Cuesta de Miranda

On the drive to Cafayate I drove through the Cuesta de Miranda. A very nice mountain range that was red with lots of shrubs all over which gave it a very interesting red and green contrast.

Having lunch by the roadside

Cafayate

In the hostel in Cafayate I met Laszlo and Arleigh. Laszlo, a German as well, was only traveling for a short while (2 months) while Arleigh was on a sabattical as well to learn excellent Spanish for a job in trauma care for south American migrants.

Quebrada de las Conchas

I wanted to bike to the quebradas. There were some bike rental places in cafayate and the quebradas were just 12km away from the city. Easy right? Wrong. I did make it to the entrance of the quebradas; all the while fighting a strong headwind and grinding brakepads but what killed it in the end was that one of the tires ran out of air and I did not have a pump. Luckily it happened right at the last moment where I still had data reception so that I could message the owner of the rental shop and tell him that I needed a pickup.

A stroke of luck had it that I was picked up by their tour bus which meant that I got to participate in the guided tour for way less than what it would have cost usually. As a bonus, Laszlo and Arleigh were on that tour as well so I got to hang out with them some more.

Arleigh(right), Laszlo(middle) and me (left)

These walls were at a strange angle which perturbed your perception of levelness.

On the tour we got to a small goat farm that sold some souvenirs, cheese and empanadas.
Their goat cheese was made with pasteurized goat milk which gave it a very mild and smooth flavor. Needless to say, the cheese was very delicious and did not see the light of many days.

They had a Llama tied up in front that we got to feed

Siete Cascadas

Near cafayate there is a nice little hike that goes up a valley with a bunch of waterfalls. In theory you could do the trail on your own but after the fact I was happy that I had taken a guide because the trail really is not easy to follow.

I had to wait with the guides at the bottom for almost an hour because they would only go with a minimum of 2 people.

In the evening we grabbed dinner in Cafayate.

Humitas. Corn leaves filled with corn mash and spices. They are steamed with the leaves around them.

They also had some textile shops and I treated myself to a scarf made from guanaco fur.

The Dunes

Near Cafayate there are some sand dunes that we went to at night for some stargazing.

The almost full moon gave us some pretty long shadows.

Ruta 40 to Cachi

I took Arleigh and Laszlo with me to Cachi which is a couple hundred kilometers north of Cafayate. We stopped in a small town called Molino for lunch. It was siesta at the time but we found a restaurant that was open and served a killer milanesa. It was more on the expensive side but well worth the money.

In Cachi we dropped off Laszlo and Arleigh and I went to a nearby lake to camp for the night. A dude in Cafayate had given us a tip to go there. We made dinner, a campfire, emptied a bottle of wine and had a good time in general.

Salta

Laszlo stayed in Cachi while Arleigh and I continued on to Salta. Salta is the regional capital of that area and they have the Museum of high altitude archeology where they exhibit tons of inka artifacts as well as some mummies that they found on high mountains.

There were no photos allowed where the mummy was shown so here are some images from the internet that show them.

The three mummies are incredibly well preserved because they were basically constantly refrigerated at the summit of over 5000m high mountains. The right one got hit by a lighting strike which it is a bit burnt. Apart from that they almost look like they are sleeping. Quite uncanny.

The Inka would sacrifice these children as a tribute to the mountain gods to ensure that their travels through the mountains would be welcomed with good fortune. They would drug them with alcohol and coca leaves and leave them up there where they would eventually freeze. The children would have been prepared for this their whole lives though so I am sure they weren’t surprised by that.

After we visited the museum I dropped Arleigh off at the airport and continued my way north.

Cafayate, Cachi and Salta