OK this honeymoon is just going from strength to strength. As I mentioned, after Ushuaia we had a full day in BA with nothing to do but drink beer, eat and plan our next adventure. Here is what we came up with! A road trip.
You see, we flew from Ushuaia to Mendoza (with mammoth stopover in BA) and had plans of using our days in Mendoza to relax, drink lots of good local wine and recuperate from the madness of Amsterdam and all the trekking in Tierra del Fuego and Patagonia. But after the R&R we knew we would want some adventure!
And so was born our mammoth road trip. Here was the plan itinerary … get ready, its long … Start in Mendoza with R&R then collect rental car to drive to – San Luis – Cordoba – Tafi del Valle – Cafayate – Cachi – Salta – Purmamarca – Tilcara – Huacalera – Humahuaca – Salta (for more R&R).
We were excited!! Well, when we made the plan we were still exhausted so we didn’t really get excited until we had a day of doing nothing in Mendoza to relax. But then we really were excited!!
Day 1 – 3: Just chillin’ in Mendoza
And so we begin – Mendoza! It is talked up a lot. We were worn out from tourist central in the southern parts of the country and (having paid AUD 40 for a horrible sandwich) we were tired of feeling like we were getting ripped off all time. So we decided to rent an apartment in the city rather than a hotel and we were so glad we did!
We were super central and able to head out whenever we wanted but we could also do some groceries and make stuff at home. It was so relaxed!
The first day we did literally nothing. We wandered the city (which is super pretty btw and full of amazing little squares which are packed full of people in the evenings … loving the community spirit!), we slept (a lot), we ate (also a lot) and that just about summarizes it. Oh and we did make a couple of plans for the following days.
Feeling sufficiently rested we awoke the following morning all set for our first Mendoza activity – A bike tour of the wineries!! We could have done a bus tour but we decided to (a) save some moula and (b) get some exercise. We should’ve done the bus tour. You see, we decided to visit wineries in Maipu because it is the closest region. It is also the least pretty region. We had envisioned a tour similar to Napa or Stellenbosch or Margaret River. Maipu is not like any of these places. We were dropped off at Orange Bikes (appropriate for the Dutchman!) where we were greeted like old family friends and made to feel right at home. Still we were not feeling too hopeful about the surrounding region having gotten a none-to-impressive glimpse of it on the way in.
To add insult to injury, my bike was broken meaning my work out was significantly more challenging than Joep’s. Yikes. Still we persevered and by the time we reached the first winery (yes, only the first), I was DYING for a drink! Thankfully the winery was gorgeous! Tempus Alba … great wines, great scenery and great service. We sat there for way longer than anticipated. And not only because we were exhausted and dreading getting back on our bikes, we also loved the wine!!
Feeling a little tipsy we hopped back on our bikes to face the traffic of the wine region which consisted of huge trucks speeding past (I’m not joking) to head to the next winery. We also decided that this would be the last winery. It took a long time to get between wineries and by this stage it was early afternoon. It was a good decision.
The next (and last winery) we visited was Di Tommasso. It is a family owned and run winery and it is beautiful. So beautiful that we did the tour of the winery before sampling the wines (keep in mind how thirsty we were, this is a big deal!). The wine was delicious and we decided to enjoy a nice big, long lunch there as well. Our spirits were significantly higher after this!!
We even worked up the energy to make 1 more stop before heading back – The Beer Garden! Why not right? It was like 35 degrees, perfect beer weather!! The day ended on a high at the beer garden before we cycled back to the bike hire shop completely exhausted. It wasn’t the worst day ever however, if you are in Mendoza and doing a wine tour, pay the extra and do a driven tour … and perhaps go out to Lujan de Cuyo. It is apparently way prettier.
That evening, after showering and freshening up and eating a bite at home we managed to work up the energy to wander around the city soaking up the night time atmosphere on the plaza’s again. Heavenly.
The following day we had another tour arranged. There are a few things around Mendoza that are ‘must see’ and so we hopped into a small tour bus and set off for a days excursion.
It was a loooong day but allowed us to take in the ‘must sees’ of the surrouding area as per the Lonely Planet … and so off we trekked around Uspallata town (not too exciting). We say Los Penitentes a ski town that is also highly popular in summer for the rock climbing. On a related note, we also got to see Cemeterio Andinista which is a little cemetery set up for climbers who have died while climbing the local mountains. It was kind of depressing.
The 2 highlights of day were Cristo Redentor and Puento del Inca. The first we saw just before lunch. It is at 4,000m in altitude (which our tour guide thought would impress us until we told him we hiked the Inca Trail in Peru last year) and is a giant statue signifying peace between Argentina and Chile. It sits right on the border between the 2 countries meaning we could stand in Chile for a few moments.
