So it turns out, Argentinians don't have good WiFi either. I'm currently at a super expensive hotel with a spa and everything, drinking a beer and using their WiFi. It's still not very good - I might just use mobile data in the future since it's almost the same price as the beer here.
But before we get to the north of Argentina, there's something left from Rosario to tell, like this shop that ONLY sells shoes for Tango dancing.My host, Martin, was so nice to let me use his bike for a day, so I had a lot of fun. A bike is faster than a car and even faster than public transport. Only motorcycles are faster, I had a blast!Rosario has some pretty nice public beaches.They're right by the street, but they're not too bad.Those tall buildings over there? That's where I came from - I had a great bike tour! Afterwards, I went back to Martin, returned the bike to him, and left for my bus. It was a 16-hour ride, but it wasn't too bad. The bus was maybe a third full, so everyone had two seats and the ride was really relaxing.Louis, my Couchsurfing host, picked me up, got some food, picked up the four Spanish guys you see in the picture, and we had dinner. If I want to, I can eat three times a day with Louis. He also has a housekeeping lady and someone who takes care of the garden. I've never had such a welcoming, easy-going host who shares everything. Louis is incredible - big thanks to you, you rock!Louis also has three dogs, two of them are HUGE, and the third one is still young with a crazy drive to play.This is Otto (the dog). Louis loves them a lot!Yes, Otto is really big, but.....Max is even bigger.Not only is Louis an amazing person and his hospitality is amazing, but his place is also incredible. This is the terrace with the pool.The living room.This is the second house, where the laundry is done and where I'm staying (yes, I basically have my own house here 🤯).This is the view when you walk out of the house - there are always mountains. I love it.Two days ago, I went to the Yala Lagoons and the waterfalls that were in the same area. I walked a total of 30km that day, and it was great!The way to the mountains was already beautiful.These Christian shrines are all over the area. I have no idea what the three cars are doing there, but I also haven't read the Bible, so I can't say I'm an expert 🤷🏼♂️Cellphone connectivity is rare, but they have signs to indicate where you can get a signal!This water comes straight out of the mountain and is drinkable. I refilled my bottle (I only had 500ml because of this) and I've never been so happy about a small river before. It was refreshingly cool.The panorama is just stunning. It's always a bit foggy here, but if you look VERY closely, you can see more mountains on the horizon. If I don't see mountains on the horizon, it's not because there aren't any, it's because I can't see them due to the air. Did I mention that I love the Andes?The main attraction of the route: The lagoons in the mountains.I found this sign and thought it was super cute.I made it to the lagoon!I walked in up to my knees, but it was super muddy and dirty, so I didn't swim.This was literally the only cloud in the sky. It's perfect t-shirt weather, but when you're walking 30km, you sweat a lot. The climate is awesome though. It gets cold at night though.Another lagoon.I'm not exaggerating when I say that there were more cows than people on my way. These cows aren't really wild, they have signs in their ears, so they belong to someone but are free to roam around in the huge area - no fences, no nothing. Happy cows! I can eat meat here without a guilty conscience.Even though I have an issue with red and green colors, this looks beautiful - the green plants on the red soil under the blue sky. Yes, I do love the mountains 😂I believe these horses are really wild. They were very shy and had no markings whatsoever.After the lagoon, I went to see the waterfalls that aren't described anywhere but in maps.me (a very good map app that I recommend for offline purposes and hiking!). This is the way to the falls. It was 3 o'clock at that time, and I had already been in the mountains for 5 hours. It gets dark around 7, and I didn't want to be in the mountains then, so I hurried up.This bridge seemed more reliable than it looks.More cows greeted me on the way.And yeah, is this the waterfall? Maybe? I don't know. I had already passed the point on the map and didn't find the falls. If I had more time, I would have continued, but it was already 3:30, so I turned around. My fear of being in the mountains in the dark became stronger...More wild horses.I really like this picture. It kind of reflects the wild beauty of the mountains for me.When I really zoom in on the map, there's this small path that's a great shortcut. So I took it to get home on time. This path got pretty high and steep, and I couldn't turn back without going all the way back.It was beautiful until this happened. Some sort of erosion destroyed the path.To the right is a 30-meter steep mountain - no way to get down there without getting injured.This is the other side. As you can imagine, I made it, but it was dangerous. I used every root to hold on tight, checked every step twice because the soil was sometimes loose and slippery. These 2 meters took me like 2 minutes.This is the way down..More cows greeted me, like a sign that I did well. This one is a young baby.On the shortcut (only took an hour instead of 3+), I found a few houses that looked super modern and expensive. This pool is filled by running water from the mountains (remember, it's drinkable).They have fish farms there - like aqua farms in a river.And everything is shaped artificially - beautiful and somehow surreal in these wild mountains.They even generate electricity from the water pressure in the mountains.As I arrived back on the main road in the mountains, I decided to try hitchhiking again (it usually doesn't work well in the north), and the first car picked me up!They even gave me a cold (!!) beer.I don't know your names, but thanks a lot! You saved my day! 