Tolar Grande

Tolar Grande was a station on the line to Chile and is now a village of a few hundred people, cared for by its own community, at three and a half thousand metres. Around it lies some of the strangest country in Argentina: the Salar de Arizaro, one of the largest salt flats in the Andes, with the black pyramid of the Cono de Arita rising from it; the Desierto del Diablo, a maze of red and grey clay; and the ojos de mar, pools of startling blue in the salt. On the Chilean border stands the Llullaillaco, six thousand seven hundred metres high, where the Inca left the highest sanctuary of their empire.

It takes a long day or two from Salta by 4x4, through San Antonio de los Cobres, and at least two nights here, in community lodgings, to see the salar and the desert. Expeditions to the Llullaillaco base camp leave from the village with local guides.

April to November is the season. The nights are very cold all year, and summer storms can close the tracks.