This is the first day of a 5 day and 1608 km guided tour of the Puna – a 7 hour drive from Salta to Tolar Grande in the Puna ……..
We took Highway 51 through the Lerma Valley to the Eastern Andes. The landscape changed as the road ascended into Quedebra del Toro into the Eastern Andes.
We took Highway 51 through the Lerma Valley to the Eastern Andes. The landscape changed as the road ascended into Quedebra del Toro into the Eastern Andes.

Stopping for coffee at Alfarcito, a village with a pretty white church, we drove over the pass at Abra Blanca (4080m) and into the Puna.
We drove down to San Antonio de los Cobres (3775m), the capital of the Puna, where we stopped for lunch of empenadas and llama.

Leaving S A de los Cobres the road passed over the highest point the Alto Chorillo (4560m) and wound through the amazing landscapes and formations of the Labryinth, a fossil dune desert,and on through the Desert del Diabolo and the Salar del Diabolo until we reached Tolar Grande, a village of a few streets in the Central Andes.