NW Nomad

Ruta 68 Through the Quebrada de Las Conchas

Last week when the electrical storm knocked out phones and internet from Cafayate and the Quebrada down to Tafi, this guard rail was part washed over the edge in the landslide.

 

Roadblock Salta to Cafayate

Not only mudslides or gendarmaria driving through the Quebrada - Watch out for a herd of posers in the middle of the road.

Cafayate to Salta through the Quebrada in Rainy Season

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. 

Quilmes Ruins - Pachamama Museum - Tafi Del Valle

This day trip running from Cafayate has become really popular as people realise what a great variety of sites they will get in one day.

People ask - Is Quilmes Ruins worth it and I say depending on whether you like ruins. It is the most important site in Argentina and really interesting even for the hike to the top and the view across the Calchaqui Valley. Then there is the popular Pachamama Museum which people are always surprised at. They expect a typical dark two roomed space and are treated to a stone mosaic garden and history of the area. The leaflet photo shows the gate. It has been tricky when the cafe is closed as people are usually flagging from the heat and keen for a cold glass of Torrontes. The restaurants in Amaicha are not great. Now I have discovered a boutique hotel on a hill who will serve us lunch at whatever time.

Then it's on to Tafi over the Infernillo at 3000 metres above sea level. The views from halfway up across the cactus park are marvellous - it's the Nevado de Aconquija. There is a space observatory that was built to view Hailey's Comet and can be visited on summer evenings.

Tafi is a verdant summer escape for rich Tucumanos and the start of the Northern hippy trail - lots of friendship bracelets for sale. We visit a two-hundred year old estancia where they still make goat cheese in the original manner started by Jesuit monks.

A traditional Criollo Afternoon tea including homemade cheeses and dulces sets everyone up for the ride back to Cafayate. (Option of course to stay in Tafi and continue on to Tucuman for bus or flight ot to go through Catamarca towards Mendoza)

RUTA 40 - The Road from Cachi to Cafayate

I am very glad that we have the new SUV truck for taking this road between Cachi and Cafayate and also for the heavy potholes to Tafi del Valle.

This is Ruta 40 at Molinos/Angastaco. In a torrential hailstorm the road washes away into a river. Do not take a rental car through.

People were complaining again yesterday that they couldn't see the spectacular view at the 3200M high Cuesta del Obispo. Between October and February, it is quite likely to be swamped in cloud.

Plastic Rage - Recycle or Abort

New Year - New Newspaper.

The first issue of North West Nomad News is now out. It covers the five states of NOA down to Mendoza with all the questions and answers a traveller has.

One of the pet peeves of the editor is the excessive use of plastic in South America, especially bags and bottles. Patagonia has banned plastic bags in gorcery stores because of the rubbish pile ruining the landscape. Now that full on summer has arrived in NOA with temperatures ranging from 30 - 50 degrees (Yes that does say 50 degrees centigrade!) water must be consumed constantly but bottles do not need to be discarded.

This is a Christmas Tree just off the plaza in Salta constructed from plastic bottles and plastic bottle tops. Sponsored by COKE.

I haven't been able to find out what will happen to the bottles tonigh, Twelth Night (Noche de Reyes) when the Xmas hoo-hah is demantled.

Please get a steel bottle and re-use.

Tour Salta to Cafayate and Cachi

People often ask which is the best way to make this circuit of the Valles Calchaquies from Salta to Cafayate and Cachi - clockwise or anti-clockwise?

After pondering this every time I go out there, clockwise seems best for a number of reasons. Although the Quebrada de las Conchas from Salta to Cafayate looks different from every angle at every hour of the day, I think heading south may have the slight advantage.

Arriving in Cafayate in the afternoon means there's time to try out some tastings at the bodegas before supper.

Driving to Cachi is long and juddering and sometimes dangerous/boring. The best part is the Quebrada de las Flechas between San Carlos and Angastaco, closer to Cafayate. Then you can stop in Molinos for a lovely lunch and snooze to Cachi. Coming South from Cachi, there is nowhere decent for lunch if the Finca is closed as it was yesterday. It's a plate of chips in Angastaco and arrive at Arrow Gorge hot, tired and hungry.

Quebrada de las Flechas

I took a photographer client out through the Quebrada de las Flechas and he couldn't stop shooting the sky. The clouds hang like luminescent balloons, sun and rain dancing around making light play like a John Ford movie.

Taking their turn, the rock formations change constantly with every appearance of the sun peeking between clouds.

Ruta 40 - The Road from Cafayate to Cachi

'How is the road between Salta and Cachi and Cachi and Cafayate?' People frequently want to know whether they need a guide or whether they can rent a car and drive independently. For some the question is completely moot. There are people who would never want to be driven anywhere and some who enjoy the service - It's a matter of personality but it causes some scuffles on forums like Tripadvisor.

The truth is the road between Salta and Cafayate is totally paved but has some steep curves and rocks in the road from landslides. Remember that there is no insurance coverage on rental cars from Salta, if you get a flat tire orworse, you pay for it! The road between Cafayate and Cachi is only paved as far as San Carlos and then turns to rough gravel - a devil on tires. There are bends and holes and rocks in the road. It is tiring to drive as you must stay focussed and not take your eyes from the road for a moment. For this reason some people prefer to enjoy the scenery as it passes rather than 6-8 hours with eyes glued to ripio.

The Quebrada de lad Flechas (Arrow Gorge) is not to be missed but the road is narrow at places and if the rains come through and flood the road it is imperative to turn back and not try to drive through water - the dips in the sand can cause irreperable damage to the engine.

Past Cachi the road is again paved but the weather can be perilous. The beautiful Cuesta del Obispo can turn from this

 

to this in a very short period of time and it is 20km of steep curves on sand/mud descending from almost 3400 metres of altitude. I have just returned from a trip with a client who did not much enjoy the white knuckle ride along a cliff edge as trucks approached head on from two metre of visibility.

Either way the route is an amazing piece of scenery - one of the great drives of the world and not to be missed.

To Bolivia and Salar de Uyuni

We have been getting a number of requests to travel across the border into Bolivia and head down into the high desert at Salar de Uyuni. It isn't an easy undertaking - apart form the terrible roads and complete lack of services, it is always a hassle to go across the border with an Argentine car, you can't take tourists across the border between Chile and Bolivia at Laguna Colrado - you have to tranfer them to a partner agency and you can't do it at all with a rental.

The scenery is amazing but there are the same giant salt flats and high mountain lagunas in both Argentina and Chile with less hassle but some people really want to travel rough and so we went.

I wouldn't do it again - the terrain is too harsh on the car -and the driver! So we now work with a tour company running out of Iyuni and a more expensive company running from Tupiza (the advantage from Tupiza is that you miss the convoy of jeeps heading across the Salar and stopping at the same points for three days)

Bolivia doesn't have the same tourism infrastructure that Argentina has - nor the strict government controls on tourism agencies and many people come off the Iyuni tour feeling very upset with the broken promises. The secret is that you must get everything in writing and do not go if the car looks like an old banger.

The Isla de Pesca is a unique sight - an island of cacti marooned in the ocean of salt that really depicts how the salt flat was once under the sea.

The lagoons of flamingos are defintely worth seeing and are guaranteed in Bolivia whereas they are more isolated through Argentina, not used to convoys of tourists and therefore more likely to fly away, which happens regularly when we take travellers to Pozuelos.

Going solo? I would probably recommend the bus from Jujuy to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile which crosses the Salinas Grandes and passes through coloured hills. If that's merely whetted your appetite for more then the tour from San Pedro to Uyuni while more expensive will probably be more reliable.