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Salta was a great place - we would have loved to have spent more time around the area but as it was we were running short. We stayed at the great Inti Huazi - loved the folks there who took us out for some amazing live music nights (reggae, folk, ska, bluesy combinations that got us dancing) and when we left gave us more music than we know what to do with! During our time there we had few plans apart from to climb the hill and view the surrounding area - and that was the one thing we never managed to do- spending way to many hours sitting in the town square, eating salatenas and chatting with people, newly met or people we had caught up with in previous towns.
On day two we hired a car with two dutch girls and headed out for a two day loop of Cafayate and Cachi. It was a stunning trip - but really could have spent days in Cafayate and taken more time driving from Cafayate to Salta. On the trip to Cafayate we entered a time warp - stopping for lunch by a stunning lake we found we had covered
about 60km in about 2 hours - how had this happened? Then heading on after lunch we got caught by a bunch of gauchos and their cow herds - the herds seriously tried to climb over the car - very very funny however the car was a piece of crap (several parts had already fallen off) and we weren't sure how long it would survive the cow battering.
As it was we arrived in one (or about 30) pieces and found a cool little hostel in Cafayate - however the owner, a wonderfully friendly old dame was a bit bonkers.. It's clearly a very small town - the owner of the hostel even fielded calls about us staying there (someone called up to let her know that two blond girls were staying at her hostel - that's the Dutch girls - not us- Eric and I stayed out way too late). And the morning we left she gained access to our room at about 6:45am to show us how the shower worked (barging past Eric who had answered the door clutching a towel around his waist and ignoring Zoe - still half asleep in bed)... We had a great meal
in cafajate and stopped by the bodega Nanni for a wine tasting; they do a fantastic Torrontes and it's organic too (so good for you)...
The rest of the trip was beautiful but hard driving on the gravel roads. As we said if we were to do it again - we'd spend at least a couple of days in Cafayate and probably stop overnight in Cachi - not much going on there but very relaxed all the same - just the place for a wine on the sunlit town square. However we had to push on. Travelling out of Cachi we had the amazing experience of driving into the clouds - the only disadvantage being that they didn't clear so we handled the steep winding road down into the Valle Encantado, missing the view of the Inca road in the valley below (if the Romans did straight roads this Incas were the masters of the bendy twisty road - interesting driving particularly with the sheer drop on one side). But the low cloud didn't matter - particularly as one of the dutch girls had vertigo and the mist kinda helped her ignore the heights!. Back to Salta for one more
night - we really really wanted to visit the Barney Gomez pub (a Simpsons theme bar) but it was closed. Then the next morning a really fast goodbye and dash to the bus station and we were on the road again to Tilcara, northern Argentina.
We did well catching the bus to Tilcara as we left the hostel about 10 minutes before the bus would leave. 10 minutes to get cash, but tickets as well as lunch (lomita, steak sandwich- another Argentinian treat). We divided and conquered and got to our Tilcara early afternoon. The place itself is typical for small towns in this area. This one however has a great setting overlooking a valley. The location was the reason for indigenous people to set up town here- they could keep an eye out on all 4 directions. Another lovely place was Pulmamarca, the mountains around this place are known for the fact that they have 7 colours.
Back in Tilcara we enjoyed trying some of the local dishes such as locro (soup) and lama fillet both of which come highly recommended. Our stay in Tilcara was very relaxed, some sightseeing, good food and a fabulous room with a
woodburning stove. It is starting to become clear to us that despite heading north we ain't gonna see much warm weather before we leave south America - the days are lovely but nights in the Andes are no picnic- when the sun is gone it's very very cold...
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