Driving in Argentina

We hired a car for five days - driving in Argentina is quite an experience! We started out from Salta and David bravely did the first stint of driving out of the city. There were very few road signs and the road was full of pot holes; fortunately it was a Sunday morning and very quiet, but there were still enough crazy drivers around to make driving quite a challenge! Once out of the city and on more country roads, it was much more relaxing. I took over once things got quieter, only to run out of tarmac fairly quickly! Driving on gravel was interesting, and I soon found myself driving up hairpin bends to the top of a pass, up through the enchanted valley, where we got some great views of the surrounding countryside - rolling hills with cacti, and more coloured rock formations pushing up from the ground in all directions.

We drove on to Cachi where we stayed the night - a lovely colonial town out in the middle of nowhere, with snowcapped mountains as a backdrop. Here is the view from the window...

The next day we drove for five hours on gravel or 'ripio' - we had wondered how we´d cope, but we both really enjoyed it. You soon get used to the bumpy surface, and it meant we could drive down through the Calchaquies valley - past yet more rugged landscapes, with amazing rock formations. I think we´re going to take up rally driving when we get back!

We eventually reached Cafayate where we stayed two nights. This is a small town right in the heart of the wine growing area, surrounded by vineyards, with the vines going a lovely autumnal colour. Back on tarmac now, we spent a day visiting some nearby pre-inca ruins at Quilmes - once a town of 6,000 indigenous people, eventually wiped out by the Spanish. Although interesting, we could have done with a bit more info on what we were looking at! A visit to a nearby museum afterwards helped a bit.

The next day, we drove back to Salta via the Quebrada de las Conches - an amazing gorge, where at every turn, you find yet more views of different coloured rocks and formations. It took us hours to drive throughout as there were so many photo opportunities!

We then stayed to the north of Salta, in San Lorenzo, for the last two nights with the car. It´s a pleasant place but we weren´t really there long enough to explore the surrounding countryside.

Up early the next morning, so we could head north to Purmamarca and Tilcara. We headed first for Tilcara and visited another pre-Inca settlement, which was similar to but better organised than Quilmes. Up here inthe mountains it feels very different as most people are indigenous and lifestyle is very rural. We then headed for Purmamarca - a village with a stunning backdrop of the hill of seven colours - you guessed it, yet more coloured rocks! We walked around the hill and the early evening light really brought out the red and orange colours.

Then for a long drive back, delayed by the road being closed because of filming, and the last few hours drive back in the dark were very scary - David drove, and I gripped the door handle as tight as I could! We´d been fine during the day, but at night when you`re not sure where you´re going, with very few road signs and some very agressive Argentinian drivers, it´s a very different experience.

The next morning we returned the car in one piece, and took a bus to La Quiaca where we would cross into Bolivia. Ah, so nice to be back on a bus... hmmm!

Salta and the Tren a las Nubes

Salta
We had two days in Salta - one of the best preserved colonial towns in Argentina. We arrived early evening and began our stay with a stroll through the main plaza with its ornate pink cathedral. And thanks to Lonely Planet we found a great restaurant with very delicious beef.

The following day we explored the city - it's not huge and is easy to do on foot - and by cable car to get good views down onto the city.

In the evening we enjoyed another great meal, this time a bit further out in more of a locals restaurant, where we shared a portion of filet mignon which was more than enough for the two of us!

Tren a las Nubes
On our last day in Salta we had pre-booked tickets to take the Tren a las Nubes up into the Andes. This is a tourist train that only runs on Saturdays, so we had carefully planned our trip to coincide with this. We had to be at the station by 6am and we set off at 7am - and we steadily climbed up to 4,200m way up in the Andes.

As the train chugged up the tiny tracks, we were served snacks, and were given information about the places we passed and what to look out for. There were of course numerous photo opportunities and the weather behaved for us, with blue skies and sunshine. We started out in lush cloud forests and then gradually the trees and bushes diminished leaving only rocks and cacti, and eventually only rocks. We got some great views of snowy peaks over 5,000m, and even I got quite excited about the engineering involved in building a railway track in this terrain - including a viaduct at 4,200m at the end of our journey, near the Chilean border.

We took the bus down, arriving back in Salta at about 9.30 - it would have taken two more hours to go back by train. A very long day, but worth it for the experience!

