La Merced del Alto Cachi

... les montagnes...
je pose mon baluchon ds une sympa hospedaje tenue par une famile tres ymp, je me fais une petite sieste et je pars arpenter lesd environs , il y a de quoi fre en balade...
biensur jy vais en sandales entre la poussiere, les pierres coupantes et les qq cactus >( un peu plus petits que ceux du parc national a lentree de cactus ms tt aussi piquants et bien plus malins car ils st trvent ras le sol), je galere un peu ...

We packed up the bikes and left the hostel in Tucuman, heading out of town and back onto the route 9, the national highway towards Buenos Aires. This road is real well made but there isn't much to write about - the road goes through huge industrial farm after huge industrial farm - just enormous corporate farms bigger than those you see in the US but without the remnants of much former family farms - no old farmhouses ...

... The people here still use the irrigation channels built by the Inca. Generally they take water from the snow-fed river higher up the valley, then wind around the sides of the valley to irrigate the land below. Some of the channels run through the town.

We ate dinner at a local restaurant which oddly played 90s dance hits. Most of the music on the radio in this part of the world has a Latin beat with an Argentinian touch e.g. a ...

... Jessica, la Sandra i nosaltres dues cap a Cachi. La carretera, aquesta vegada sera el 70% asfaltada, per tant és més ràpid. Atravessarem el "Parque Nacional Los Cardones" -que són uns cactus gegantins-. Arribant a més de 4170msnm. Molt interessant. Atravessarem els núvols! Al fer-se fosc anem super a poc a poc. Trobarem un B&B finalment molt xulo al poblet de Cachi. Res de sopar avui! Dormirem poc.

... much moreso than the food or the service anyway. The ceiling was cactus wood, there were Andean textiles for tablecloths, lots of personal touches like photos of the owner hiking in the desert, and I was quite taken with a sideboard beside our table made entirely out of cactus wood .... I even took a photo of it. Love cactus wood, but a bit impractical as a souvenir, not going to lug it around the continent for five months ....

... called Parque Nacional Los Cardones is full of the giant Cardon cactus and we stop to take many photographs along the way. These massive cacti go on for miles and as they spill down the mountainside they look like soldiers on the march. How these huge plants - some are over 5m high - can cling and grow to nothing but rock is amazing. In places they seem perched on top of an eroded mountain, holding the surface of the mountain in place. Apparently they grow at a rate of ...

... que un reventón no le vienen mal a nadie y tuvimos que cambiar la rueda del coche bajo la atenta mirada de los indígenas locales y un par de llamas. La Quebrada de las Conchas es muy bonita, aunque no tan impresionante como los parajes que ya hemos visitado. Llegamos a pasar la noche en Salta después de atravesar La cuesta del Obispo y de sobrevivir las carreteras y conductores locales. Mañana estaremos de camino a San Pedro de Atacama, Chile.

... of the oldest known dinosaur remains in the World. Rough Guide recommends visiting in the afternoon as it says the colour of the sunset on the rocks is impressive. So we requested that through the tour company, which descended upon us at the bus station like a bunch of locusts, and we got it. It´s well worth the visit, lots of very strange rock formations, a geologist´s dream (Book your flight ...

... have died away and only glowing embers slowly cook the meat. The only spices they use are salt and lemon. No fancy marinades or sauces, their simply style is the best. Argentines will NEVER cook over charcoal. And they will use gas grills only at night when they are sure their neighbors and friends can't see since they're such an abomination!

... dense coverage from blooming "Santa Rita" trees of which there are apparently four types and which cover the overhead iron trellis canopies that blanket the malls. The other tree of choice is what I believe to be sycamores but which the flower vendor described as "jacaramda". He also said the best shade tree is the "mora ibirda". In any case the overall effect is magic and one of the nicest places to stand and watch the scene is where two pedestrian ...