Northwestern Argentina--Salta and Cafayate

Rock formations outside Cafayate

We started our day with a flat tire—probably no surprise given the rocky road we traversed yesterday.  Cafayate has no Hertz office, no gas station that fixes tires and no tire store.  So, I called our travel agent who called Hertz who called someone in Cafayate who said he could help us get a new tire for our 160 mile drive to Salta.  When we pulled up to the repair shop, the guy Hertz called was waiting for us, so I called our travel agent, who talked to him in Spanish and off he went to get the replacement tire.  Two hours after we first attempted to leave, we were on the road to Salta, feeling much happier with 2 tires that held air.

red rocks near Cafayate

Cafayate is a small town, center of one of Argentina’s major wine regions.  It is a bit nondescript, but does have a wine museum and a pretty plaza lined with restaurants and a few shops. 

jumbled rocks and colors

The real lure of Cafayate is not just the fine wineries here and the beautiful wine hotel where we stayed last night, but also the spectacular drive between Cafayate and Salta.  I know I’ve used that word a lot in this part of the Andes, but it’s accurate, as the mountains and formations you drive through all over this region are truly stunning in their shapes, geology, massiveness and colors. 

This drive equals the others in making you marvel at what the earth has done to itself.  We drove through huge canyons and deep gorges, stopping to photograph the scenery.  When we bring a group here, we will try to get a naturalist/geologist to come with us to explain the breathtaking world we’ll drive through.

Patios del Cafayate, lovely wine hotel

Once back in Salta, we found our way through the traffic and potholes to the beautiful central plaza, but didn’t have time to do any sightseeing as we were already late, and couldn’t find a place to park anyway.  It was 2:30 and we were hungry, so when we did finally find a parking place, we were on the lookout for a café.  A woman beckoned us into her courtyard.  Inside, she had turned her small home into a restaurant with 5 tables in the former living room/kitchen and 1 table in the former interior courtyard, now the kitchen.

uplifted red rocks

They made space for us and brought us delicious empanadas.  We wanted water, so one of the boys serving patrons (probably a son) went off to the nearest store and bought a large bottle for us.

Of course, we needed the bano after a long drive.  The lady took us into the rest of her house, where her family lives, to use their bathroom.  But, first, she had to protect us from a very large and very old dog who only liked her and growled quietly all the time we were there.  The bathroom sink didn’t work, but everything else did, so we were happy even if we disturbed the dog’s rest.

House of Jasmine, our estancia hotel in Salta

Now we’re at the Salta airport waiting for our very delayed flight to Buenos Aires.  Of course, Aerolineas said the flight was on time until just about departure time, when they announced it would be 2 hours late.  Right now, the time we were supposed to leave, they’re boarding their earlier flight to BA, also 2 hours late.  Being on time is not a priority for Aerolineas, as we’ve found when we’ve flown them in the past.  It’s why I’ve decided never to trust a same-day connection to our flight home, even with 10 or 12 hours to do so.  We’ve had too many close calls and today we would have missed our flight home.  So, when we eventually get to Buenos Aires, we’ll spend what’s left of the night and leave tomorrow night for home.  We're excited to be staying once again at our favorite hotel in Buenos Aires, the Hub Porteno, a very small, beautiful hotel, with huge suite rooms on a quiet street in the Recoleta district.  We recommend it to everyone.

valley on the way to Salta

Salta and its stunning province

21000 foot peaks above Cachi

Salta has been one of the places in Argentina we've always wanted to visit.  We drove to a lovely hacienda just outside Salta from Purmamarca and, after a long day, luxuriated in its peaceful grounds looking up to the towering mountains beyond.  On a walk around the hacienda, we saw many small owls, buhos, which are ground dwellers.  They are beautiful little creatures.

buho

Tomorrow, we'll visit the city of Salta before flying to Buenos Aires for one night and then returning home.  What a great trip this has been.  I'm sure we will be offering a variation of it to our fellow travelers soon.

horses near Cachi

Yesterday, we drove to Cachi, a mountain town about 3 hours from Salta.  To get there, we drove up the Calchaqui Valley, and across the Lerma Valley, up and up and up a graveled road, rimmed by steep mountainsides and cliffs, around hairpin turns for miles and miles until we topped out about 11,500 feet and entered the Argentine altiplano, ringed by snow-capped peaks, many over 20,000 feet.  Late in the day, we reached Cachi and flopped into our hotel room in an old estancia in the most gorgeous setting, ready for some rest and good wine.
Cachi, like all the Andean villages we've visited and driven through on this trip, is an Indian town, rich in the culture of the Andes.  Tourists make day trips to Cachi from Salta, which would be a long day since you have to go both ways over this difficult road.  So, the town begins to move about 11:30 in the morning when the first tourist vans start to arrive.  It is very pretty and incredibly clean.  We wandered around before the tourists arrived and saw people sweeping the streets and shopkeepers and restaurant owners setting up for the visitors who have made their town quite prosperous.
In the area around Cachi, most of the homes used to be adobe.  Now, new homes of concrete or concrete block are being built, replacing the old adobe homes, which are given over to the animals.  Adobe walls line the dirt roads, but many are melting with each heavy rainfall, replaced by fence posts and wire.

old adobe house now used for animals

The area around Salta is big horse country.  Horses graze in the green grass next to every road, safely staked away from the traffic, and fill the fields around the houses.  Argentinians love polo and the horses reflect the importance of good breeding and good care to this sport.

new concrete house and fancy wall next to old adobe

Today, we left Cachi and drove down Highway 40, through the most amazing scenery.  The highway, itself, the major artery between Cachi and Cafayate, one of Argentina's wine regions, is butt-busting, bone-jarring, washboarded gravel for 140 kilometers of the 170 kilometers between Cachi and Cafayate.  It took us nearly 4 hours to negotiate the steep climbs, many washes and twisting turns, not getting out of third gear until the very end of the journey.
There are several wineries along the route, which is really surprising since hauling your wine to market must be a costly and jarring experience.  We drove for almost 3 hours before we found a small town that had a restaurant.  Otherwise, until the last 40 kilometers, there was nothing but a few adobe houses, 2 closed wineries, almost no cars, and lots of dust.  And, the most spectacular scenery.

uplifted rocks between Cachi and Cafayate

Rocks of pink, red, tan and gray hues have been thrust up in huge plates, standing almost straight.  They are bent and twisted into amazing shapes, thrusting themselves high up into the blue, blue sky.  The mountains rise above this fantastic array of giant shapes for mile after mile as the road winds up and over and through the rocks and ridges and dry river beds.  I would have taken many photos, but that would have added hours to our day and, besides, I had to focus on driving on this difficult and wondrous road cum highway.

red rock mountains along highway 40

Leaving the village where we had lunch, we picked up a young girl who was hitchhiking home, perhaps after school or work.  But, home was 35 kilometers up the road, so I hope she didn't have to do this twice every day.  Our Spanish isn't good enough for much communication and she spoke no English, but we were able to get her home nonetheless.  She tolerated my stops to take photos.
Tonight, we're staying at a beautiful wine estate in Cafayate before heading to Salta tomorrow.

wash and rocks along highway 40