And at that altitude, boy was it ‘chilly’ hahaha guess how many times we made that joke? OK too many. Yet we still find it funny.
It was pretty impressive even moreso when the horseback riders arrived singing local songs and waving their flags. Still we were happy to head back down the mountain again.
After lunch at a local restaurant (pretty much the only restaurant in the area … thankfully the food was edible) we headed to Puento del Inca. It’s a natural bridge that was used by the Inca’s as part of their trail. Interestingly, I learned something new about the Inca’s on this trip … their trails can be seen very clearly from the mountains because when they began walking them back in the day, they used to scatter salt to kill the fauna on the path. As a result, the paths are still visible! Hmpf! Those Inca’s were pretty clever!
The bridge itself was very cool. It is made up of natural rock but noone really knows how it was formed. Underneath it flows a natural sulfur spring. The chemicals in the water have dyed the rocks all different shades of orange so it is pretty visually stimulating.
You can no longer walk on the bridge because it is too unstable. In fact, you can clearly see the remnants of an old luxury hotel and spa built into the rock. A few years ago, a giant rock fell from the top of the mountain and landed on the hotel killing 3 tourists. Yikes. Naturally they then closed the hotel and subsequently closed off the area to preserve the bridge.
Puento del Inca was our last stop and we then faced the cruelling 2 hour drive back to Mendoza. Like I said, it was a looooong day.
Thankfully it wasn’t too exhausting because we just sat in a bus most of the time so upon arrival back in Mendoza we got dressed and headed out for a lovely meal in the town. La Florentine had been recommended to us. As was so often the case on this vacation, our wish to eat at 8pm was thwarted by the fact that the restaurant was entirely empty at 8pm. We managed to hold off until 8:30pm and by that stage we didn’t care that we were the first people to sit down at the restaurant. We were starving!
The restaurant came so highly recommended to us so we had high expectations. They were not met. We were beginning to realize that an ‘amazing restaurant’ in Argentina means simply that they serve the largest hunks of meat. You would think 2 carnivores like Joep & I would love that right? Normally you would be right in assuming that. However, we were spoilt by non-stop fine dining in South Africa and we have higher expectations now. And so, having devoured some beef and potatoes (my dad’s dream meal) as well as a lovely bottle of wine (the meals redeeming factor) we headed off to wander around Plaza Independencia admiring all the local families and friends out for a regular summers evening on the plaza. Man the sense of community in these local cities is great! Mendoza was our first taste of this plaza lifestyle and we were hanging out to see more of it!
Day 4 – Mendoza to San Luis to Cordoba
The following morning we happily packed up and collected our rental car. Whilst Mendoza was a nice stop for a few days, we were most excited about our road trip north!! We were right to be excited about this. You will see why.
Getting out of Mendoza proved quite simple. The cities are almost always the hardest navigation part of any road trip. Why, you ask, didn’t we just get GPS? Good question, they didn’t have any. We felt up to the challenge. Even though we only had the maps in the Lonely Planet to guide us.
Have reached Route 7, the national highway that runs right across Argentina, without any trouble at all, we were off with our foxy little Fiat on the open Argentinean roads! The excitement levels remained high despite the fact that Foxy was making some strange noises and appeared to be a model from the late 1990’s =/ We had faith in her. Because we had no other choice.
The plan that day was to reach Cordoba and make a new plan from there. It is a 700km drive at we left Mendoza at 10am on the dot. We figured that we could easily do the drive in 1 day and include 1 stop along the way.
After 4 hours of uninterrupted, stress free, highway driving we came along the intersection that would take us into San Luis! So San Luis is the capital of the San Luis province of Argentina and it doesn’t have the biggest reputation for anything. That being said, it is SUPER pretty and the main square has a lot to offer. We had a long lunch on the plaza before spending a little while taking in the sights of the local cathedral (boy oh boy do these Argentines love their religion!). The sun was shining and all in the world was goooood.
Having soaked up enough of San Luis as we had time to do, we jumped back into our “trusty” car and hit the road again. The drive to Cordoba is not highly documented. It should be. We had little to no expectations which was probably a good thing. In fact, we just expected it to be standard highway driving similar to the San Luis leg of the journey.
Instead, we were wowed by Parque Nacional Quebrada Del Condorito. We really had no idea where we were going obviously! We headed out of San Luis on Route 20 and passed through a number of cute little towns (El Volcan, La Toma) by the time we reached Santa Rosa (not a town to write home about) we were starting to climb in altitude. Before we knew it we were driving through tiny mountain villages that we absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.
