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.
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.
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.
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.
'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.
From Cafayate it is a hoppity skip across the unmarked and unpoliced provincial border into Tucuman - where in summer you have to change your clock again as they elect to keep time with Capital.
There is a fairly drastic change in the landscape and even the light. It's a long drive to 3200 metres above sea level so a guided tour is best for the day. However, the local bus out of Cafayate chugs along to all the points of interest - just not in one day.
First stop on a day trip are the Inca ruins at Quilmes - open again after the dispute with the local tribe. This is a historically interesting large site of terraces, much less reconstructed than the Pukara at Tilcara.
Next stop is Amaicha del Valle where we visit the Museo de Pachamama - An impressive building created by an artist and a shrine to his work. There is an interesting guided tour in Spanish showing the formation of the geographical layout and the tribes who lived there.
Then we drive across the mountains and down into Tafi del Valle - the Garden of the Province. Green and verdant, Tafi is the summer refuge for rich folks from San Miguel de Tucuman - the capital, which regularly hits 40 degrees on the thermometer. Clients may elect to stay the night and next day take a trek from Tafi in 4x4s or on horseback.
I persuade all guests to continue on from Tafi to pass through the Natural Reserve 'La Sosa' - which must be emulating Heaven - its hills covered with cascades of trees and ferns. We either return to Cafayate after a stop in the verdant silence - or drop clients in S.M. de Tucuman to continue their journey back to Salta ciudad or otheoints in Argentina.
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