Quebrada del Toro

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I love how legends and tales - on the whole, imagination - shape and twist the naming and history of our surroundings. So it was with the Quebrada de la Concha which, owing to its unfortunate reference to rude anatomical terminology, is now called Quebrada del Toro, Bull Gorge. Running through Salta Province in northwest Argentina up to the border with Chile, this gorge hugs the course of the Rio del Toro. For most of the year a weak trickle, the river bulks up with rains like the recent ones, and gains the strength of a bull, forcefully charging through and leaving its mark. Another story says that, years ago, the yearly movement of cattle from Salta city to Chile would follow this path. Out of the 5000 cows and bulls starting off in Salta, only 1500 would survive to the end of the trail.

Whatever the story, the river was definitely taking on its bullish characteristics when I took a day trip along it to follow the route of the Tren a las Nubes. This romantically named train to the clouds starts off in Salta capital and climbs the gorge, crossing 13 bridges, traversing 19 tunnels, maneuvering around 2 zig-zags and a set of loops inside a mountain, to reach San Antonio de los Cobres, a mining town in the middle of nowhere. The return journey involves an all-day tourist excursion, complete with meals and entertainment, with only about a half hour spent off the chugging train. For now, the train and the railways are undergoing maintenance, so the closest you can come to this experience is to follow the train’s course in a 4x4 vehicle. The 4x4 trip is fun; I can’t decide if the train journey would be; spending 13 hours with your butt glued to a seat, albeit a plush one, can’t be too exciting, but then again, the views you get might make that worthwhile.

In our hefty pick-up, we also got all those views along the tracks that took about 40 years to construct (in the mid-1900s) because of complicated weather delays. Our own weather complications were comparably minor: more of a chill than expected and, with the recent rains (and some continuing to fall today), a river that grew before our very eyes. Cristian, our guide, said he hadn’t seen the river this high in a year. To me, it still looked pretty skimpy but I took his word for it and acted impressed.

What truly impressed me was the array of minerals which splash this gorge with colors just like in other parts of the northwest. Then, as we climbed higher, the mix of colors disappeared and was replaced by whitish-gray granite, a mess of rocks scattered on the ground among stately cardon cacti. In both settings, the area is mostly bare but still it captures your attention. Somehow the austerity is so stunning that your eyes become fixed on this landscape. When a splotch of green appears, it shakes up the hypnotizing effect and renews your gaze, giving you a chance to see things for the first time, again.

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Photos

El Rio del Toro
A chocolate milk river under the railroad bridge. One of the two bridges on this railway that is from California. The other pieces of the railway are from Germany.

Calisas Marinas
All of this was once under the sea and now all you see are the minerals that were deposited there.

Alien Colony?
This is San Antonio de los Cobres. There's something not right about it...I noticed right away that it has a lost, hopeless quality, from the road in. The town depressed me: an abandoned main plaza, children in rags begging to sell you rocks they picked up off the ground, no sign of ambition or cheer.

Ruins at Santa Rosa de Tastil
Where did they come from? Where did they go? To scientists, the inhabitants who left these ruins are still a huge mystery.

Comments

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latte?
..."a chocolate milk river"... do they have starbucks non-fat latte lake?