Had we not already made reservations to sleep in Cordoba, we would’ve stayed in one of these towns along the way for sure! Instead, we drove on and our efforts were rewarded in no time as we passed through the park! The park is made up of massive gorges and you climb to 2,300m in altitude meaning that by the time you reach the top, you are sharing air space with giant condors. These birds freak me out. But boy are they amazing.
We stopped numerous times on the way up to get out, stretch our legs and take in the amazing surroundings. We felt very spoiled. We also felt like the only tourists in Argentina as we were close to the only people on the road. Such a lovely change from days of tourist packed cities and attractions!
Having reached the summit and driven down the other side of the mountain we could glimpse Cordoba in the distance!! It was kind of like seeing the Emerald City in the Wizard of Oz. It is a lone city standing in the middle of nothing. We were excited to get there.
Before long we found ourselves in the bustling streets of Cordoba looking for our hotel and getting very excited about the city! We found our hotel without any difficulty and let me tell you, Azur Real Hotel ticked all the right boxes! I know, I know, we said that Argentina would be our budget month but we were tired of budget and had splurged a little bit but not much to be honest. Certainly we hadn’t spent enough to deserve the luxury we were given!!
Upon arrival we parked and headed into the hotel. We were a bit concerned when we entered because there was no reception but rather, a giant clear tube running the length of the building. Huh? We were confused. Until we realized, it was the elevator! Only 1 of us could fit in with our bags at a time so I went up first. It was like being in Star Trek and being ‘beamed up’! So much so that when I excited the elevator at the top, I loudly exclaimed to the lovely gentleman waiting for me that ‘Its just like being in Star Trek!’ before screeching ‘Beam me up Scotty! Hahahaha!!’ Thankfully he appreciated my enthusiasm. The fancy guests sitting in the lounge however, appeared concerned by my noise levels. Whoops!
Joep arrived up and before long we were settled into our glorious room and feeling like we were really on honeymoon again. This was only further exacerbated by the wonderful dinner reservations we had. We were booked in for a 9pm meal (yes, we managed to last until 9pm before dinner!) and wandered happily from our hotel to the restaurant. This required us to walk through the main square of Cordoba by night which is absolutely stunning! We were loving it. But we didn’t linger long as we had dinner reservations.
I cannot remember the name of the restaurant. Nor can Joep. But it was delicious. We began the evening by laughing hysterically at a couple sitting nearby. They were older and she had forgotten her glasses. He was a wonderful husband and read the entire menu to her. Loudly. And I mean, the entire menu. It went on for ages. The longer he read, the harder we laughed.
That being said, he also pointed out a few things on the menu that we hadn’t spotted so he was helpful as well.
We spent the following hour devouring … beef. I ordered what I thought would be a reasonable sized tenderloin. It was huge. Like I’m guessing perhaps 800g. Joep ordered ribs. These were out of this world huge. We could’ve shared them and still been full. I think they were at least 1kg without the bone in.
Joep vowed that he was going to finish the ribs. I said I would do my best with the steak. I didn’t finish mind but I enjoyed the majority of it. Joep powered through and ate all of his. I’m not going to lie to you, it was kind of gross to watch. But I felt a strange sense of pride that I was married to this carnivorous being. Despite the giant sweat patches pooling around his hairline as he worked through the last 2 ribs. That’s my husband!!
At the end of the meal we complimented the couple near us for their romantic menu reading, had a few laughs and set off to see more of Cordoba by night. What a city! We both agreed it was our favourite Argentinean city so far. The architecture, the plaza, the lighting, the people … our hearts were stolen.
As a result, after a relatively late night we decided that we wouldn’t leave until after lunch the following day so that we could spend the morning enjoying the city.
Day 5 – Cordoba to Jesus Maria to Santa Catalina to Tafi Del Valle
Great choice! The plaza in Cordoba dates back to 1577, true story. It is beautifully built and is enough to keep you busy for hours just sitting and taking in the passers by. Right on the plaza and dating also back to 1577 is the Iglesia Catedral, yup, another cathedral. And this one is beautiful. We went in and lit candles for all those we love most whilst checking out the interior. It was like being in Rome.
We also had grand plans of going to Museo de la Memoria. The building housing the museum used to be a center for detention and torture and was operated by the Deparment of Intelligence during Argentina’s military dictatorship. It is a museum paying tribute to the many people who were taken there accused of being political agitators never to be seen again. Blech. We were interested in the history and had been told it was a very good museum so we headed out to track it down.
Even though it is right on the main plaza it is hard to find because it is not hugely signposted. The entrance is marked by 2 giant finger prints made up of the names of all those who disappeared there. Chilling.
