Northern Argentina: Cordoba and Valles Calchaquies

After a night bus from Buenos Aires to Cordoba - the Culture Capital of the World (?) - Ross, Oli and I (Virginia) spent the first of 3 HOT days relaxing and taking long siestas in the local style, from 1 to 4:30 PM. The next morning, we were ready for a bit more activity and went to Alta Gracia, both the site of a Jesuit Estancia (ranch) and Che Guevera´s adolescent home.

We rented bikes for the afternoon, biked around in the hills, swam in a little laguna, and then visited Che Guevera´s adolescent home. It was cool, and there was stuff like the motorcycle Che rode across South America in (like in The Motorcycle Diaries).







A couple of days later, we had made it into las Valles Calchaquies, and, with a group of friends, found a nice man to drive us from a small town that I don't remember the name of to Quilmes, a really big complex of pre-Incan ruins. The Quilmes people resisted the Incas, then the Spanish for something like 100 years, until the Spanish forced them to march from Quilmes all the way to Buenos Aires (something like 1500km).  There, they created Quilmes, the typical Argentinian Beer (see previous post, part about Choripans). 


Cacti are large.

Ross and Oli eating a grapefruit in the shade.



In the ruins, there were lots of cactuces, they were really big. Round these parts, they make churches out of cactus wood, how cool is that?



Vinyards.  Good wine.  Irrigated by canal below (maybe).











Cafayate is the second largest wine producing region in Argentina.  There are lots of vinyards, and lots of wine.  We went horseback riding for an afternoon, and saw a pre-incan irrigation channel that is 12 km long, bringing water down from the mountains, that they still use to irrigate vinyards.

Horseback riding next to vinyard watering canals.

 






The next day, with lots of dutch friends, we rented bikes, put them on a bus up the Quedebra de las Conchas for 50km, then got off and biked back to Cafayate.  We saw lots of cool rocks, most of them were red like the devil, and the bike ride was really fun and scenic (and mostly downhill).

This is the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s throat).  There are many Gargantas del diablo in Argentina, and some deserve the name more than others, but this one definitely deserved it.  WHERE AM I?

Photo taken while biking!

After this adventure, Oli and I continued up the Valles Calchaquies, taking a bus and pick-up truck to Los Molinos, then to Cachi, closer to Salta.  The sidewalks there are really high off the ground, and all cobbled.

Cemetery in Los Molinos (halftway between Cafayate and Cachi)

 Bike - o - phone

BIG sidewalks.

Oli thinks that the best thing about Cachi was this contraption to the left, a megaphone-bicycle.  Later that day, we saw it in action, playing andean flute songs at full blast. We did not see anyone riding it, though.  The next morning, before catching a bus to Salta, we hiked up some cerritos (small hills) close to Cachi.

  yummy!

Our 2 days in Salta, were not that eventful.  We ate really good empanadas (the best I've ever had), saw an Incan mummy found at the top of a 6700m mountain, and visited a colonial town hall type of building.  We also looked at some crazy-painted churches.

Church

Oli in front of the Cabildo (town hall)  in Salta.