Northwest Argentina part 2

December 09, 2023

Northwest Argentina part 2

Our route in northwest Argentina is a bit like a squished figure-of-eight with Salta city as the central cross-over point. After we drive back south to Salta city from Humahuaca, we head out the other side to continue the second loop, this time driving further south to a town called Cafayate. About 50 kms out of town, we enter the Quebrada de las Conchas (‘ravine of shells’) and are ‘wow’ing at almost every turn. It’s a miraculous and otherworldly landscape that extends for about 45 kms. Marvellous rock formations of reds and browns and creams and pinks are everywhere you look, offset in colour by the vibrant green of the riverbed.

We return the following day to explore at a more leisurely pace. The first feature we stop at appears as a canyon from the road; a break in the rock face that recedes back. As we walk closer and begin to enter, its name starts to make sense - Garganta del Diablo, or ‘devil’s throat’ (like at Iguazu Falls). Thinking now about how to describe it, I’ve realised this is actually the best image. The ground slopes up in a series of angled rock faces and ledges, like a giant, ridged tongue, and the back of the feature is curved like the back of a massive throat. The angles of the ground and the way the light catches different elements make it really difficult to comprehend its size - it feels cosy (but not in a cramped way) as you climb up into it, and then seems to expand up and back into a cavernous amphitheatre-like structure at the back.

View into the back of the ‘throat’ from about halfway in

View out to the road from inside

I absolutely loved clambering up the various ridges to explore, and then back down again. It reminded me of the many rock scrambles I did in my youth growing up in New Zealand and on our property in the Gold Coast hinterland and I felt like a youngster again.

My other favourite feature is Los Estratos (Google Translate tells me this means ‘the strata’ but I feel like something has been lost there). It’s a little walk through a landscape like a mixed bag of lollies (many colours and shapes, and impossible to capture in a photo!) to an impressive rock formation of multiple layers…

A mixed bag of landscape lollies

The rest of the drive includes several features highlighted due to their resemblance of various things - a frog, a friar, an obelisk, a castle…

…but the landscape is stunning pretty much any which way you look. It truly is a marvel and we’re all blown away.

Back in Cafayate it’s time to visit some of the MANY wineries in the region, ranging from the small and rustic Finca Las Nubes…

…to the grand and sumptuous Piattelli, where we do a tour and a tasting…

Our final leg of this adventure in northwest Argentina involves driving north again to complete the second oval of our figure-of-eight, this time along 160km of gravel road that includes another otherworldly landscape called the Quebrada de las Flechas (‘ravine of arrows’). We nearly don’t make it as some very localised rain has created a mud slick across the road and we’re not sure our 2WD hire car will make it. We watch a couple of other 4WD/AWD vehicles splatter through and nervously game out some scenarios. There aren’t many passersby and if we got stuck in the middle, we’d effectively close the road until someone could pull us out.

Mud slick across the road and the tantalising landscape in the distance!

A couple of Danes give us the confidence to ‘gun it’ through, which we do safely and thank goodness, as otherwise we would have missed these insane views…

We have a night in the small town of Cachi. I have to say I haven’t always been delighted by the accommodation I’ve booked but this one is lovely, with a stunning view up into a green valley…