Sadly, our timing was off and the museum was not open for viewing by the time we found it. We were a bit bummed but also a bit relieved because, having visited some chilling museums in Cambodia, we are aware of how quickly they can dull the excitement levels of even the most infatuated newly weds.
To drown our sorrows at the museum being closed, we headed to an icecreamery. Things I didn’t know before this trip – The Argentines are famous for awesome icecream! We very quickly figured out why. Can you say, ‘Delicious’?
And so, after a morning of wander the beautiful streets of downtown Cordoba devouring ice-creamy goodness, we decided that we best hit the road as we had a big day ahead of us!
The goal was to make it to Tafi del Valle, a small mountain town in the province of Tucaman that would also us to head north and bypass Tucaman city which we were not too keen on seeing (it is apparently just a big industrial smelly city … no thank you).
On the way we had a couple of other fun things we wanted to see. The first required a stop in a tiny town about 1hr north of Cordoba called Jesus Maria. In the town there is a Unesco World Heritage site in the form of a Jesuit Estancia. For those not in the know (I wasn’t before this trip), an ‘estancia’ is a ranch. And old school ranch. In this case, the church and convents on the estancia were built in 1618. Holy cow that is a long time ago. They clearly knew what they were doing because the buildings there today and still incredibly beautiful and are set on amazing grounds. Also, we happened to be in town at the same time as the annual FiestaNacional de Doma y Folklore, which is a 10 day celebration of, and I quote, ‘gaucho horsemanship & customs’. All we could see was that the streets were packed with young Argentines as were the campsites most of which had a giant, and I mean giant, statue of Jesus on the cross at their entrance. Creepy but intriguing.
Having gazed in awe at the estancia and chatted in broken Spanish / English to the security who was more proud of the estancia that I have ever been of anything (adorable), we hit the road to head to Santa Catalina.
It was another estancia – We were on a roll! We also didn’t realize that we would have to drive on entirely dirt roads to get to this little gem. We bounced and slide poor Foxy along the dirt roads for a good 45 minutes before we finally reached Santa Catalina. Again, we passed only 1 or 2 cars on the road and really felt like we were getting away from it all. Even more so when we arrived at the estancia and had the place entirely to ourselves! There is a tiny local store which was closed (thankfully we had heaps of snacks in the car) and what appeared to be a very small guesthouse & restaurant, also closed. Then you have the Unesco World Heritage site, the Jesuit estancia of Santa Catalina. It is the only privately owned Unesco World Heritage site and this family must feel very lucky. It was beautiful and dates back to 1622. Aykarumba. Can you imagine the history?!
A lot of the estancia is closed to the public and there didn’t appear to be anyone around to offer a tour while we were there so we satisfied ourselves with wandering the grounds just the two of us and having a quick picnic lunch (if you can call pastries and candy lunch … we do).
We were conscious of the time because we knew that the dirt road back to the main highway was going to steal driving time so we lingered as long as possible before heading off. The drive out to the main road was again, all gravel. Skull shaking, brain quivering, gravel driving. Our teeth were rattling in our head by the time we reached the main road and Joep had mastered the art of finding the ‘smoothest’ part of the gravel road to drive on. A task that would prove invaluable to us over the next few days.
Back on the route 9 we hightailed it north towards Tafi del Valle. We had a planned arrival time of 8pm having left Cordoba just after midday.
We were right on track to meet this deadline when we reached the last 60km section of our journey. We didn’t realize that this would be all mountain driving on tiny narrow roads with steep cliff drop offs on the side. It was like driving the ‘most dangerous road in the world’ in Bolivia last year, except without a guide. And night was falling. Thankfully, I had driven the bulk of the main road from Santa Catalina to Tafi del Valle so Joep insisted we swap drivers. I wasn’t going to argue with him. For the next 2 hours (yes, it took us 2 hours to drive 60km), we wound through mountain roads. I spent the first hour in AWE at the surroundings and mountain landscapes. The 2nd hour it was dark. Pitch black dark. And I spent it speaking encouragingly to Joep about how awesome a driver he is.
We made it to Tafi del Valle feeling a little fragile and looking forward to finding our hotel. We had splurged again and decided to stay at a real life estancia! Yes! I told you we were on a role.
We arrived at Las Tacanas with a little bit of difficulty because the streets of the tiny village were packed. You see, it was Friday night! And Tafi is rocking. It explained why there were so many cars and horses (seriously) on the mountain road into the town. Everyone had come to party!
