Salta & region

After a couple days in Mendoza resting (and eating ice cream!), I headed north to Salta (another night bus, this time with full service, hot food, blankets and even Bingo!!). The Hispanic architecture stands out in Salta, with its huge main plaza, narrow streets, colonial houses and statues. The center is quite pleasant with cafes and car-free streets, although a little run-down and dirty compared to Mendoza...which gives it a more authentic feel actually! Around Salta are some of the most fertile grounds (tobacco, soja, fruit, vineyards) at the bottom of the pre-Andes mountains- by the way the town is at 1,200m above sea level, which makes it pleasantly warm and dry in the summer. There is a rainy season in Jan-Feb, but so far it´s only been raining at night...and the heaviest rain was last month...big flooding problems.

Although I did experience some flooding on the first day of my expedition to Cachi and Cafayate (to the west and south). It rained all night so in the am, as we left the city, roads were flooded & traffic a total nightmare, while mud slides and rocks blocked the way over the mountains. Nothing unusual for the driver...just need a little patience...and a few spare tires (we had to change one each day). The drive is quite spectacular through valleys and cactus fields to canyons and rock formations that reminded me of Arizona a little. Cachi is a tiny little town (5,000 hab) surrounded by snow-covered mountains with adobe homes painted white. You feel like you step back in time when crossing the plaza and walking towards the church, a classified monument BTW. The people here use a lot of cactus wood for construction (church roof) and decoration (frames, boxes, altar, etc). Cactus are protected so you can only use its wood if the cactus died of natural causes. From Cachi, we drove through more valleys and canyons on this curvy dirt road to Cafayate (12,000 hab), another Spanish-architecture influenced white adobe town, yet more lively and popular...one for its touristic attractions (trekking, etc) and two, for its wine. Cafayate is indeed the center of production for Torrentes wine, a white wine, fruity to the nose, but dry when you drink it...perfect for a hot summer day. On day 2, we toured a few bodegas and then made our way back to Salta through more canyons and desert-like landscapes. I can´t even describe it all in words...as canyons and valleys sound so plain...the pictures will tell all...well, not really, as you only get a taste of it...being there though at the feet of all this beauty was simply magical and impressive...and like i´ve said before ´it makes you feel like an ant on earth´.

Back to Salta and then off to another 2 day expedition to the North to the altiplano parks. On day 1, we stopped by a salar (salt lake), similar to the one I saw in Bolivia, but smaller... still amuzing to take those funny perspective pics. We drove over mountains crossing over 4,700m (a little altitude sickness...dizzy and sleepy mostly) and through gorges and rocky rivers. The region used to be a crossroad for economic and social communication for the Andean populations. Later it also was a caravan road for the Incas. You can actually visit ruins of Inca settlements. The main attraction in the region though is The Quebrada de Humahuaca, a ravine of spectacular colors....a true geology lesson...it´s as if someone took a brush and went from left to right painting these colorful waves on the mountain...green, red, purple, pink, orange, yellow. Not sure if the colors will come out on the pics...I bought postcards just in case....they looked photoshoped but I did see it all with my own eyes! That night we stopped in a local village, mud bricks & co, which reminded me of Northern Chile (Andean kids in dirty jogging pants with runny nose, begging as soon as you step out the car) except the town is more in touch with tourism...more infrastructures and artisanal stores everywhere.

It´s actually mind boggling to think these kids live in poverty just 2 hrs hour away from a big city with asphalt, internet, stores & co. I guess you can say it´s the same in NYC... go from Wall Street where people blow $200 on dinner without blinking an eye and take the C train to Queens where some people live 10 to a 2 BR apartment with barely any heat in the winter and fast food left overs in their fridge. But the difference here is you feel you are stepping back in time....almost 100yrs backwards. On my tour, I had visitors from Buenos Aires...such a contrast! The people living in BA are like Europeans (in looks, culture, modernization, etc). For most, it´s their 1st time visiting Northern Argentina... so like us they take pictures of the llamas, the gauchos, the adobe houses... they don´t relate at all to the Andean culture, if anything they look down upon it.

On day 2, we drove back to Salta through more ravines and valleys. A long day, but full of incredible landscapes.

Foodwise (always an important part of the visits!), goat cheese is popular here...not the soft smelly kind like in France...it´s more like a mountain cheese. People eat it along with cajote, some fruit I have yet to figure out what it looks like. Empanadas are a must-try here... you buy them by the dozen...much smaller than the Chilean versions (and from the ones in BA apparently). Finally, goat meat...cazuelo de cabrata...pretty tasty.

That´s it for now...some resting...before I head back to Cafayate. Finally slept 12hrs last night!!! The black around my eyes is receding!