After we had spent New Year’s Eve alone and at a beautiful laguna near Thermas de Reyes, we drove the following day, January 1st,2018, in sunny weather towards the Bolivian border. In Purmamarca we turned off to Paso de Jama, which is situated at an altitude of 4,200 meters and forms the border with Chile. But we didn’t want to go to Chile on this New Year’s Day. In Tres Morros we turned off towards San Antonio de los Cobres. Here we continued along the Salinas Grandes, where the salt crust is over half a meter thick and therefore they still explore salt today. When we arrived in San Antonio de los Cobres, we were already at an altitude of 3,700 meters – but we should go even higher that day.

In front of us was the Abra de Acay, a pass with a height of 4,895 meters. (I christened this pass “Abra Kadabra” -Pass because the name fits so nicely!) Shortly after Cobres the Ruta 40 turned off, which led us to the highest pass in Argentina. It was a New Year’s Eve trip that we won’t forget so quickly!