Still, once we found Las Tacanas we couldn’t believe we’d missed it. It is on the main street but the driveway is nice and long so you feel like you’re in a country retreat once you’re in the grounds. The lady who manages the property was lovely (if not a little too chatty at that late hour and after a long day of driving) and showed us around the estancia with growing pride. It is over 300 years old and is family owned. A lot of the furniture is from the original house and there are a heap of artifacts around. It is absolutely beautifully decked out and we were very excited to stay there!
But first things first, we needed food. Now either we were too tired to look properly or Tafi doesn’t have many good restaurants. We ended up settling for a restaurant on the main street across from the hotel because we were tired and had wandered around unsuccessfully for half an hour. Although, when I say ‘unscuccessfully’ it is not really fair because we had been successful in entertaining ourselves with people watching!! This place was alive!
After a highly unsatisfactory dinner we were off to sleep. Friday night or not, we were pooped.
Day 6: Tafi del Valle to Santa Maria to Quilmes to Cafayate
We didn’t wake until mid-morning the following day (I told you it was peaceful there) and when we did we groggily headed out to the garden for breakfast. We spent the morning lounging around the estancia and then taking a day time stroll through the town. It is gloriously picturesque there and the fresh mountain air had us in very high spirits.
We hit the road with a much simpler itinerary for the day. We only needed to make it Cafayate, a simple 118km drive. However our departure was delayed by 1hr as we waited in a mammoth queue. It would be a recurring theme that we stopped finding frustrating and began to accept very quickly. It is just the way of life here! We had plans to drive to Santa Maria for lunch which is a cute little town that is kind of on the way to Cafayate (if you take a slight detour). Lunch was delicious and again, we devoured pastas and pizza’s on the main square which was actually super tiny. School soccer teams made their way home through the plaza as we watched and families were out playing and we soaked up the Argentine culture a bit more. After Santa Maria we were heading to check out the ruins in Quilmes.
These ruins date from about AD1,000. Yikes. It was a settlement of about 5,000 indigenous Argentines and they managed to escape the rule of the Inca … an impressive feat based on what we learned last year in Peru! Those Inca’s were hardcore. Alas, the Spanish were even harder core and the local Quilmes folks were shipped off to work in Buenos Aires in 1667 apparently.
The ruins are kind of cool to see but all the guided tours (and leaflets) were in Spanish so we couldn’t really get a good feel of the buildings other than deducing what we could from seeing the Inca rules last year. Still the surroundings with all the giant cacti are pretty incredible to see.
Also, there are not a lot of big tour buses (none?) that come all the way to Quilmes. We saw some hitchhikers on the dirt road in (yes, another gravel road) but there weren’t a whole heap of people around when we were there. Ah peaceful tourism. We love it.
The final stop of our day was Cafayate. It was such a relaxed day, we left Tafi at 1pm and arrived in Cafayate at 5pm with all those stops. Glorious. It was also perfect timing because upon arrival at our gorgeous hotel (don’t judge us … we like nice things) Killa, I was sick. Seriously, horribly sick. It must have been my delicious lunch that did it. But after 2 hours of intense illness I felt great again. Huh? Yes, it was weird. But I was glad to feel well again.
My miraculous recovery allowed us to head down to, you guessed it, the town plaza which was jammed full of families out enjoying life music and horse back rides. Again we were blown away by the sense of community and would’ve loved to ingratiate ourselves into it. By 8:30pm we were starving (yes, a very quick recovery for me) so we headed to a wonderful restaurant on the plaza. El Teruno was a wonderful dining experience. The service was great and the food was delicious and was not limited to pizza or giant hunks of meat. The wine list was wonderful and we treated ourselves to some of the local wines. You see, Cafayate is the other big wine region of Argentina and we found the wineries there to be significantly prettier than those we experienced in Mendoza but I have to reiterate, I’m pretty sure we screwed the Mendoza wine tasting up.
After dinner we headed off the plaza to a tiny little wine bar where we treated ourselves to even more delicious wines before getting into a heated debate about whether the wives of politicians should be held accountable for their expenses … don’t ask. It was a long debate. We agree now. They should be. I won’t tell you who was right. Even though it would make me feel good to do so.
Day 7 – Cafayate & Quebrada de Cafayate
What I will tell you though is that the result of this debate was that neither of us got a goodnight kiss. This turned out to be a huge blessing. As you may have noticed, Joep & I were getting sick a lot on this 2nd month of honeymoon. I blame the 5 days of no sleep in Amsterdam. It killed our immune systems.
So much so that the morning after our political debate poor Joep had an awful coldsore on his lip. It look agonizingly painful!! The arrival of the coldsore, coupled with our slight hangovers (understatement), confirmed our tentative decision to stay 2 nights in Cafayate. It was a wonderful choice.
