This past week I feel as though I have been transported to another planet. Once again Mother Earth (Pachamama) amazed me. I am now in the northern part of Argentina, and if you can’t tell, I am obessed and in love with this amazing country.

I was staying in a town called Salta as a main base. From this place I went on exurcisons to the amazing places around. For my first exploring day I went to a place called Purmamarca (village in the desert) , known for its 7 coloured mountains. It was a cute little village surrounded by amazing landscape and colours. One thing about northern Argentina is that the culture and people are different from anything I have expereinced. My one air bnb host explained to me how over half of the people living in these villages and the north are direct desecndants of the original people of the land. They still have traditions and dialects that are aged thousands of years. The buildings and houses are all so unique and you can feel the culture of the land.

This day also took me to one of the oldest wine regions in South America. I went to the oldest vineyard for a tour and tasting of some amazing wine. While here I was talking pictures of the barrels and this old Argentina man came up to me and started speaking spanish. My spanish isn’t great but from what we could communicate to each other he was telling me I was an angel, he went on to a gorup of people and once again turned and pointed to me and said angel, it made me blush and felt so nice. Turns out this old man was one of the owners of the vineyard, such a sweet moment in my day.

The following day was one that I feel like was a dream. I started on a bus ride through amazing mountains, ones that I have never seen in my life. As I worked my way up higher and higher we reached an elevation of over 4000m. Throughout the ride the local guide was telling us remedies for altitude sickness and giving us remedies. I was able to get some coca leaves, that all the locals use for altitude sickness as well as to wake up. I put a few leaves in my cheek and continued on the journey. I was feeling fine and for that I am grateful, becasue at this point we arrived at Salinas Grandes. These are the third largest salt flats in the world (212km squared). When we got off the bus I was amazed. I have never seen something like this in my entire life. We were standing on salt surrounded with no end in sight. The salt itself felt cold but the sun beating down was hot and dangerous. We were told the UV rays here are very dangerous so we were covered in sunscreen and it was required to wear sunglasses as you can burn your eyes. We saw buldings made of bricks from salt and got to see the pools of water that are from the whole were the bricks are cut from. I have no words to describe this palce but I took some pictures to help me remeber it for life.

I am now staying in Tilcara which is a UNESCO town that is so authentic and amazing . I get the chance to continue exploring this part of the country before heading to Bolivia. I am sad to leave Argetina because it has become my favourtie country in the world. I often get that question becasue of all the travel I have down in my life but for the first time I feel confident saying that this country has touched my heart and soul and has really made me appreiciate everything. I am leaving but am confident I will be back to this beautiful country again in my life. I highly recommend anyone to go to the south or the north, or if you have time do it all, you will not be disappointed.