Quilmes & Cafayate

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We had read about Indian ruins dating back about AD1000 which were home to the Quilmes Indians and was the last place to fall to the Spanish empire in 1667. This was our next stop and although we debated whether to go given that there are no direct buses, we were very pleased we made the effort. We bumped into our Australian friends in Amaiche (nearest village to the ruins) who had done some investigating and found a great tour that would flag down the bus on the main road at the end of the day and get us on our way to Cafayate. We threw our bags on the roof of an old land rover, piled into the back and we were off. Set amongst forests of cacti and built into the side of the Andes, Ruinas de Quilmes was certainly a sight to see. As you walked around the village ruins (partly in the original state and partly rebuilt) you could still find pieces of pottery littering the path. Our guides were terrific and gave us a very sad history of the Quilmes people and a great insight into the all of Argentines historical struggles. We then had a quick trip to the Indian village where we sipped on Mate and watched as they made clay pots from their mud brick houses (lucky they don´t get much rain here!).

Our group got bigger as we reached the small wine making village of Cafayate as the Aussie couple bumped into a south African couple that had met earlier in Patagonia. So with the bargaining power of numbers we negotiated a great rate on a fantastic hostel that we pretty much had to ourselves. Add 2 more Aussie, a French girl and £2 each and you get enough money to buy all the meat you can eat cooking over a charcoal barbe with veggies and unlimitted red wine. As you can guess our grand plans for the next day took a late start as some partied until 4am. Great night!

This afternoon we jumped in the hostel owners car and he took us for a tour around Quebrada (canyon) de Cafayate. This was a very weird and interesting place with strange baron reddish sandstone formations and rocks with a multitude of coloured layers, each colour representing a different mineral. We hiked for kms and up small valleys to see such sights as the "Devils Throat", "The Amphitheater", "The Toad", "The Friar", "The Obelisk" and "The Castle". Squint your eyes and at a pinch you could make these out from the crazy shapes that the wind and sand had created.

Teetotal tonight as up early and on the road again tomorrow for a quick 4 hour bus ride to Salta.

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Photos

Cactus Forest
These are hundreds of years old

Walk in the Desert
slip slop slap day...

Colours
Amazing rock faces

Window
Strange shapes

Castle
If you look hard enough