We spent the morning lounging around and doing a bit of laundry before heading into the town to get medication for Joep. I had kindly researched the Spanish words for coldsore. There was one complex word that neither of us could remember and then there was ‘herpes lapial’. We chose to use the second expression. Because we could remember it.
Upon arrival at the packed pharmacy we waited our turn before being called forward. Joep tried to quietly describe his ailment to the pharmacist. When he understood what we were saying he screeched (in a Eureka style voice) ‘HERPES!’ Poor Joep. I thought I would die laughing. I thought Joep would die of mortification. Bless.
The mortification was short lived and we left with medication in hand and a grin on my face. We then hit up La Casa de Las Empanadas for lunch. Yes, it is an empanada restaurant. Yes, they were amazing. We highly highly recommend this place. It is packed at lunchtime but worth the wait for the cheap, delicious food.
Having enjoyed empanadas by the pool and soaking up some rays we headed off for our late afternoon activity.
Quebrada de Cafayate is describe as ‘a wild landscape of richly colored sanstone and unearthly rock formations’. We weren’t sure what to expect but all the local tour companies seemed to be offering trips out there. We picked up a brochure and mapped out our own little tour.
The drive alone is pretty incredible. It is on the road that leads to Salta but we were taking an alternative route to Salta the following day and had considered just skipping the Quebrada. Boy are we glad we didn’t!
Having spent most of the 30 minute drive screeching about how amazing the landscape was our first stop was Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s throat). This was one amazing gorge. Because we weren’t with a tour group we were able to really explore the gorge so we climbed all the way to the top and shouted things to hear our own echo and basically had a blast. Impressive doesn’t even come close. This was one serious gorge.
Having spent a good amount of time exploring Diablo we headed off to the Amfiteatro. There was no climbing involved in this gorge but once you get inside the massive basin you understand why they called it the Amfiteatro. This place is huge and with an old Argentinean man playing the guitar in the corner it is pretty amazing. Again, because we weren’t with a tour group we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. All the tour groups leave Cafayate at 3pm and go to these 2 gorges last which was why we went there first. We were stoked with this choice.
Having finished with the 2 best gorges we headed back towards Cafayate thinking we wouldn’t stop again. Fate had other plans for us though! We were close to the city when we came across the Reserva Natural Quebrada de las Conchas. And so we parked the car once more and set off on a big hike. This time we were cheeky … we spotted a tour group up ahead and assumed that they would know the best spots to go so we followed their hike at a distance and managed to see all the great lookouts. It was pretty spectacular and our pleasure at our self guided tour was only further increased when we got chatting with a couple from that tour group who said that they had already been told they couldn’t go into Diablo … boo. That sucked for them. We were glad we had done it alone!
The trip out to the Quebrada was incredible and we loved every second of it. We were on a massive high by the time we got back to Cafayate and decided to celebrate our successful self guided tour with a repeat of the previous nights meal . Yes. The restaurant was so good that we ate there twice. In fact, I ordered the exact same meal the second evening! I’m not even ashamed. It was delicious.
Day 8 – Cafayate to Cachi to Salta
After a couple of wonderful nights in Cafayate we were ready to hit the road again and so, bright and early the following morning we set off for Salta. Rather than driving the straight and easy route 9, however, we had decided to take the scenic route through Cachi.
Cachi is only 159km from Cafayate but it is entirely on dirt roads. And I mean entirely. Gravel and dirt and more gravel and more dirt. Combine this with windy mountain roads and the 159km drive takes about 4 hours because you can only drive at about 40km/hr. Thankfully we knew this in advance.
We left Cafayate after breakfast and hit the road at about 9am. The drive was pretty awesome. Again, we saw hardly any other people on the roads and we really felt like we were away from it all. We also made sure we had packed enough water and snacks to get us through. Good planning.
Our foxy little Fiat grumbled and groaned her way along gravel mountain roads and we only had a couple of really scary moments when we thought she might not make it. Our fears were unfounded at 1pm we arrived safe and sound in Cachi!
Cachi is talked of as being an amazing town. We were not completely sold on it. Don’t get me wrong, it is cute and has a nice little plaza but we were glad not to be spending the night there. It certainly didn’t have the same feel that Tafi had and none of the charm of Cafayate.
We enjoyed a lunch on the plaza spent chatting to a gal from Argentina (Mendoza) and her French ‘kind of’ boyfriend who was over for 3 weeks vacation. It sounded complicated. But she gave us some tips for Iguazu.
