Andes on the left

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Hoho!

Argie is as said before a big mama of country, it takes for ever to go from A-B.

All the time with the all present Andes on our left side, majest silent and forever changeing , shapes, colour, size a fantatic landscape unravels as we go by.

Mendoza as a city was a bit of a disappointment, nothing much to see, but then again the poor buggers had a big quake in the late 1800 that sort did to mendoza what the Brits did to Dresden, razed it to the ground.

The winetasting at various bodegas was nice , the newly renovated Trapiche was nice and their Cabernet Sauvignon good enough to put a smile on your lips.

After Mendoza we went to Chilecito an agreeable stop over on the trip up north. their haute cuisine leaves a lot to be desired though, the food we had was pure unadultered crap.

BUT on the way to Chilecito there is Talampaya a worldheritage spot with rock carvings and the most wonderful rock formations.

See the pics and eat your hearts out, we even saw a few condors and a guanaco and a nandu and a couple of desert foxes and a big beetle.

All in all a very nice excursion.

And on the way is Cuesta de Miranda a very nice pass over the mountains, gravel road but very nice.The argie gravel roads are very well maintained for the most part and easy to drive on.

The colours of the mountains are amazing, red in any shade you can imagine + 199 more

Then time to hit the road to Cafayate a bit further north, 500 k or so, another day in the chariot.

More mountains and more mountains looking like they all were done in the same mould and yet all different and all beautiful.

Nathalie does a bit of the driving and so far no Fuzz but yesterday The police was there but with big smiles and some lying all went ok, all the other papers were in order and they looked as if they had to fill their quota of checking cars for 2011,

and really couldn't care less

After a very long day we arrived in Cafayate a nice little town in the Salta wine district with a good enough hotel and very nice empanadas, a little Argie pie with filling of your own choice, Yummy!

According to information the sun shines 360 days a year and the annula rainfall is about 250mm, not when we're here,-D

Tonite happy new year in Cafayate, may the Gods strike us if we don't have fun!!

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