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Published: March 18th 2010
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Quebrada des Colches
The ampitheatre, produced by water erosion in the Quebrada des Colches The 23 hour bus journey was not the most enjoyable aspect of the trip so far but it was not as bad as it sounds. We stopped quite a bit and had some food from the bus stations and also has some food served on the bus. There was a toilet on board and although it was emptied once it was nearly unusable by the time we got to Salta. I spent three days or so here and in the surrounding area.
Salta is in the North east of Argentina but one of the first cities to be estalished by the Spanish and the colonial architecture is much more in evidence here. Baroque churches, white painted buildings with arcades attached or upstairs balconies with wooden balustrades. There is also a cable car which you can take up to the top of a small hill whcih gives a good view of the town and the Andes in the background. All very pretty but for some reason i did not take any pictiures!
The most specail thing about Salta itself are the mummified remains of three children who were given as a human sacrifice by the Incas. Ritually drugged and left
Cafayate
As much wine as you would ever want in Cafayate winery to die on the mountain top, they werre discovered at about 6000m high and because of the lack of oxygen and bacrteria at that altitude, their bodies had not decomposed at all. They are kept in state of the art preservation facilities and each of them is displayed for a few days at a time. I saw the little boy, sitting down with his knees pulled up under his chin. They were also buried with a range of grave goods. The little boy had a little train of silver llamas. The display of the bodies is considered quite controversial but they are at least safe and protected from grave robbers in the museum.
Salta is the starting off pòint for various trips in the area into the mountains, or to the vineyards of Cafayate, the second wine making region of Argentina. To get to the wine growing region you have to pass through a long valley created by some prehistoric earthquake. The rocks were at one time under water. and have emerged from the sea at at 45 dregree angles and you can see the different strata of rock seperated by fossils and shells of sea creatures. Exposure to
the air has also led the minerals in the rocks to oxidise and you can see lots of different colours in the rocks. Wind and rain erosion has cut the rock into wierd and fantastic shapes and patterns in teh rock. Do you like the geology lesson so far
The winderies were interesting. We went to one very old one and a more modern one. We saw different bits and pieces of machuinery and some big oak barrels. Not a lot more to say really. Except they make a wine from Torrentes graopes whcih is a dry white wine which I shall have to look out for wen I get home. I liked the big white tanks gleaming in teh sun whcih is why I took the picture. Saw first llamas, tame enough to feed.
The second trip, on the next da,y took us much higher into the foot hills of the Andes. Scenery was remarkable. Starting off green and fertile, ending up rocky and barren with only cacti growing. We stopped in a couple of small Andean towns to look around, have lunch, buty handicrafts etc. But again it was the geology whcih was so remarkable. More
Pumacara
Pumacara street scene oxidised rocks, wind and rain erosion. One of the highhlghts is teh Hill of 7 colours in Pumacara, whcih is pictured here.
Back to Salta for a last Argentinian steak and red wine, in the hope that it would help sleep on the night bus to the Bolivian border.
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