Have you ever specifically added something to your travel itinerary only to arrive there and find out that for some reason you can’t do it? Travel disappointment is real and I experienced just that in Humahuaca in northern Argentina.
We were travelling south from Uyuni in Bolivia to Salta in Argentina as part of a loop incorporating Chile’s Atacama Desert and Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni. Humahuaca is about halfway between the Argentinian border and Salta. It is famous for its striped mountains, a real feat of nature, which I was keen to see.
The mountain viewpoint is about 25 kilometres outside Humahuaca. To access it, you have to take a 4×4 tour which you can do from the town square. We arrived in Humahuaca by bus and the first thing we saw was a crowd of hawkers advertising the tour. So far, so good.
We just needed to get hold of some cash. In Argentina, it’s common for many purchases to be required in cash, especially in smaller towns like Humahuaca. We had very little Argentinian currency with us, having been in Chile and Bolivia for a couple of weeks. This proved to be our Achilles heel.
We set out to Humahuaca’s Western Unions to obtain some cash. Cashpoints are a last resort. They charge an extortionate fee and the amount you can withdraw is very limited. Western Union is the best option. However, one of the Western Unions had run out of cash and the other was simply closed. We decided to try again the next day.
The next morning there was a town-wide power cut. This meant that the Western Unions could not process cash withdrawals, and cashpoints were unable to operate. The town’s money-exchange bureaus could not exchange our Bolivian or Chilean money, and they would not exchange US dollars unless we had at least US$100 (which we did not), or unless we paid a charge of 40% of the amount we wanted to exchange (which we thought not worth it).
We spent most of the day on a wild goose chase trying to get cash, to no avail. By the time the power was restored, and we had a chance to obtain cash, we had run out of time to go on a tour of the mountains.
All in all, our stop in Humahuaca was broadly unsuccessful due to reasons outside our control. It was frustrating to be so far from home yet unable to do the one thing we had stopped there for.
Fortunately, much of Argentina’s Jujuy region, where Humahuaca is located, is covered with jagged, striped mountains, so we did get a flavour of what the famed Humahuaca mountains might be like, even if we did not get to see them from the specific viewpoint.
Travel does not always go your way, but you can’t let travel disappointment affect the rest of your trip. There’s a whole world out there to explore, so it’s best to swallow the experience and move on to the next item on your bucket list.