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Hello people! My last night in Jujuy consisted of a very long, gin fuelled encounter with a group of 4 irish guys staying in the hostel. Perhaps the most interesting part was the fact that they asked me to help me name the 4ft tall panda which they had bought that day and were planning to carry all the way through Bolivia, Peru and Columbia(the loser of a daily rock, paper, scissors contest was the unlucky soul who had to carry the giant fluffy burden). After hours of heated debate the panda was christened Carlito. In the morning after the standard breakfast of medialunes, coffee and some weird soda water I made my weary way to the choatic bus station, a place where everything from mate and ponchos to llama meat and coca leaves are eagerly sold at a cluster of tiny stalls. Once inside I managed to find a bus leaving to Tilcara for 13 pesos and made it on with about 30 seconds to spare. As soon as I got on I realised there was a very good reason the bus was 13 pesos, firstly there was no place for me to put my trusty, though exceptionally large rucksack, secondly there was about enough legroom for a hobbit and lastly it was 34C and the air conditioning didnt work and the windows didnt open. So with my head crushed between my bag, the window and the back of the bus we wound our way up into the Andes toward Tilcara. The journey, for all its discomfort, was actually pretty spectacular as you can imagine any journey through the Andes would be. Arriving in Tilcara was what I suppose you could call a bit of a culture shock after Buenos Aires and to a lesser extent Jujuy. Firstly its small, really small. Secondly apart from a handful of other backpackers and a few hippy types(more about them later) I was the only white person I could see, the rest being indigenous. After walking the entire length of the town to find my hostel, all of 10 minutes up the hill, I found what could possibly be the most chilled out place in the world, Casa Los Molles. The staff Diego(the main lad), Francisco and Santiago were all top class, spent most of my first day in Tilcara doing some pretty serious chilling with them and lying in the hammock appreciating the mountain views in the sun. On the first night a fairly delicious asado was cooked up as well so no complaints there! First full day in Tilcara was spent visiting the archeology museum and the "pukara"(an old fortified town built before the incas, both of which were pretty cool and conveniently free on mondays! Tuesday was an eventful day, me and Axel(a german guy staying in the hostel) signed up for sandboarding, its exactly what it sounds like, and were taken up into the Puna(the Altaplano) by two rather eccentric Argentines whose job was basically to take tourists to do all kind of daft things such as sandboarding in remote places. The two hour drive in the 4x4 up to Abra Pampa(the town closest to where the sandboarding is and only 40 miles from Bolivia) took a while but the scenery more than made up for it! By the time we got to where we were actually going to stop we were at 4600 meters which wikipedia tells me is Mont Blanc height... Walking up hills at that altitude while carrying a board on your back is some effort! From then on the day consisted of walking up the hill and boarding(or quite often falling) back down. Lunch was a massive bag of sandwiches and bottles of cold orange juice in the shade of the only tree for miles around(which meant we had to displace the llamas who had been under it before us for the duration of our meal! On the second last run of the day I, in typical fashion, managed to absolutely melt my ankle which resulted in some unfortunate swelling and a fair amount of pain(mum if your reading this I'm fine!), though the instructor was on hand to provide some local remedies! After dropping Axel off in Abra Pampa, where he was last seen waiting on the bus to Bolivia to go and work in a centre for alternative politics in Cochabamba, we headed back down to Tilcara where a feast of homemade empanadas awaited at the hostel. After a good nights sleep, I checked out the hostel and headed to Pumamarca and the Cerro de los Siete Colores. After a lunch of questionable chicken and chips I went of for the hike around the mountain. Despite still nursing a slightly tender ankle the hike was brilliant. Having seen all I needed to and taking all the photos I wanted I headed back to Tilcara and the bus to Jujuy. The bus journey to Jujuy was, as seems standard this far north, horrifically uncomfortable, basically I spent 2 hours sitting on the floor of the bus with my large bag surrounded by a bus load of Bolivian immigrants carry all their things and heading for Jujuy...still all part of the adventure! Arriving in Jujuy dirty, tired and hungry I managed to find a bed, a hot shower and am about to crash. Tomorrow, Salta...
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