After lunch we hit the road to make our way to Salta and we were pleasantly surprised when we hit asphalt road again! We had expected the entire day to be gravel driving. Only half of is was! We were stoked. We were even more stoked when we hit route 33. What a drive! Amazing mountain landscapes and we were once again driving at incredible altitudes hanging with the condors. There were hair pin turns that make you understand why the expression ‘hair pin turn’ was invented and we found ourselves constantly gasping and oohing and aahing.
As you can imagine though, the twists and turns meant that the 145km drive again took almost 4 hours so we didn’t arrive in Salta until after 7pm. Thank goodness for long summer evenings!
We parked, checked into our modest hotel (it really was modest this time) and walked to the plaza for dinner. The main plaza in Salta is pretty awesome as are the side streets surrounding it. It is kind of similar to Cordoba although we didn’t love it quite as much as we loved Cordoba.
Dinner was a bit of a disaster and after eating a less than average meal on the plaza we headed back to the hotel for an early night exhausted from the day of driving but very content with all we had seen.
Day 9 – Salta to Purmamarca to Humahuaca
The following morning, after breakfast, we hit the road. We had plans to come back to Salta for 2 days later in the week so no need to do much sight seeing before then! Instead, we planned to drive further north to Purmamarca & Humahuaca. We had a hotel booked in Huacalera which was about 30 minutes before you hit Huamhuaca our final stop on the road north.
Our first stop however, was Purmamarca where we were planning on checking out the Cerro de los Siete Colores (Hill of 7 Colours). It really is just a hill with 7 different colours of rocks in it. Its is a pretty awesome backdrop to the town but for us, the town itself was the main event. What a character filled place! Full of backpackers and hippies and the local markets were a treasure box of colourful trinkets. We loved it! Dirt streets, little restaurants and shops. Heaven. We spent a good amount of time wandering through the markets and even made some purchases. We then had a delicious lunch (keeping it simple … we are going to turn into empanadas at this rate) before hitting the road to check out Humahuaca for the afternoon / evening.
We passed our hotel in Huacalera on the way and were very excited to stay there! Our plans of checking in later however, were changed by circumstances out of our control. Some of the local folks were holding a peaceful protest on the road. It involved laying tree branches across the road and standing in the street. The police were on hand and every 30 minutes a few cars were allowed to pass through.
We decided not to wait the required 30 minutes but rather, to check into our hotel! The hotel was gorgeous and we spent some time chilling out before heading off again in the hopes the protest was over.
It wasn’t over. But this time we decided to wait out the 30 minutes and try to get through. As luck would have it, we made it through in less than 30 minutes and the remainder of the drive to Humahuaca was uneventful. Similarly to Purmamarca, we were super impressed by Humahuaca! It was another hippy town fully of markets and little shops and restaurants. We settled in comfortably at one of the restaurants and enjoyed … you’ll never guess what … empanadas! And a beer. And a game of gin. Gosh we love being on honeymoon.
As nighttime began to fall around us we sauntered back to the car and make our way to our hotel where there was a lovely restaurant for dinner. The protest was still underway on our way back but we made it through without too much hassle. Dinner was lovely and because it was at our hotel we could really enjoy some wine.
That evening we both slept terribly. The hotel was lovely but there was something up. Something made us both really uneasy. My imagination also got the better of me … I had read up on townships in the area and it turns out that Jujuy (about 1.5 hours south of where we were) was burnt to the ground back in the 1800’s by the indigenous people because they hadn’t given permission for it to be built. Naturally, by 2am I was convinced that the locals were protesting the building of our luxury hotel and were outside brandishing torches. Does this make me a racist? I hope not. Especially because by morning I knew it was silly. But I was pleased that Joep had the heeby jeebies too. We weren’t too sad to leave there.
Day 10: Huacalera to Tilcara to Salinas Grandes to Salta
It wasn’t just the scary night that made us happy to leave, the following day we had a good one planned!! We were checking out Tilcara (half way between Purmamarca & Humahuaca) before heading out the the Salinas Grandes!! These are the Argentinean salt flats … not to be confused with the Bolivian salt flats which are way bigger but I imagine, quite similar.
The morning drive to Tilcara was easy and the town itself lived up to our expectations which were created by the previous days visits to Purmamarca & Humahuaca. Glorious! We were also on a mission to find a working internet to book a hotel for Salta for that evening. We didn’t want to stay a 2nd night in Huacalera =/
Mission accomplished and food for the road purchased and we were off to the salf flats. I don’t know what either of us was expecting. We never visited the salt flats in Bolivia last year. Our lack of expectation made the experience even more awesome because when we saw the Salina Grandes shimmering in the distance we were pretty blown away.
To add to the wonder, the drive there is not clearly documented but the drive along route 52 is gorgeous. You again climb in altitude to over 4,000m and back down again. Lets take a second here to appreciate how awesome little Foxy was doing with all this mountain climbing!
