The light in the Quebrada yesterday late afternoon was so surreal, I had to stop and get a few photos even though I only had my pocket camera (I am starting to wonder whehter there is really any difference in quality apart from lenses)
These were just snapped from the side of the road in between dancing to a bit of disco.I can't wait for the client coming this month who is an abstract photographic landscape artist - Surely he will find the best inspiration here.
Just when you thought it was safe to stop partying after La Serenata in Cafayate and Carnavales everywhere - the vendimia or grape harvest, is upon us.
For anyone travelling the North West in the next couple of weeks - Finca Las Nubes has a huge party for their harvest with participation in picking, music, food and of course vino. This year it starts at 8am on Saturday March 13th and goes on, like everything in Argentina until laaaate.
Finca Las Nubes is the divinely located Mounier Bodega located high in the hills at the top of the Divisadero/25 de Mayo street in Cafayate.
Just before that for non-wine lovers is the Festival de la Chicha on the 12-14th (Chicha being the hooch made from almost everything that grows and falls off a tree). The Festival has held in La Caldera for the last twenty years and features some of the most famous folklorico bands in the country.
So many clients have been enquiring about the Earthquake aftermath effects I can advise that Salta is fine for visitors. Both earthquakes were felt in Cafayate. I woke up to the wardrobe door squeaking back and forth like a horror film and something else banging around in another bedroom from the undulations caused by Chile. The Salta quake was epicentred in La Merced outside Salta on the route to Cafayate and was much stronger for being so much closer. The floor and walls shaking, the furniture all wobbling and falling over. It was a 6.1 Richter scale, a seperate quake not an aftershock from Chile and although two people died in Salta and people felt headaches after, por suerte nothing worse has ensued.
The Cathedral in Salta was swarmed with people demanding the doors be opened, probably wanting solace from the same Saint that inspires a pilgimage of half a million people each year for her miracle in stopping the huge earthquakes in the 17th Century.
Recently there were festivals to Pachamama in various pueblos. Most celebrate in August with the burning of the herbs and offerings of pop and cigarettes, but some wait until February when the festival is combined with Carnaval.
Just returned from over two weeks solid on the road including the 1000 miles to Buenos Aires (and 1000 miles back) and culminating in waking up to the earthquake in Chile and feeling the 6.3 that hit Salta this afternoon. Began with a circuito of the Valles Calchaquies with three lovely Canadians who weathered everything, including a stint in Cafayate's hospital for one. Never underestimate the quantity of water required at this altitude and with the high desert sun. Before travelling, they had inquired whether to rent a car or be guided by me of for which routes. I recommend the Northern part - Purmamarca and Salinas and Tilcara for driving alone as the road is paved, mostly highway and very friendly compared to the steep curves and ripio in the south. I inquired at the end of the trip whether they would have done it alone, Salta to Cafayate, to Tucuman and to Cachi and Salta and they said no.
It was unfortunate that the hotel had experienced a tidal wave of mud when the river flooded down the mountain and was still suffering the damage from being waist deep in mud. Tourists had to wait two days at the hotel for their rental companies to send out a new car from Salta after the mud rolled the car over. Buenos Aires rained every day with 97% humidity. A month of rain fell in an hour and a half causing flooding and blackouts. People were riding down Santa Fe Avenue on surfboards. It was a relief to leave and take the open road.
Catamarca has a salt flat that's a little soggy but the road and sky are wide open. Take the autopista into Tucuman to avoid driving through the villa and having kids chuck rocks at the car. Tucuman is bigger and better equipped but doesn't have the visitor infrastructure that Salta does - it's almost impossible to find a decent value for money hotel - as it is in Cordoba.
Taking the road out of town and turning into Las Sosas is a dramatic and delightful change. This must be one of the loveliest drives.
There's a reason it's called cloud forest.
Sometimes the road falls into the river but at least lower down it's sunny.
Up higher, the cloud envelops the trees like fingers in tangled hair and the steep switchbacks on the precipice cause visitors to crawl along at 10km.
Once you emerge and observe what you have driven through, the view of the cloud below the horizon is magical and the people in Tafi del valle are super friendly.
Climbing again to 3000metres to the infernillo outside of Tafi, the road is still full of potholes. The view at the top is marred by plastic bottles and rubbish even though all the land is owned by one very prominent family.
People are not always happy driving along this narrow precipice cut into the side of the mountain.
But the view across the cactus park to the Nevado de Aconcagua is spectacular especially in the afternoon.
Only a few floods across the road but check the depth to be sure before driving through very slowly.
It's early this year thanks to the unusual heat and lack of rain. They are already out in the Cafayate vineyards picking the Torrontes grapes.
At the Domingo Hermanos Bodega visitors are now getting a tour of production. Today they were unloading trucks full of grapes into a sorter. The Bodega is one of the nicest located in the centre of town so no transport is needed to get out into the hills.
The bunches were put through the wringer and somehow magically divested of their stalks which were then spat back out while the fat little fruit spun on down into the vat.
It will be a couple more weeks before the red merlot, malbec and cabernet grapes are perfectly ready and then the big harvest party at Finca Las Nubes. For real wine enthusiasts, we run a tour moving from Cafayate through the Quebrada de las Flechas (Gorge of Arrows) towards Cachi. Stopping at Molinos we head to Colome and Tacuil to sample some of the finest wines at the world's highest altitudes.
Purmamarca is growing rapidly. It seems every week there is a new boutique hotel or restaurant (now an artensans mall also). It is also firmly fixed on the Hippy Trail in the North West which means that in Januarand February, it is crammed with bourgeois Porteno teens sporting dreadlocks for the summer and camping in private gardens.
Everyone comes to see the Hill of Seven Colours into which the pueblo is cradled. It's a nice 2-hour walk around the back of the hill, emerging on the other side of the town. What I make every effort to avoid when escorting visitors is the mass of tour buses letting people off for ten minutes.
Salinas Grandes - the Salt Flats - is a stunning 70km drive over the Cuesta de Lipan and there are more tour buses that will take you from Purmamarca. I don't understand why anyone would want to spend their trip stuffed into a minivan and let out at the rigidly proscribed spots for a fast snapshot.
Natural beauty needs to be enjoyed with solitude and with the right light for taking photographs. There is a gentle hill to climb above the pueblo and watch the seven colours change in the light.
And then it's back to the marketplace.
Not only mudslides or gendarmaria driving through the Quebrada - Watch out for a herd of posers in the middle of the road.
A huge rainfall through the night on Tuesday/Wednesday and I had to take clients through the Quebrada at 6am. 'You'll never make it', everyone said. Government offices called so we had to go. Mudslides were everywhere. Part of the road had slid over the cliff, taking the guardrail along but the truck made it over the mud and the tractors were already on their way through schlumping out the mess.
Arriving in Salta, the car had to go instantly to the lavadero - it was covered in iron-rich red mud. On the way back, the Quebrada was incredibly vibrant, like a woman newly in love, its colours were glowing. Even though she lives in Cafayate, the client was in awe. The quebrada changes with every turn of light or weather - you never get tired of looking at it.
Don Gutierrez, the owner of the lovely Posta de Las Cabras, the halfway point between Salta and Cafayate - try the grilled home made goat cheese and the yummy cakes - said that all the tour buses they usually stop there at 5.30pm, had not been able to get back through the quebrada until 10pm the night before.
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