Susques

Susques sits at around 3,600 metres on the high road that runs from Jujuy across the puna to the Paso de Jama and Chile, and it is the last real settlement before the border. Its church, Nuestra Señora de Belén, is one of the oldest in Argentina, founded around 1598, and it has kept the form that most colonial churches lost: walls of thick adobe, a roof thatched with puna grass, a ceiling of cardon cactus wood tied with leather, and interior walls painted with simple flowering vines and figures by local hands. The effect is far removed from the gilded baroque of the valley churches, quieter and more clearly Andean. The village around it is a scattering of low houses and a few places to eat, a natural break on a long, high crossing.

What you actually see

• The thatched church - late sixteenth-century adobe with a puna grass roof.
• The cactus-wood ceiling - beams of cardon lashed with leather in the nave.
• The painted walls - simple local decoration in place of gilded altarpieces.
• The high crossing - the puna road running on toward the Chilean border.

When to go

April to November for the most settled weather on the crossing; winter can bring snow and brief closures at the pass. The church opens irregularly, often around midday. Most people arrive as part of the drive between Purmamarca and Chile.

Honest expectations

Susques is a road stop, not a destination, with basic food and fuel and little charm beyond the church, which is frequently closed. The altitude is high enough that many travellers feel it. Winds are strong and dust is constant.

Nearby

Salinas Grandes lies east on the same road; the Paso de Jama and Chile are west.