Via Cuesto del Obispo to Cafayate
Trip Start
Dec 29, 2007
1
20
42
Trip End
Ongoing
Cafayate,
Argentina
Thursday, March 6, 2008
The road following on was actually in construction so we had mounds of gravel & fines surrounding us which with all the dust made it easy to spot an oncoming car. As the road converged with the existing national route we entered Parque Nacional los Cardones (cactus park) which contains huge cacti that even dwarfed me
DV top
. On both sides lay huge colourful mountains but more arid than up north. While cruising along you come to Rectal Tin Tin which is 11Km of totally straight road & you think to yourself Cork-Dublin in 2 hours... as if.Although you can see Cachi 20 mins before arriving, the road takes a more scenic view. The town has the same style of construction as that seen north of Salta but is not as reliant on tourism. Its periphery is a mix of the industrial & agricultural & again is bordered by those tall & slender trees to shade from wind. It's tiny but not all the houses are concentrated in the one area. After stopping for chivito (goat) we had a wander under the stone splitting heat. The stonework is impressive in the central plaza & you can spend some time in the museum but other than that ...it wasn't a particularly memorable place so I wasn't too disappointed when I moved further south.
Combining the food & heat, drowsiness set in but as we took a back 'road' out of Cachi that was all to change (after I smacked my head off the passenger window a good 10 times). The route was dire & we saw nothing but mud, gravel & rocks as we climbed unguarded mounds for what seemed like an eternity barring the odd traffic jam of goats. The town of Los Molinos in the middle of nowhere was the 1st habitated area we came across after about an hour of travelling
D centre of rectal tin tin
. We stopped at a gas station that was closed & didn't see another person through a 6 block square which with the heat wasn't too surprising. The only thing worthy of note was the church constructed in 1659 containing lots of gold & silver which became a running theme for the day. We continued on passing the tiniest hardly noticable little spots with nothing more than a shack every 10 km yet you pass a signpost beforehand indicating you have entered a village & no matter the quantity of homes we saw, there would always be a really picturesque little whitewashed church in view. I mean I'm no Padre Pio nor satanist but these people have got a serious infatuation with religion & if they don't get a 5* stay after passing through St Peters gates the rest of us might as well be content with a Lidel cardboard box. We could see the scenery in the distance becoming more Cliffhanger like growing in size. This continued until we diverged to Angastaco as the petrol level had almost flatlined. This little village reminded me of a typical tiny Irish village only with sand in place of tar on the road.
After a brief spurt of driving we found ourselves in this amazing rock formation called Quebrada de las flechas (Ravine of Arrows) which was possibly the most impressive thing I was to see in the time away from BA. The size & shapes of the rocks are phenomenal & they stretch all around you providing the most sensational landscape, visible from a bird's eye view after climbing to the summit of a peak. I had recently read 'Miracle in the Andes' by Nando Parrado one of the survivors of the tragic plane crash in the Andes (the one where they ate each other) & it inspired me to see the Cordillera (the range of rocks which reach high into the clouds & basically mean certain death if stranded there which they were)
V Cachi arches
. He described how hopeless their escape to freedom from inside seemed & I couldn't help but wonder how the f**k they made it over one peak in snow & ice. What's more, where I was standing which was only a fraction of the height they encountered. Continuing through the park, we crossed rivers before eventually finding a proper road. The tour vehicles used by the companies must spend half their working life with the mechanic & the guides don't exactly drive like Miss Daisy. Upon hitting tar macadam the Km to Cafayate started to plummet swiftly & our scenery became very green. We had crops of all kinds growing around us before the mountain of vineyards came into view. Not wishing to be too far from the old process engineering we stopped in at one, la Bodega Vasija Secreta. We got a tour of the museum & the process but more importantly got to taste the produce. Upon parting ways with the guide we had the evening free to take in fly infested Cafayate, which was like any other town we had come across at this stage but bigger. The church was pretty when illuminated at night, all shops were filled local produce of wines/jams & goat seemed to be on the menu in each restaurant. Mariano joined us for dinner at a fly infested restaurant after travelling from Salta earlier. I don't know why there were so plentiful there but the place was infested with flies if you haven't gathered.
After being collected we set about seeing a couple more vineyards adding a few purchases as we went long (it would be rude not to) & a goats cheese production farm where we got the whole in depth procedure & how the bucks only have 4 years of sewing their seeds per se; all very interesting so much so that we stopped to eat one, yummy. Afterwards we started the long, arduous drive back to Salta which provided beautiful scenery yet again & 2 spots worthy of mention; Garganta del Diablo & El Anfiteatro. The former is a big crack in the rock formation which is amazing given its sheer size & the latter is similar except that it's more rounded & there was a folk group playing inside there. Also it has less graffiti & brilliant acoustics. A few hours later we rolled into a damp Salta, picked up a few souvenirs & raced to the bus station for our overnighter destined for La Rioja.
