#planless

But first! Some photos from the first few days of the road trip, to bring us up to date:

Day 1 – The road trip begins

Day 2 – Colours and white

a wacky argentinian hitchhiker we picked up on the way. what he lacked in shoes, he made up for with his smile and pungent aroma.

  Day 3 – The only hotel in town

  So anyway, where did Kim leave us? Ah, yes – the night in an empty hotel in Rosario de Lerma… so let’s pick up from there. Turn to page 47 of your textbooks and we’ll get started. Yes, this will be in the test.

  Day 4 – Sallamalami

From: Rosario de Lerma Destination: Cachi Stops: Lots of viewpoints in the middle of nowhere Distance Travelled: 140km Hours Driven: 3

We left RDL at about 10:30 the next morning and headed straight for the hills, winding up a contorted road and cutting across the patchy grassland that draped itself across much of the increasingly steep, increasingly empty, increasingly jagged mountain-scape. And then, just like a video game loading a new area of the map, the mountains parted and we found ourselves on open plains once more. We had reached the plateau, and although mountains were still all around, they were half way to the horizon – none close to the scale or proximity of the mountains we had climbed to get here. (Did they manage to maintain the same proximity? Nope – they didn’t even come close.) Looking out at the vast empty plains before us, we were struck by the need to stock up on calories, and so we stopped to pick up some spicy cheese and llama salami from a roadside stall. Let me pause here for a second here to convey something important: Sallamalami is delicious. Especially when combined with spicy cheese. You’d better write that down, actually, just in case you forget.

We busted into Cachi at full speed, our wheels bumping up onto tarmac and finally allowing the dust to settle behind us. Pulling over, we stepped out of air conditioned comfort and into the prickling, baking heat. Cachi was a clean, well-kept mud-building village, but only had enough pretty churches, town squares, tourist shops and cafes to fill an hour or so (see pics). We decided to move on, but when we realised there wasn’t time to make it to Cafayate before dark, I asked at a snazzy cafe that served burnt coffee if there was somewhere nearby to stay. Turns out, there was a hostel attached to the cafe, and no-one staying there. When I mentioned we didn’t have enough for the (overpriced) private room, but that we would happily take two cheaper beds in a dorm, the man responded by giving us the private for the price of the dorm beds. Win!

As golden hour closed in, we set out with our bags along a small dirt road out of town and up a nearby hill, past the town’s graveyard. (They like to put their dead up high here – closer to the gods and all that.) Moving past the graveyard, we continued along the plateau and out on to the highway. We wandered aimlessly (as my mum would say, pottering about), spotting tiny insects and unusual looking foliage, and collecting the most colourful rocks we could find. And what colours! Look, I’m no geologist, but I know what I like. And the rocks out here are just amazing (see pic on its own below).

We stalked an owl for a bit, chased scurrying lizards, and scrambled down into a dry creek bed to find our way back to town where we met up with a Dutch couple I had chatted with earlier in the day. The conversation flowed over great food and what must have been even better wine; before long it was time to stumble drunkenly back to our empty hostel and into bed.

a massive dust-load on our hirecar after a few days in the desert

Day 5 – And again, it all changes

From: Cachi Destination: Cafayate Stops: Various viewpoints, including a spectacular one at Angastaco, over the amazing jagged rock formations. Distance Travelled: 160km Hours Driven: 3.5

The (it turns out, coffee-crazed) Dutchman and his girlfriend appeared out our hostel the next morning with a travel-sized espresso coffee press and three types of ground coffee for us to choose from. It was, no exaggeration, the best coffee I’d had since leaving London. Tastebuds AND caffeine addiction appeased, we hit the road again – this time in the direction of Cafayate. The view seemed almost too familiar for the first hour or so (just enough to warrant comment) but then it all changed. Huge jagged shards and waves of rock suddenly plunged out of the earth, decorating the landscape like the ribs from the remains of a whole herd of unimaginably massive ancient creatures. And then, with time, these too cleared away, until we were left with just a mountain range to our left, covered with fast-moving clouds that seemed to enjoy folding over it and disappearing. We stopped so I could try my hand at a little timelapse photography, and for a first attempt, with each photo taken manually (rather than on a timer), I think it didn’t turn out too badly at all. There would be more of these to come… and you’ll see them all together in one big video at some point.

We pulled into Cafayate as darkness closed in, a small, clean town full of overpriced tourist restaurants serving tourist-friendly “traditional” food. I’m still not sure if the one meal we splashed out on (US$15 per person or so, FAR above our normal budget) was, traditionally-speaking, supposed to taste awful or if we were just unlucky. I assume the latter, but then again perhaps they like their food rubbery, dry, soggy and tasteless around these parts. If you ate here, let us know about your culinary experience: which is tastier? a) The food in Cafayate; or b) A lightly salted shoe. In all seriousness though, perhaps avoid the tourist restaurants on the square… or at least do some research first.

is this two tectonic plates colliding!?

Day 6 – Wine region

Destination: Same spot – our second night in Cafayate (one would have been enough, really). Stops: Wineries (expensive), goat cheese farm (closed), nature walk. Distance Travelled: Negligible Hours Driven: Negligible

Most of the things we tried to see in Cafayate, like the goat cheese factory and winery, were closed so we really stayed a day too long here. Oh, and I should mention that the weather seems to remain cloudy much of the time here because of the nearby mountains. Well, that’s what we observed, and what a hostel owner told us is pretty standard all-year-round. It’s not the world’s prettiest place, so I recommend just one night here. That said, I’ll cover a couple of things:

The wineries surrounding Cafayate all wanted to charge a small fortune (about US$5) to taste about a thimble-full each of five different wines. So in protest, we decided on a cheaper option at a shop in town and more thoroughly tasted a bottle each.

We also drove out to a nearby walking trail where we wandered up into the hills, following alongside a river and complicated network of aqueducts. It was a lovely secret spot, but I said I’ll keep this short… so instead of more words, here are some pics:

street dogs love you when you’re eating

Day 7 – Crashing back to reality

From: Cafayate Destination: Salta Stops: El Anfiteatro, various viewpoints Distance Travelled: 200km Hours Driven: 3

We left town with three hitchhikers and their bags crammed in the back like meaty, clothy Tetris. The two Germans and an Austrian came with us to El Anfiteatro, an impressively large crevice water-carved out rock over (presumably) millions of years. But once we had left this beautiful spot, most of Day 7 was spent returning to civilisation; watching the forest fall behind us and the wide open plains slowly fill with more and more houses until, finally, we were back to Salta, and in a hostel full of embarrassingly young, drunk Europeans.

We returned the car the next morning, and when we realised the pass to Chile was closed due to heavy snowfall, changed our plans and headed to the Bolivian border instead. Chile would have to wait for another time, when we could explore it properly.