. The hostel manager from Salta had also reserved accommodation for us here and negotiated a slightly cheaper price. For €18 per night, we now sleep in a small room behind a restaurant, without windows but with our own bathroom🚿 The shower is simply a shower head on the wall that floods the entire bathroom, as there is neither a curtain nor a depression to stop the water.

There is also no WiFi, so we have to see how we find the next accommodation.

Humahuaca is a small tourist town where the curbstones are flipped up from 7 p.m. But since the weather was nice, it was quite pretty. Many small streets, a pretty church, and a statue on a hill.

And huge cacti, about 7m tall 🌵🌵

So we were at the bridge where the vehicles were supposed to gather at around 11. But it didn't turn out that way.. After a lot of going back and forth across the bridge, we finally found out that 2 p.m.is a better time because the sun is at a more favorable position at that time. A round trip costs 50€ (800 pesos) per car, which is split among the passengers.

When we came back around 2:30, fortunately, there were two French people waiting for more passengers and so we drove together up the mountain. It was a winding and very bumpy ride with the Ford Ranger from 2,900m to 4,350m in 40 minutes.

Despite having all-wheel drive, the car was bouncing quite a bit. When we arrived at the entrance of the viewpoint, an admission fee of 70 cents (10 pesos) per person was collected.

When we arrived at the parking lot, we already had a fantastic view.

The driver would wait for us for 40 minutes, then we would go back down into the valley. So many photos were taken until we went a little closer to the mountains. The path went steeply downhill - something we felt on the way back when it went extremely steeply uphill.

Since the French people had a GoPro and we had our 360-degree camera, many photos and videos were taken to properly appreciate this phenomenal view 📸📸
Time passed faster than expected and we still had the return journey ahead of us.
Especially on a 4,000m climb that felt like 100% (maybe only 50% to be realistic), it's like running a marathon. The fact that the climb was about 400m long didn't help us control our breathing either. It was super exhausting 😲! But it was worth it 😁

Otherwise, you could buy empanadas, hot dogs 🌭, and other local dishes for little money at the bus terminal.

The next day, we took a day trip to Iruya, a mountain village that is 3 hours away from Humahuaca.

We again drove on unpaved roads until we reached the small village, but it is the largest in the immediate area. Here there is a church that looks picturesque with the mountains in the background.

Generally, the sky is mostly cloudless here due to its location behind the Andes. Tom's gaze was magically drawn to a soccer game on the other side of the valley and he had to stop and watch ⚽ Nevertheless, it is impressive how some people can play soccer normally at 2,600m, while one of us is already panting up a small mountain.

Our lunch in a restaurant at the main square was very cheap 💸

After 2 hours, the bus was already heading back. So we had spent 6 hours on the bus for 2 hours on site. But we still had to do something for the rest of the day before moving on.

Next stop: Tupiza, Bolivia