Sun and photos in Salinas Grandes

Led by a member of the salting communities

From Purmarmarca, about 66 kilometers up the zigzagging Cuesta de Lipán -which implies a sudden ascent to more than 4,100 meters of altitude with tremendous views- are the immense Salinas Grandes. One of the natural wonders of Argentina.

They belong to the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, but are accessed from the latter. In fact, crossing the straight stretch of National Route 52 that cuts across it is a unique experience, because this albino and infinite desert resembles a landscape from another planet.

Once there, if you are lucky, the highest peaks are snow-capped, such as the Chañi or the Tuzgle Volcano, and a little further back, the Andes Mountain Range in all its splendor.

Although it is possible to make a short visit, it is advisable to hire a guide from one of the three salt communities that work there, to learn about their history and characteristics by touring them from the inside.

@tripticity_, with good fortune, was accompanied by Amanda Sarapura, from the Coya de Casabindo Community, in particular, she tells that she lives in Santuario de Tres Pozos, a nearby town known for its lunch stop for tourists and proudly led by Cacique Simeon.

Amanda takes her scooter to escort the visitor to the first stop, the extraction pools. They are lines of rectangles that multiply. The process of collecting salt for human consumption requires the evaporation of water to achieve the purest sodium chloride; the water precipitates forming crystals.

Salinas Grandes have a particularity: they do not contain iodine, so they are continental, not marine. For its surface they are located in the top of the most extensive with its more than 200 square kilometers.  

The popular photos taken in this distinctive scenery, due to the optical illusion and perspective generated, are amusing, be it the jumps, the fictitious miniature or the disproportion.

Next, in its deepest interior, the natural eyes of the salt flat are visited; natural pools of water that open the way to an emerald blue that breaks with the candid and immaculate saline.

Finally, at the community's inn, there is nothing better than buying the classic "tortillas" filled with ham and cheese, preparing a delicious tea and sharing a chat with Amanda sitting on the salt benches to learn about her life story, her youth at these heights, her relationship with Axel whom she met through social networks, her work methodology and, of course, her advice to overcome altitude sickness: get flowery water, put a few drops on your palms, clap your hands three times and inhale its aroma. Holy remedy!