Salta and Cafayate

Last stop in Argentina before going to Chile again. The bus ride takes 36 hours and doesn’t even go all the way to Salta. At two in the morning, the bus stops about 80 km from Salta, and the next bus only goes at five… What else is there to do than to sleep at the station, or at least try to sleep. Salta itself is a nice town, Salta la Linda (the beautiful), is what the inhabitants call it. I walk around in the center and book a tour to Cafayate on the next day. The weather was not that good so the photos are a bit grey too.

photos Salta

Cafayate is in the Southern part of the Calchaqui valley. Getting there is a 170km long bus ride through the most amazing landscape, red rocks, different rock formations such as the nail, the Titanic, the Amphitheatre, the gorge (or throat) of the devil, the priest, castle formations and Lamas! This region is also known for its wine, 70% white, 30% red, grown at almost 2000m of altitude. It gets this special taste when the grapes freeze at night. It is called Torrontes wine and is delicious. We visit a Bodega called Vasija Secreta which produces the Vas wine and stroll around in Cafayate for a couple of hours before returning to Salta.

photos Cafayate