Car trip of a lifetime

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I´ve only been driving for a few years, but in that time have seen many lovely places from behind the wheel. The journey which we have just completed over the past three days has to rank up there as probably the best yet.

We hired a car here in Salta having scoured the town looking for offers..worth the effort for anyone trying it. Having planned not to drink the night before the drive, I quickly went back on the plans, opting for a BBQ at a local hostal. Once there, we ran into two guys from Donegal in NW Ireland who quickly reminded me that cheap Argentinian wine was not to be passed up.

With a sore head the following morning, we set off - no sign of the sunny weather of the last few days, either...lashing rain. As if I didn´t have enough to contend with with the chaotic traffic here in the centre of Salta. At least it kept the awful air pollution at bay.

Safely out of town, we sought out some breakfast and headed for the main road to Cafayate, the first of two overnight stops we´d be making in the coming days along the well known local tourist road. We´d been warned that some of the road might be dodgy during rain, particularly the bit between Cafayate and Cachi, our route for Day 2. Noone had warned us that the road elsewhere might, on occasion, have a river running across it!


A solid night of heavy rain had caused a torrent of thick brown water to run down the mountains and right across the main road (a paved road as well..this was the good part of the journey in road surface terms). We stopped near the front of a line of cars who weren´t sure how to proceed...talk of being swept away or the engine stopping midway preoccupied those few drivers brave enough to leave their vehicles to take a look.


Eventually, we were persuaded by a helpful local that the torrent was passable (sure it was only a hire car anyway!) and off we went...slowly. The engine stayed dry and we got across.

A good thing, too, for a few miles further along, as we entered the mountains proper, the rain stopped and the sun burst through to illuminate some absolutely fantastic scenery.



For the next 60miles or so, we passed the most awesome and varied landscapes I have ever seen (on land anyway). We saw giant candelabra cacti on red cliff faces, on mountain tops, everywhere, rock formations of all shapes, sizes, colours and rock types....and it just kept coming. I really hope the photos do this justice...if not, I´d strongly recommend a visit. Anyone who has seen old Spaghetti Westerns can perhaps imagine what much of this landscape looks like. We even passed a real ghost town, called Alemania (Germany!).



Having picked up a Spanish hitchhiker later on, we crawled into Cafayate and sought out the comfort of a nice local hotel. Cafayate seemed well worth a longer visit, if only for the possibility of doing some horseriding, trekking or visiting the local wine bodegas. Sadly, our timetable prevented a longer stay, but I'd certainly go back. Happily, we also managed to successfully post our parcels with limited official aggrevation!

Day 2, the promised dodgy route to the town of Cachi, was also wonderful, but perhaps less so than the previous day - slightly less dramatic scenery, though nonetheless interesting and varied. The Gods must have been looking down on us, for the road was not as dangerous as anticipated, despite its fair share of sharp, narrow bends (though 150km in 2nd gear at 40km/h is a good recipe for safe driving). We found valleys populated by thousands of cacti, slightly surreal with their multi-armed poses. It somehow reminded us of old Dr Who episodes, half expecting to look away for a second and find the car encircled menacingly by them.

Cachi was a sleepy little local town, populated mostly by descendants of the local Inca tribe. We had a nice meal and an early night, relishing the tranquility of the hotel in which we appeared to be the only guests.

Our final day was different again...the sun stayed with us, and we decided on a quick local detour to see what was supposed to be the ruins of an ancient Inca (or pre-Inca?) settlement at Pialas(?), replete with paved roads and buildings, etc. After the 17km journey, we discovered that the archaeologists had not yet excavated much, and apart from loads of rocks, colonies of large ants and cacti there was nothing to see.

We passed through a national park with an excellent road, 14km dead straight through the desert towards the ascent to the highest peak on the journey at 3, 347m above sea level. When we got to the top, the summit was cloud ridden, with only glimpses of the valley below on the other side. We also began to feel a little queasy with the altitude, so the resulting descent was a careful one.

I´ve seen some windy, spectacular roads before, but this descent was breathtaking...in the sense of fear as much as awe. How they built this road (and how people run buses and lorries along it) is beyond me. Beneath the cloud cover, the extent of the road we were on became apparent...wow!



Back in Salta later, we discovered that the slackers in charge of the Backpacker Soul hostel we had stayed in previously had decided to ignore our booking for that night and to deny all knowledge of having taken a booking...bare faced lying is not something I take too kindly to. Please do not stay there.

20 mins of wandering around town later, we found a lovely little place in the centre of town run by two old ladies...better deal than the hostel and far nicer.

Now...off to Bolivia to see what that´s all about...

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Comments

[Telma]

lucky you!
Hey guys, thanks for the e-mail. I'm so happy for the two of you, but so so jealous! It looks like you are having a wonderful time and so many great adventures. Keep up the good work, and think of us poor sods back home. take care tx