Salta and Surroundings

On this occasion, guest blogger Mama Viajera writes a few posts about our adventures together during the four weeks in Argentina and Uruguay in December.

The pictures are from me.

My posts will continue with the usual delay.

Salta - Cachi - Cafayate - San Antonio de las Cobres - Tilcara, Humuacucha - Salta

Salta 'la Linda' (the beautiful) doesn't impress us right away. On the way back, we revise this rating a bit. With a rental car, we travel south towards the Andes. There are two tours around Salta, one in the north and one in the south. Although the car rental company does not recommend them because they are allegedly not very beautiful and because of bad roads, we still do them. And we find out that his concerns were more about his car. Both routes are super beautiful and spectacular, but the unpaved roads are partly precarious.

Through green valleys, we arrive at the Cardones National Park, known for its candelabra cacti. We photograph the first ones like crazy - after the huge cactus fields, we limit ourselves to the most beautiful and largest ones. On the drive through stone canyons, we admire the shapes. Simply great. And it goes on for kilometers! This vastness can never be captured with the camera. In the cozy village of Cachi, we spend the night in an old monastery and enjoy the fine local wines: the white Torrontés and the red Malbec. The approximately 80km to Cafayate also fascinate with interesting rock landscapes and occasionally donkeys or loudly screaming green parrots on the road. And 'compensate' for the unpaved bumpy tracks that make me doubt if our small car will withstand this. It has to endure much more in the following days and it manages 😊. Colors and shapes and especially the deep cut of the 'Amphitheater' also impress between Cafayate and the Embalse Cabra Coral (reservoir). We spontaneously decide to spend the night at the fine Hotel La Dique right by the lake. The pool and the view are wonderful!

The next day we go up to 4000m. We drive the beautiful route that the 'Tren a las nubes' (Train to the clouds) covers from Salta (1200m) to the Chilean border at 4300m to San Antonio de las Cobres. A viaduct is seen in all tourist photos. Marc really wants to go there, so we drive an extra 25km each way on lousy roads and see vicuñas, llamas, and donkeys. In the evening, in San Antonio de los Cobres, we have one of those llamas on the plate, in the empanadas or as a cutlet with special, unknown corn grains. The red wine that is drunk with it is probably the usual exquisite Malbec, possibly a Cabernet Sauvignon.

Another 100km on dirt roads take us to the Salinas Grandes (large salt flats). Once again, we marvel at the size. Every movement at this altitude is exhausting and I am not unhappy when we are back in the valley - in the Quebrada de Humahuaca. The 7-colored rock in Purmamarca already fascinates us. But even more so the 14-colored rock of the Serranías del Hornocal. Because the Quebrada de Humahuaca is still a real indigenous area, we buy textiles and ceramics here. I am already looking forward to next Christmas when I can set up the colorful nativity scene at home.