A Puna town
Adobe and clear sky.
José Luis Fernández — CC BY 3.0 · José Luis Fernández — CC BY 3.0 · GerthMichael — CC BY-SA 3.0 · José Luis Fernández — CC BY 3.0 · Kevin Jones from Vancouver, Canada — CC BY 2.0
San Antonio de los Cobres is a town on the Puna plateau of western Salta at 3,775 metres, one of the highest towns in Argentina. Andean peoples have lived in the area for some four thousand years; the modern town grew on the route of drovers who herded cattle across the Puna to Chile, and with the railway that runs through it. Its name joins the saint invoked by muleteers with the nearby copper mountains. The town is simple adobe houses, clear skies and cold wind most of the year; winter nights can fall far below zero. It is a main stop of the Tren a las Nubes, the «Train to the Clouds», and the base for visiting the famous La Polvorilla viaduct. As a curiosity, a crater on Mars is named after it. Wandering is free. Mind the altitude: walk slowly and drink water. It is visited on day trips from Salta through the Quebrada del Toro, or with the train.
Adobe and clear sky.
Nearby.
Named after it.
Puna plateau, about 164 km northwest of Salta, on National Route 51
It can at 3,775 m: walk slowly, drink water and avoid exertion in the first hours.