Salta, known as the Beautiful, was not living up to its name in the morning, thanks to persistent rain. So we changed our plans, and rather than exploring the city we decided to move onto our next destination.
But before that, some admin: money changing, and car hiring, during which Jemima and I took the opportunity to slope off to Salta Cathedral. Avoiding giant puddles, we made it to the main square with a pretty pink cathedral exterior - but nothing compared to the incredibly ornate interior, sparkling with gold leaf, candles, lights and paintings - really spectacular. I said a little prayer (I’m not really religious, but any house of worship, whether Christian, Muslim or Roman, still feels reverent), and we puddle-hopped back to the hotel, where Kevin had everything organised (thank you Kevin!).
And that was the start of our road trip! We left grey-skied Salta behind us, and headed out into the countryside.
This was when things started looking really different. We passed through villages of low buildings, often covered in colourful sign painting, on flower-lined streets with stray dogs running about. (I noticed the bins were all a strange design: a wire basket raised up to chest height by a pole, maybe to stop the dogs getting at the rubbish?)
Thanks to the rain the streets were often flooded, with brown water flowing through them, and the rivers themselves looked angry and churned up. There were a few cyclists, looking very sorry for themselves as they pedalled stoically past the fields of sweetcorn, and some other crop, with big fat leaves, maybe a type of potato? And around it all, mountains, shrouded in cloud, getting ever-nearer.
Our first stop was lunch at Terrazas del Lago, a little restaurant overlooking Cobra Corral, an 11,500 hectare reservoir. I’m sure on a sunny day it would have been stunning - even overcast it was pretty, with lots of what looked like houseboats moored out in the bay (with an extremely friendly resident dog, who sat on Kevin’s feet most of the meal).
Then onwards, and upwards, with green hills transforming into spectacular red spiky mountains. This road is famous for its miradors - viewpoints - and weird rock formations, like the Toad, or the Ravine of the Shells. We tried to stop at them all throughout the afternoon, which meant we ended up overtaking a tanker full of water on three separate occasions.
The first one was the best: because it was particularly spectacular, but also because of the surprise. We pulled off the main road into a rough open area, and you could suddenly see a humongous curving cleft in the red rock ahead: The Devil’s Throat.
It got more impressive the closer you got, with stripy rocks towering above you in a beautifully organic shape. Crazy people had ignored the “prohibido” sign and were climbing up the sheer rock face (not looking like experienced climbers, it was hard to watch!) - but we contented ourselves with the nearer perspective. It was good enough…
The rest of the drive included more of these, from the Amphitheatre (another crack in the rock), to Tres Cruces, or three crosses, with panoramic views over the mountains, red with iron oxide, and the green river plain below. (I have MANY photos of rocks, not all of which are fascinating…) And weirdly, various farm animals along the side of the road, seemingly alone: a few cows here, a donkey, or a pig and piglets there…
And then, finally, having gone from 1100m altitude in Salta up to 1800m; and a 3.5 hour direct drive having taken 6.5 with stops; the mountains suddenly opened, and we were in Cafayate, a very pretty little town famous for wine.
We found our hotel - what looked like a charming little villa, formerly (currently?) a residence, with an inconspicuous frontage opening into two pretty courtyards and multiple rooms off them.
Then dinner: after a walk around the town, we ended up in one of its many restaurant-combo-wineries, where we had a mixed meal - some great (Kevin’s fried cheese starter, my empanadas (yes more) and beef brisket); some less so - Jemima’s “high altitude gnocchi”, Kevin’s osso bucco (although you couldn’t pay me to eat osso bucco…). But a lovely location, and lovely wine - a different glass for each choice. Which bodes well for tomorrow - we’re wine-tasting!
Salta in the rain:
Salta Cathedral:
The road trip begins! (In the rain…):
Embalse Cabra Corral:
The start of the mountains:
The Devil’s Throat:
The Amphitheatre:
Tres Cruces:
Mountainside shrines:
A surprised donkey:
The sudden end of the mountains:
Cafayate:
Bin on a pole:
Dinner:
Kevin playing UNO with me because Jemima was desperate to finish her book:
Steak sword! (Another table were having steak, and it was served with this knife in a silver holder - like Excalibur, one of the people said. Jemima couldn’t resist having a go…):
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