One of the places I wanted to visit without fail during my nomadic trip to the north of Argentina was Iruya, in the province of Salta. This destination is highly touted on social media as the must-see of this province and of course I wanted to go and see what it was all about. What I like most about my country is that no matter how many times you visit the same area, there will always be a new and beautiful place to visit. In this case, Iruya fulfilled that place, exceeding my expectations and fulfilling one of my wishes on this route ❤️.
After deciding to travel north together, the Dutch guest's and my solo trip became ‘our trip’, where we could both propose places to go. As my route was not planned beyond Huamuahaca in Jujuy, which is where I was supposed to be doing my cancelled volunteering, I did not have many options of places to visit other than the ones we had already seen so far. I only had one on my wish list and that was Iruya, one I had wanted to visit for a long time .
From the town of Huamahuaca in Jujuy you can reach the town of Iruya in Salta by public bus. Currently, this service takes three hours and costs $8. The road to Iruya is 73 km of gravel, so it is close, but it still takes a long time to get there due to the state of the road and the many sharp bends. Besides, getting to Iruya means moving at more than 2700 masl, so you can't go very fast either. This is the way I had planned to go if I continued travelling alone, but luckily my plans had changed for the better and now I was travelling in a small Suzuki 4x4 .
All the way from Humahuaca to Iruya was truly incredible. We went through beautiful mountains with incredible colours, up and down, and around a lot of curves that seemed endless. Also, nature had gifted us with splendid weather, so we could see all the colours more than brilliantly. Sometimes I couldn't believe what a vast and beautiful place we were in ❤️.
So that the car wouldn't shake so much on those roads, as usual, we had to deflate the tyres a bit. We couldn't drive with the windows open either, because too much dust got in due to the dryness of the road, but we still stopped many times to get out and take some pictures. This road is not very busy at all, so we passed very few vehicles during those 70 km until we reached the entrance of the village after more than 4 hours of driving .
When we were finally there, I think I must have said ‘amazing’ a few dozen times. I was fascinated to be in this town that I had seen so many times on social media, and in reality it was so much nicer. Its location was really amazing, as if nestled in high clayey and colourful mountains. My amazement didn't stop, I was really excited and we even had a special welcome from some very curious locals .
Our plan in Iruya was to camp for one night, taking advantage of the cooler temperatures. Although we arrived in the afternoon, as this town is so immersed in the mountains, the sun sets early, so we wanted to take the opportunity to walk around a bit first and then we would look for a place to sleep. Anyway, this town is not that big, but we wanted to see as much of it as we could ❣️.
As far as can be seen, the town of Iruya has expanded quite a bit over time, but what belongs to the ‘centre’ of town is only a few blocks. Here you can see most of the tourist accommodations, restaurants, a church and even a square. The streets of Iruya are small and uphill, one way because hardly any vehicles can enter, so you have to drive carefully. Guest M made a good choice leaving the car under the bridge while we walked through the town, because it would have been a mess to get around without knowing exactly where to go .
One option for a short walk inside Iruya, after having wandered around the town and seen all there was to see, was to go to a small viewpoint. Of course, this is a viewpoint with a cross, which is reached after a half hour walk. The truth is that it wasn't difficult to get there even though it was a bit steep, but I think that being at more than 2700 masl makes everything worse and you get tired faster. However, despite the heat and everything, the views from there are incredible and you can see the whole town. Once again I felt fulfilled for being where I wanted to be, seeing what I wanted to see and doing what I wanted to do, which is to continue discovering beautiful places in Argentina ❤️.
The town of Iruya in the province of Salta was one of the towns I most enjoyed visiting on this leg of the trip. I knew that even if I was alone on my walk I would be able to get there, but doing it with company was also a lot of fun. This is what I enjoy about the spontaneity of going on a nomadic walk, and that is that the routes can be modified according to what you feel at the time. Continuing to see beautiful places in my country keeps convincing me to want to travel it even more, because we have so much to see that it is almost impossible to get bored in it. I hope it stays that way ❣️.
