We leave Posada de Don Simon around 9h30 and head back to where we would have loved to stay overnight yesterday - Campo Quijano. This is a passing point for the Tren de las Nubes, a little tourist train that connects the Argentine Northwest with the Chilean border in the Andes, over 4,220 metres above sea level. Although originally built for economic reasons, it is now primarily of interest to tourists as a heritage railway. Having been informed of the shocking ticket prices, we wisely decided to take a nearly similar route up in our little hired car. The road leads us all the way to San Martin de Los Cobres. Quite a lot of stops for pictures again as the scenery does not stop to amaze us. It seems that - once you think you have seen it all - a completely different view pops up in front of your eyes. The road towards San Antonio shows multicoloured landscapes and leads us through a couple of wee little villages, one of them being Villa Rosa where we give a grateful local lady - Navitidad -a lift home; She explains that San Antonio is situated at 3750 masl. Before getting there though, we will first pass the one but highest point for today wich is 4,080 masl. As soon as we arrive, I start to feel a little bit lightheaded because of the altitude.

We have a small break in San Antonio and drive a very bad rocky road (viva el ripio!) towards the viaduct La Polvorilla, located 4,220 metres above sea level. Once we've seen this, we turn back and hit ruta 40 once more towards the Salinas Grandes, the great salt plains of Argentina. We go through quite some trouble getting there, as once again the signilisation is not the best.

On our way to our final stop of today now, Purmamarca. The last hour's scenery is stunning once again, going up and down up to an altitude of over 4,000 meters. Unfortunately I cannot enjoy the last part of this curvy road, as altitude sickness now completely knocks me out and Joost - as it becomes a real gentleman - has to pull over the car tree times. He practically has to drag me into hostal Don Tomas, where I cannot do anything but go straight to bed. (Fortunately the prices for a private room are relatively cheap here so I can be sick quietly ;-) ).