We arrived in Salta to another surpringly easy Hertz Rental car pickup. I have had real problems in the States at times with this company but here, in Argentina, the service has been spectacular. We stayed downtown just off the main square and we had a wonderful evening walking about the downtown. A traditional dance was being performed in the central square. There were also quite a few upscale shops downtown along with pedestrian-only streets full of crafts.
After a hearty breakfast at our hotel we set off for the north. We missed the winding scenic route somehow and ended up on the less scenic quick way. We stopped in Purmamarca for lunch and open markets full of blankets, pottery and leather. Katie picked up a sharp looking knockoff Northface jacket for $30 and we then had Empenadas for lunch while listening to a wonderful guitarist/ singer.
We drove on North reaching the Seven Senoritas hills. These were red clay/sandstone carved hills with slot canyons. To explore you needed to hire a guide who then led us up and into a long slot canyons for some terrific views. The elevation was already high, something like 11,000 feet so we puffed a little climbing even a short ways up the slot canyons. Many beautiful cactuses about, looking like Saguaros but not.
Our final destination was the 14 Colores del Hornocal. We found out they closed the road at 6 and the road up was an hour drive, So we found a hotel in Humahuaca. We spent a half hour trying to get to our small hotel but with 2 washed out bridges and many unmarked gravel/dirt roads it was difficult. It didn’t help that I marked the wrong hotel on Google maps so we banged on a locked door to a a place we had no reservation for. In the am we set off on a winding gravel/dirt road to the top of a scenic lookout to the painted mountains. We arrived just before 10 but no local was there to check us in, just a Toyota pickup with Colorado plates. The young man in it was indeed from Colorado, and he had been traveling for 2 years. He drove up to Alaska then all the way down to Patagonia. He was now headed to Uruguay and the end of his trip. Amazing! He did say the scariest driving was thru Mexico where he was stopped multiple times by police and the cartel, all wanting something from him. Well the scenic lookout was at 14,272 feet! Pretty good views but you needed to hike down a very steep hill then up a smaller one to get to a better viewpoint and coming back was breathtaking. Literally breathtaking.
We drove back to where we had lunch the previous day for a tortilla and we secured a hotel for the night.
We then drove out to Salinas Grande, a huge salt lake located pretty close to the border with Chile. The pass over the mountain was over 14,000 feet again! On the way up we passed a burning car that I guess overheated on the climb up. The Salt flats were white and flat. They wanted you to hire a guide to take you out on the salt flats but the parking lot was on the salt flats so we just admired the view from there.
Back to Purmamarca for dinner and sleep. While walking about town we stopped at a restaurant for a glass of wine and to listen to two guys playing music. One was a guitarist and singer. The other was a jack of all trades and fantastic at all, from singing to guitar, flute, to violin. He would sing and Katie and I would just look at each other and say OMG. We were told by a couple from Buenos Aires that the guitarist was a very famous folk singer in Argentina and if you were in Buenos Aires you would have a hard time getting a ticket to see him.
Our next day was a driving day as we were headed to Cafayate, south of Salta. Now I had read highway 68 was pretty but once in the Quebradas de Las Conchas it was like Utah on crack. Miles and miles of carved colored mountains always changing in character. The backdrop to this were the huge Andes mountains. We stopped many times for pictures but they just don’t do it justice.
Cafayate is a friendly small town known for its wine making. Once checked in to our great little hotel, we walked about the small central area and came upon a Bodega (El Transito). The door was open so we went in and ended up having a terrific tasting of local wine along with a great talk with the server. We crossed the street to see when that Bodega (Nanni) would open in the morning as it was after 6. But, the server said sit down and try our wines. So we did. Apparently this area is known for their white wine, made from the Torrontes grape and for some heavier bodied reds. The Torrontes can be made dry, semisweet and sweet. It also can be oaked and unoaked. We found it light, sometimes citrusy. Sometimes the wine had more tropical notes like pineapple. The Malbecs were good but this area is known more for Tannat which we thought was pretty good too. The server from our first tasting recommended Chacos for food and wine so we went there. A cheese platter and Olives turned out to be dinner and the wines, terrible. This guy Chaco was supposedly a Sommelier but the wines he served were all very young. Some undrinkable and all probably cost less than 5 or 10 dollars in a local store. Oh well.
The following day we had one reservation at 3pm but we set off in the am in search of a winery up on the side of a hill, Bodega Domingo Molina. The gravel road up was a bumpy half hour ride but the tasting room was stunning. If it hadn’t been so cold and windy we would have stayed outside on couches looking at the gorgeous valley in front of us, but we moved inside after a short while. The view was still good just behind some glass windows.
