The Shadow

We got completely lost in the middle of the Argentine Puna 🌋, somewhere remote in the northwest of the country, at an altitude of over 3,500 meters.

No cell service, no roads, no one around... just silence, wind, and a landscape so vast it seemed like another planet 🌍.

We walked on the salt that crunched under our boots, breathing in the icy air as the horizon turned golden. Each step reminded us of the magnitude of that white world.

The shadows lengthened, the light faded... and during those magical minutes, the cone seemed to float between the earthly and the ethereal.

That moment—the perfect combination of shadow, golden light, and endless salt—is one of those memories that the soul guards jealously.

Because there we understood why we decided to walk aimlessly, expose ourselves to the cold, and sleep under a sky full of stars: to encounter moments like this.

In addition to its beauty, this salt flat holds a silent wealth: salt, marble, iron, copper, and onyx abound in this region.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

12 Comments

So what is this structure, there's no crater so it's not volcanic Is it created in some way using salt as a natural building material? There are strange structures not unlike it in northern Canada.

My lack of Spanish aside, what does Cono de Arita mean in English? This geological formation was formed how?

Daniel, I have now discovered that Cono de Arita is possibly a failed volcano, one in which the magma pushed up but didn't reach high enough to breach the surface.
By the way those similar structures in the arctic are called Pingos. They are formed by action of the ice. Excellent photograph from you.

Thank you very much for the information, wow, excellent study!