It is one of the most beautiful white extensions of Argentina with sporadic turquoise tones and almost perfect reflections.
Argentina, wide in territory and beauty, has several of those places that you always want to return to, one of them is the Province of Jujuy and its wonderful Salinas Grandes. The effects that nature can produce in the face of the stranger are unpredictable, as in the Salinas Grandes, in the province of Jujuy, very close to the border crossing of Jama that connects with Chile.
The name "grandes" is because it is the third largest salt flat in South America with an extension of more than 12 thousand hectares in the open sky. One of the whitest areas that can be found in Argentina and with a texture of robust hardness that will be necessary to appreciate closely to understand.
Located about 190 kilometers from the provincial capital, the Salinas Grandes capture the attention of visitors of all ages and awaken great creativity by having camera in hand. An immense depression totally depopulated that becomes even more attractive if a few hours before it rained. Where only the artisans who work the salt reside and offer delicately carved objects with picks and axes.
Although the access is relatively easy, climbing costs and winding up to over 4,100 meters, there are also many agencies that offer the route in Jujuy -also in the neighboring province of Salta-. In case of doing it in a particular way, it is important to load enough fuel, bring food, although in the area there is a restaurant, sunglasses to protect the sight and light shoes to splash in this real show.
Ancestral territory
The origin of the Salinas Grandes, scarcely smaller than those of Uyuni in Bolivia and those of Arizaro in Salta, dates back between 5 and 10 million years, when the basin was completely covered with water coming from a volcano. The gradual evaporation of this liquid and its components, is what gave form to this salt that has a crust whose average thickness is 30 centimeters and resists the weight of vehicles to medium trucks.
According to scientists, it is a chemical-evaporite sediment that in turn is divided into three types of zones: polygonal salt, salt efflorescence and silt. Those who will explain the secrets of extraction and the processes for its industrialization, are the same workers who remain in the place and receive the visitor with all kindness.
At first glance, everything will look the same. But each area was sectioned in arbitrary hexagons that extend to the side of National Route 52 through which it is accessed and officiated as the only alteration. The silence is practically total and each step forward will sound crispy to the ears.
The north of the country offers tourists countless destinations of great beauty, and the surroundings of the Salinas Grandes are also to highlight:
- Despite the high altitude, they serve as the base of an endorheic basin that continues northward in the Guayatayoc Lagoons.
- To the southeast, the picturesque Sierra de Chañi and the old villages that make up the Quebrada de Humahuaca. During the ascent journey you can even make brief stops in Yala where it is possible to camp, Leon with just 500 inhabitants, Volcano with its lime deposits, Tumbuaya on the banks of the Rio Grande, in whose church images and pieces of goldsmiths from colonial Cuzco are conserved. Purmamarca, when you will see the first cactus.
- Then the curve will lead to the Cuesta de Lipán, crossing hamlets such as Quisquira, Patacal and La Ciénaga, until you reach the Abra de Potrerillos.
- Back now the backdrop will be the polychromatic hill of seven colors, with green, pink, yellow, violet, white and gray tones that correspond to different minerals. Unique in the country, where to make exciting photographic safaris, hikes, horseback rides and even bicycle circuits.
- To the west, you will pass a path surrounded by large poplars and willows. And it is even possible to take a few kilometers to the famous RN 40 that leads to San Antonio de los Cobres or Abra Pampa.
