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Published: December 29th 2015
And before you know it Christmas is over and there's only one more week before we leave Buenos Aires and start the next part of our trip. Time for a short update on our activities in the past couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago we flew to Salta in Northern Argentina for a short break from the busy city. Most people we have met in Buenos Aires go south to Mendoza or Patagonia after arriving in Argentina, but the northern part of Argentina is definitely worth a visit as well. Unbeknownst to us it was a holiday (La inmaculada concepcion de la virgin Maria). The actual holiday was on Tuesday, but on Monday everything was closed down already as well. As a result it was eerily quiet in Salta (a city of 500.000) with most shops closed.
However, the main reason for visiting this part of Argentina is not the city, but the surrounding areas. Especially the road from Salta to Cafayate is spectacular. Lot's of beautiful views and rock formations, including the famous El Anfiteatro, a giant cave with spectacular acoustics. When we stopped there during our drive through the beautiful valley someone was singing opera inside,
which sounded amazing. Cafayate is a small sleepy town but also the heart of the second best known wine region of Argentina, after Mendoza. Aside from the ever present malbec this region is known for growing torrontes grapes, which make a very nice white wine (our personal favorite is the torrontes from Bodega Nanni).
The next day we drove north towards Salinas Grandes, the great salt planes. The night before I had been reading an article in the local spanish newspaper about a road that after 10 years and millions of pesos was still not paved, but I hadn't realized this was the road we were planning on taking. After more than 100 km of unpaved road in a tiny rental car we were both starting to wonder what would happen if the car would break down there in the middle of nowhere. There were almost no other cars on the road and very few inhabited areas in the hot desert like environment. On top of that we saw numerous whirlwinds coming at us which looked like giant smoke plumes of sand and dust. Luckily nothing happened and the salt planes were definitely worth the trip. Although it was
dry and hot it was spectacular to see the great lake of salt.
After two days of road trips we decided that we would make our last day in Salta a relaxed one, so we spend the afternoon at House of Jasmines. This is a beautiful estancia outside Salta, which used to be owned by Robert Duvall. The consigliere sold the place a number of years ago but it is still a very nice place to spend some time, with a great lunch followed by coffee on the porch. A nice end to a great trip to the northern part of Argentina. Only a couple of hours flying from BsAs, but it feels like a completely different world, where even the people look different, more like the indigenous people in Bolivia and Peru instead of like the spanish-italian looking people in BsAs.
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Petra
non-member comment
Terwijl ik hier mijn dagen slijt achter de balie :) geniet ik mee van jullie fantastische avonturen en foto's. Unne gooje roetsj.