About 15 miles west of Purmamarca the road really starts to get steep and curvy.

A better shot of the steep and curvy.

Again.

The first of several times that I thought the road reached a peak; 13,772 feet here.

GPS reading was from this spot. They frequently mark high spots on the road with signs like this so I thought it was all downhill from there...

Ceiling of the world? This "high point" was about 3 miles beyond the last curvy road picture.

Another mile or so down the road it really does go downhill, you can see one of the salt flats in the background.

Salinas Grandes, from the previous picture, up close and salty.

My cold room at Susques, last stop before crossing into Chile.

Town signature.

Goat and garbage.

Cool looking church across the street from my hotel.

Church gate.

This old guy was randomly ringing the church bells like he was part of a large orchestra, but only he could hear the rest of the music.

Back of the church.

In case you're lost, this is on the side of the police station.

This was typical; it seems like many people in this town were just standing by the side of the road waiting for someone.

Busy home.

A better look what most of these buildings are made of - they usually use actual stones for the foundation, and mud brick for the rest of the wall.

Just like most of these high-land towns their cemeteries are prominently displayed, this one near the middle of town.

It's hard to tell how long this truck has been here.

Last picture in Argentina. I took it with a sense of relief, knowing that the road wouldn't actually take me through those snowy hills, right?!?!?!

Right after leaving Argentina. Those buildings way below are Paseo de Jama, entering Chile is another 70 miles down (and up) the road.

A boring picture of what I thought the rest of the Andes crossing would be like.

I had to get a picture of this snow because I thought it would be the only snow on my big Andes crossing.

Altitude of first snow. It won't get much higher than this, right?!?!

This would have been a better picture if I would have walked to the edge of the salty lake but my weak ankle and the altitude told me this was fine.

Same spot as previous picture, looking into the sun.

Now I'm part of the snowy pass scenery I hoped to avoid.

It just kept getting colder and colder and colder...

Altitude at the two previous pictures.

Whoever made this had to have been driving a car or truck, where they could warm up.

Snowman closeup.

Snowman altitude. Shortly after the snowman the pass reached a height of over 15,800 feet but I couldn't stop for a picture at that spot.

This is shortly before the descent, from 15,300 feet down to exactly 8,000 feet above sea level in about 25 miles.

At the bottom looking back at the coldest and highest part of this trip. I was really glad that the road was great and it was only about 170 mile day.

Another shot from San Pedro de Atacama, looking back at the cold, after a hot shower and soup.