Cordoba, Cafayate and the Quebrada de las Flechas - April9/14, 2011

We have left San Luis and we head out to Cordoba. The road is splendid. We drive through La Toma, the world capital of Onyx. Move on, nothing to see ! This time, at night, we stop in a camping where we are alone and it's great ! Does not Alain look happy ?

The night was cold, but the owner had lended us a couple of blankets . We drive on and the road is still very pretty. However, Cordoba, the second largest city of Argentina is neither very pretty nor clean. Its central public park is full of empty bottles, broken glass, plastic bags. In fact, it looks like there is no money to maintain the city. The museum of the Memory is closed. In short, we are disappointed and leave Cordoba very quickly. We have now decided that instead of heading straight to Iguazu Falls, we have enough time to go to Salta, in the North West of Argentina.

Between Cordoba and Belen, a lot of driving, another 660 kms. We are again in a scenery of mountains full of cacti. We also discover olive plantations. As we are over 1000 meters, it's chilly at night and we opt for hotels again instead of camping.

From Belen to Tafi del Valle, the road is surprising as we are crossing some streams and climbing up to 2100 meters. Tafi del Valle will probably become more touristic in the future. We then discover Cafayate, a small town with the highest vineyard in the world. We visit the Wine Museum, very modern, with a lot of reading, but very interesting. We spend another evening in a restaurant and we are happy with the food, this time.




 

The Quebrada de Cafayate (de las Conchas) is spectacular. We have seen many canyons in the past, but the colours here are stunning !

The sun is shining, like yesterday and it's hot again. We finish our day by another wine tasting, at Las Nubes, where we taste 3 wines, a white Torrontes (this is what makes Cafayate famous), a rose and a red Cabernet (20%) Malbec (80%). The visit of the vineyard is quick, not much to say, 22 hectares of vineyard, 6 employees year round, and the harvest organized in one day where visitors are invited to participate.

We end up spending the night with Julien and Dagmar and the owners of the Hospedaje where we are staying, Jean-Paul and his wife, Gloria.

We start again the Ruta 40 towards Cachi. The first 40 kms were okay, but the remaining 150 kilometers to Cachi are done on a gravel road. However, it is worth it as we cross the Quebrada de Las Flechas and this is one of the place where the Paris Dakar was for its 2011 edition. Absolutely stunning views, we stopped for a few minutes to soak the scenery into our brains !

Unfortunately, time moves on and it's time to be On the Road Again to our next destination, Cachi.