Very good wines here. While tasting here we contacted a large winery down the road and they were able to get us in. We drove down to their facility which was very pretty but felt like a huge production. The winery was bought a number of years ago by people from Minnesota and it feels like it in that there was no local character to it. Very uninspired tour and tasting except for the couple with us who were from Buenos Aires. Also a grey fox wandering about the grounds made Katie’s day.
We moved on down the hill to finish the tasting day at Bodega El Esteco, apparently one of the large producers in this area. We had a private tour and tasting with a guide from the area who spoke very good English. We learned much about the wine but also the local and national culture. Good wines too. We took a break until dinner which was the usual 8pm affair. We tried out the well rated Black Tote Parilla which was good but not as good as those we ate at in Buenos Aires. The meat just wasn’t as tender but it was cheaper. A couple steaks, fries, a bottle of wine and we were still less than $100. We were up walking about town the following day until an 11 am appointment at Burbujas de Altura, a sparkling and still wine producer that use Torrontes or Malbec grapes for the champgne method sparkling wine. The owner was from Norway many years ago, had worked in Napa for 3 years and now started his own family run winery in Cafayate. He toured us around his cellar explaining each step in the primarily manual labor production of his product. The end result was good for both his still and sparkling wine. He was so nice I really hope he can succeed in this tough business. He says the area in the beginning had no soil so they had to plant crops and plow them in for several years to make suitable soil. The area also has little water so he drilled down 300 feet to get a well going to irrigate his vines. Something I never thought about is their growing season. Their rainy season is in the summer so the grapes are getting wet when they are ripening. That is generally not a good thing in California. Around the winery were flocks of Monk Parakeets. Very noisy and they tend to peck apart his adobe buildings as they are a burrowing bird. They don’t eat the grapes though. Bright side!
After this terrific visit we drove out of town, up in the hills for a winery visit/lunch at Les Nubes. We had tried and tried to get a reservation but they never responded to the emails or answered the phone. Fortunately they were open and not to busy. We sat at some tables outside with views over the hills and vineyard eating their empanadas. We finished with a tasting but that was ot as inspiring as the views.
Traveling day in the morning. Filled up with gas as there would be none on the 5 hour drive. Ruta 40 is a glorious highway in Argentina that starts down at the bottom of Patagonia and runs up alongside the Andes to Bolivia. Now glorious doesn’t mean paved or two lanes. Of our 150 km drive only 30 were paved. The other 100+ was dirt and gravel i dodged large potholes, dogs, donkeys, cows, and sheep all the way. There were one lane hairpin turns and tops of hills that you couldn’t tell if there was a rode after that from the top. The scenery however was stunning. The area is called Quebradas de las Flechas (arrows) and it went on for miles. I felt we were in Radiator Springs at times or at least back on the ride in Disneyland.
We had a food and wine pairing setup just outside of the town, Cachi which was our overnight stop. We made it right on time after 5 hours of driving but in reality there were only like 4 other people there. They sat us out on a patio that looked at the Valley and Mountains.
We enjoyed a four course meal each paired with a different wine made on their property, Bodega Puna. We drove into the little town of Cachi which had paved streets (already loving it) and settled into a wonderful authentic adobe hotel. The town was delightful to walk about and Katie fell in love with some of the small jewelry vendors.
We filled the car up again for another drive thru the mountains. This time Highway 33 which crossed the Parque National los Cordones. Another stunning mountain drive. This was paved up to a pass at 11,000 feet but then back to winding gravel roads with lots of Guanocos, hairpin turns, tourist vans, and an occasional big truck. Beautiful but stressful driving.
We are back in Salta for the night then off to Mendoza tomorrow. I’ve got to turn the car in but man it is a heap of dust. That stuff got everywhere.
Oh yes dogs, I forgot to mention all the dogs out and about. They are on the streets of all towns. They are out in middle of nowhere, far from any town or house. They sometimes are lying on the side of the road, sometimes walking in the road. I did not see any dead dogs by the roads, but there were a number of dogs with a limp. Apparently they are working on it in Cafayate.
A couple other notes. There is a fellowyears ago named Gaucito Gil who apparently helped people a la Robin Hood. The truckers and other drivers on the road have erected special shrines to Gil. They leave beer and snacks and hope this aids in safe passage on the road ahead. They are all red because he died having his throat slashed??
Finally, stickers. Pretty much every sign and marker is covered with them!
To be continued from Mendoza