We walked out of our hostel and there was a dust covered piece of junk metal. I pointed at it and asked if that was our ride and Nico nodded his head. All I could do was start to laugh. Go figure we would sign up for a two day tour of driving in the backcountry of Argentina and we would end up in a metal death trap. Luckily, a much more respectable car pulled around the corner and our guide waved us over. He was an odd and interesting fellow. He is now a retired police officer/ history teacher. At first I thought the history teacher past was going to make the tour, but he shared very little history. For long stretches of time the two of them would ramble in Spanish and I had no idea what was being said. I assumed the guide was telling Nico something of value. Later on Nico said he was doing me a favor by not translating because the guide spent about a half an hour talking about his ‘kids’ aka his cats. Apparently they are brothers and look very similar. They are very intelligent… blah blah blah. Keep in mind he does have human children aged 22, 24, and 26. He didn’t dedicate half an hour talking about them though. He also told Nico about his 21 year old girlfriend. You do the math. His oldest child is 26. Yep…
On the way to Cachi we drove through the Valles Calchaquies across the Cuesta del Obispo and through the Parque Nacional Los Cardones. The park is named after the cactuses (Cardon) that cover the earth as far as the eye can see. The drive was beautiful and we passed some of the most interesting soccer fields I have ever seen. Cachi itself didn’t feel like a destination worth going out of your way for. The main plaza was very nice, but Cafayate really was the crown jewel of the trip in my opinion. After stopping for lunch in Cachi we hit the road making stops in Seclantas, Molinos, and Angastaco. All the towns were incredibly small, yet all impressively seemed to have a Macro Bank oddly enough.
We stayed in a wonderful hostel called, Casa Arbol. I wish we could have spent two nights in Cafayate instead of one. The town is famous for its white wine (Torrentes), so we went to two wineries and walked around the town. The main plaza is very quant and the church is beautiful. We split a whole chivito (a small animal prevalent in the region) and loaded up in the car and headed out. On our way back to Salta from Cafayate we passed many nice natural formations such as the Devil’s Throat (yep another one) and a famous natural amphitheater. Driving through the Quebrada de Cafayate felt like I was in Arizona. The landscape has the same red tint to it and very similar rock formations.
It was a successful trip. The guide was less than desirable, but we tried almost all of the traditional dishes of the region and got some awesome photos. Next stop the province of Jujuy!
On the way to Cachi we drove through the Valles Calchaquies across the Cuesta del Obispo and through the Parque Nacional Los Cardones. The park is named after the cactuses (Cardon) that cover the earth as far as the eye can see. The drive was beautiful and we passed some of the most interesting soccer fields I have ever seen. Cachi itself didn’t feel like a destination worth going out of your way for. The main plaza was very nice, but Cafayate really was the crown jewel of the trip in my opinion. After stopping for lunch in Cachi we hit the road making stops in Seclantas, Molinos, and Angastaco. All the towns were incredibly small, yet all impressively seemed to have a Macro Bank oddly enough.
We stayed in a wonderful hostel called, Casa Arbol. I wish we could have spent two nights in Cafayate instead of one. The town is famous for its white wine (Torrentes), so we went to two wineries and walked around the town. The main plaza is very quant and the church is beautiful. We split a whole chivito (a small animal prevalent in the region) and loaded up in the car and headed out. On our way back to Salta from Cafayate we passed many nice natural formations such as the Devil’s Throat (yep another one) and a famous natural amphitheater. Driving through the Quebrada de Cafayate felt like I was in Arizona. The landscape has the same red tint to it and very similar rock formations.
It was a successful trip. The guide was less than desirable, but we tried almost all of the traditional dishes of the region and got some awesome photos. Next stop the province of Jujuy!