👍 Due to the shortcut and hitchhiking, I saved 3-4 hours and arrived back at Louis' place at 5. In the next town, Jujuy, there were festivities. All of the schools in the country (yes, all of Argentina) build trailers and equip them with LED lights - sometimes they are even moving. It's super crazy and only happens during one week of the year in this town. I got very lucky to be here at the right time and the right place.It's a huge event and super crowded. You think Hamburg's Kiez on a Saturday evening or Kiel during Kiel Week is crowded? This is waaaay more crowded.I can't show you pictures to show how many people there were, it was crazy. I didn't even get to see the end.Anyway, these trailers were super crazy.Sometimes it's not really clear what's actually on them, but I also have no idea about the history.This one was definitely King Kong with Mammoths and T-Rexes. King Kong even moved! I'll post a link with plenty of videos, it was amazing!It needs to be very bright and big.Here we have an octopus on a boat.All three heads of the Hydra were moving (seriously, check out the videos!).Usually, there were also some cute girls on the trailers waving at the cheering people. The next day, one of these girls (there were over a hundred of these trailers) gets elected to be the queen. All that matters is looks, they don't do any performances. LINK TO THE VIDEOS:https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=1Bsh8VyGLx5xK6TIBIHQLnJuQuF_Lk7dd (The videos that I named are a must-see!) Also within this area is the 'Salina de Jujuy', which is a huge salt desert in the middle of the mountains.I'll show you some pictures of my journey to this desert.On the way to the desert, I had to pass through a small town called Pumamarca, which has the famous 'Mountain of Seven Colors' (Montaña de siete colores). This is it, it's pretty beautiful.I didn't stay long in the town and kept going.But there was this car that caught my attention.OK, I'm in a bus with 14 other tourists to the desert. I believe I'm the only European; the vast majority of the tourists here are from Latin America, which is very refreshing. But if you couldn't speak Spanish, you would have a pretty big problem here 🤣.These mountains are unbelievably beautiful. The bus ride was over an hour (each way), and it never got boring.I thought this was big....and then I got to look down at the very same mountain formation.We had a short stop, selfie time.So yeah, more selfie time at 4000m+. I actually felt the air getting thin and having less oxygen. When I walked fast, I would run out of breath and feel dizzy.Kokain Caramel - tempting, but no thank you. I did buy a hat from this woman though, I'll show you a picture later.There were Llamas everywhere, and they were hard to capture on a smartphone.More mountain shots - they're endless. For me, it's a bit like looking at the stars. I actually realize how big everything is.Pretty sure I saw a condor - I've never seen such a big bird, and it was just gliding endlessly through the air.We arrived at the 'Salina Grande', the salt desert. Of course, there were locals trying to sell things, like these salt crystals.Or salt Llamas.This desert seemed endless.Somehow, they extract salt by creating these water holes. On the ground are big salt crystals.I could simply pick them out of the water.It looks really beautiful, but pictures don't really do it justice. I also made a video (same link as the videos of the colorful trailers), but it doesn't really capture it either.These patterns are everywhere.The ground is all brownish, but if you remove just a bit of it..... it's all white salt. The whole place is just salt.You can easily break this off the ground.Sunglasses were really necessary. The hood as well, or else you'd get a sunburn really quickly.Salt stones in all sizes.I mean it, all sizes.Also, this is just salt - all sizes available.You can easily break this off the ground.The sunglasses were really necessary. The hat also helped, or else you would get a sunburn very quickly.But that's not all.This is a stone house.And this is the house. It's entirely built out of salt (except for the roof).Eventually, I left and headed back. These brown/red mountains never cease to amaze me.It's just vast and wild here.The road down there is the only road around, and it's the way we go. It's not for the faint-hearted.There's also some agriculture.And this is the hat I bought.It's made out of llama fur and costs around 3€. I don't need it here, but I'll be happy to have it in the south! That's it from me so far. In about two days, I'll be going further north. I'd really like to, but I don't think I'll be able to give you updates every one or two days due to the lack of WiFi. The mobile internet is also pretty bad. Love and peace,Laurin
