August 13: IRUYA

One of the things we were recommended to visit in Humahuaca area was Iruya lost-in-translation village. The rotten old bus did not look very convincing but somehow the journey already sounded promising. The first 30 min were a little disapointing and boring, the seats were unconfortable and the vehicle seemed heavy but as soon as the bus shifted to the right out of the main road in the heart of the mountain dizzy "pistas", the displeasing trip turned absolutely awful and... so exciting!! A three hour drive on rocks, sand and bushes. The bus wriggled all over in a terrible continuous sound, honking to the venerable elderly cliffs, dropping off one or two people from time to time in the middle of nowhere and shaking all the excursion long. The view was stunning and absolutely intimidating while the bus looked way too small and clueless. Glancing at the horizon full of neverending mountains, we could not believe a village could stand there so isolated at the end of the world. Still, Iruya suddenly showed up at 2780m height: it really exists!! When we got out of the bus, we were dusty, dirty and shivering for a few minutes. In the village, we could enjoy the amazing silence, upside down roads and the particular atmosphere which reigned in the region. We had to reach Humahuaca the same evening, no need to say the way back was exhausting!