Parque Nacional de Calilegua and around (updated)
After our car outing its was adventure time…having been frustrated with lack of information (you bascially have to go to the place to find anything out & see if you want to go there) we decided to head to Calilegua National Park, famous for its Yunga jungle (also known as cloud forest). Our guide book mentioned you coud camp there and it had some trails in it, but we didn´t know much more about it than that
We arrived from Salta fairly late in the afternoon and were greeted by a helpful guardaparque at the entrance holding a multitude of leaflets and information (at last!!) about day walks.
The following day we headed out on the trails, on one we found two rattle snakes in the middle of the path & after trying to get them to move, we had to turn round as one refused to move and kept rattling his tail at us. On the river bank we found a jaguar print, which was bigger than I expected and not too far from our tent!
We spoke that evening to a very helpful man who owned the campsite and told us about a trip through the yungas & over the mountains to Humahuca (again), which we decided to do with an Argentine couple who were also camping the in the park.
The following day we caught a very bumpy and slow (40kms in 1.5 hours) bus up to a village called San Fransisco (home to about 300 people), which has some “thermal” pools nearby (2.5 hrs walk). We couldn´t go that day so spent the afternoon relaxing. With a guide we went to the pools the following day – they were more tepid than warm (kind of the temperature when you get out of the bath) but refreshing after a 2.5 hr walk through yunga and a lovely place to spend the day. It was all uphill on the way back though!
The nexy day we got back on the slow bus to Valle Grande, the end of the line. The Argentine couple noticed that there was a transit van heading to Valle Colorado (where we were headed), so we jumped into that. It turned out to be full of teachers and their supplies of rice, sugar & flour, who where headed up for the week. 7 hour commute on very bumpy roads…maybe the tube isn´t so bad afterall!
Tags: Argentina, Calilegua, San Fransisco, Travel, Trek
Jenni
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