Upon arrival at the salt flats we were part of a grand total of 4 tourists. Yup, just us 2 and 1 other couple. It was awesome! It meant we could run around like crazy and make the most of the surreal surroundings. Also very cool was that there was a 1mx1m square of water that had not yet evaporated entirely. It was probably about 20cm deep but it was so full of salt that it was like jelly! Joep & I both balanced our feet on it in awe.
We were stoked that we’d driven all the way out to see the flats however there is nothing else out there so when we finished being a bit nuts on the flats we headed back to the car for the drive to Salta.
Our pre-brought snacks came in super handy in preventing any hanger and we even stumbled across some random old ruins when looking for a toilet break. We can’t find any documentation about them anywhere but they consisted of a cave built into the side of the mountain (which now seems to be used only for toilet breaks) and the remains of an old round stone structure similar to the ones we saw in Quilmes. It was kind of cool!
The rest of the drive back to Salta was uneventful even though I drove the entire way including downtown Salta …. You wouldn’t read about it. Back in Salta we were excited to check out the city AND to check out the 5* hotel we had booked ourselves into. Apparently it is the best Salta has to offer and it was pretty good! We were stoked.
To top off our glorious day we looked up recommended places for dinner. Having had so many average meals we really did our research this time. Lonely Planet, Trip Advisor, google and the hotel concierge were all consulted and we finally decided on La Lenita which everyone raved about as being an awesome parilla. We decided 1 more steak meal couldn’t hurt.
We were, once again, the first patrons at the restaurant having waited until 8:30pm to eat. We were staaaarving. Our hunger got the better of us and we decided to order one of those infamous meat trays where a variety of meat is brought to you at your table.
We did this last year in La Paz. We forgot that it is not the greatest idea. The meat you get is all the random stuff. Blood sausage (which I normally love but this time it tasted funky and smelled so strong and not in a good way), intestines, stomach and kidneys. Blech. I had some chicken and beef. Joep ate ribs as well as chicken and beef and at one point had a chunk of liver in his mouth before realizing it was liver and spitting it out again. True story.
We quickly gave up on the meat platter and concentrated on the beer trying to ignore the pungent scent of blood sausage filling our nostrils.
Needless to say, it was another disappointing Argentina meal. Shame.
Day 11 & 12 - Salta
Breakfast the following morning was a better experience thank goodness!! We had made no plans for the day other than relaxing at the hotel and wandering around the city. That was just what we did. Salta city is really beautiful. We didn’t love it as much as Cordoba but that is entirely personal choice and we cannot say a bad thing about Salta. The people are friendly, the architecture is amazing, the city is beautifully laid out and with the mountain backdrop it is pretty gorgeous.
We wandered the streets, did a spot of shopping and ate a lot of icecream (again). Heavenly.
The only negative part of the day was actually a hugely entertaining positive for me. Joep decided to check out the hotel gym. I didn’t join him (naturally) and was relaxing in the hotel when there was a knock at the door. I answered it to find Joep, gasping for air, covered in sweat and looking like he might cry. Yikes! When he caught his breath enough to explained what happened this is what I was told – He was on the bikes at the gym enjoying a leisurely ride. He was then approached by a lady who spoke to him in Spanish. He didn’t really understand what she said so simply nodded in agreement and continued his biking.
Before he knew it he was surrounded by other bikers and the lady was shouting things to him in Spanish. Turns out he had inadvertently stumbled into a spinning class. Perspective: We haven’t worked out at all in the last 3 months. We are not in good shape. I couldn’t help but laugh at Joep’s misfortune and he also saw the funny side of it … once he had showered and recovered a bit.
We had grand plans of hitting the streets for another long dinner that evening but first we decided to check out the lobby bar and restaurant for a pre-dinner cocktail and some finger food … we thought this might help us last till 9pm before needing to eat again.
We accidentally ended up eating and drinking more than we anticipated and then we didn’t feel like dinner. We can’t seem to catch a break. As a result of the early evening drinks we also ended up in bed earlier than planned … whoops!
The following day we had afternoon flights to Iguazu so we spent the morning relaxing before hitting the road to the airport to find the car rental return place. It was easier than anticipated (kind of) and when we returned little Foxy to the rental car dealer the following day we figured out that we had covered 2,511km in 8 days. Not a bad achievement!!
We absolutely loved this part of the trip and both of us rate it as our Argentina highlight. There is nothing like hitting the open road with your newfound husband to make the world an awesome place!!
Alas all good things must come to an end and we had flights to Iguazu to catch! More to come!!