Tafi del Valle

From La Rioja we were faced with another bus challenge. None of our next potential destinations were far enough away for an overnight bus - not without going beyond Salta, our destination in a few days' time. So in the end we spent a quiet day in La Rioja with a proper lunch in a nice restaurant being the highlight. And then we caught a late afternoon bus to Tucuman, arriving at midnight, and checking into a very nice hostel - booked at the last minute and surprisingly nice. Then back on another bus first thing the next morning for a three hour drive up into the mountains, past really lush forests with trees that we didn't recognise. The bus slowly climbed up through the valley and we eventually reached a more arid plateau with mountains all around. Tafi del Valle is a small town at 2,100m - quite a touristy trekking centre and out of season a bit on the quiet side! We had booked into a b&b just outside the town - a lovely old country house owned by an Argentinian artist and his French wife. Our room was lovely - and including a geode sculpture in the entrance!

We managed a walk up into the hills that afternoon, surviving too much attention from the local dog community. And it was a good thing to go up for the views as the next day was damp and cloudy. We walked nonetheless but kept fairly low, and we had a surprisingly nice time given the weather, seeing flamingos, owls, lapwings, and something like a woodpecker. As well as damp and cloudy, it was cold - especially in the morning and at night - this is when you realise it's autumn.

Next morning we were on another bus - this time to Cafayate and then another one to Salta - through some more amazing scenery - first a climb up over more mountains and once at over 3,000m we were above the clouds, then down through more arid rocky landscapes with a huge number of cacti, then down into the Cafayate valley with endless vineyards with a backdrop of mountains of many different colours - scenery that we plan to return to after Salta.

Ischigualasto and Talampaya

It took a bit of effort to get to these two national parks, but we made it and both parks were stunning in different ways - I'll let the photos speak for themselves!

Ischigualasto

Talampaya

San Juan to La Rioja

San Juan
About two hours north of Mendoza is the rather underwhelming city of San Juan. There's nothing wrong with it; it's a smaller version of Mendoza, with lots of shops and lively in the evening. But if you don't want to shop there's not a lot to do other than sit in the plaza and watch the world go by, which is what we did. Though most people hanging out in the plaza were teenagers, so we felt rather old!

We had come to San Juan to see if we could get out to some more rural places, either Barreal or La Union, or to find a tour. But after a good few hours of researching buses and tours, and various options on the Internet, we decided it was going to entail too many long bus journeys at antisocial times, when we weren't sure what we'd find at the other end. So we decided to take a bus to La Rioja the next day, where we hoped to find better options.

So we're now getting to know the bus stations of Argentina! A lot of the long-distance buses leave very early in the morning or travel over night. But as we wanted to see the countryside we've been travelling by day, but two days in a row is probably enough for now! The country is huge and we're now in the 'Cuyo' or desert region which sweeps up along the east of the Andes. So the views consist of very straight roads, the odd bus station in a dusty town, desert and rocks and the odd tree - and repeat for several hours! And we've had distant views of the foothills of the Andes accompanying us all the way. As we've headed more north-east, the landscape has become less desert and more green with more trees and vineyards growing in the red earth. And it's hard to believe it's autumn here as the leaves are only just starting to turn, and it's so warm and sunny - way into the 20s most of the day. Though noticeably colder in the morning and night, which is a bit of a clue. And it's in the high 40s in the summer, so this is cool for the locals!

La Rioja
La Rioja is the provincial city but it's small in comparison to other cities we've visited, and is has a slow-paced feel about it. A nice central plaza, but unfortunately for us not a tour office in sight! It's a bit off the tourist trail. Fortunately we found a tourist office and although they said that all the tour offices were closed all weekend, we found some other people looking for a tour and the tourist office put us in touch with a guide. Several hours later we were booked onto a tour for the next day of the two national parks we wanted to visit - with five other Argentinians. Result!



First week in Argentina

Hola!
We arrived in Argentina a week ago and we've hardly stopped yet. Finally made it to an internet cafe, so here's a summary of our adventures so far...


Buenos Aires
We spent the first two days in Buenos Aires, a friendly and relaxing city, so a nice start to the trip. Though we were greeted by damp grey weather for our first day, but we walked for miles nonetheless! We started with the famous Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada, only a couple of blocks away from our hotel, thanks to David's air miles! 

Then through the main shopping area and out to Recolleta to visit the cemetery and Evita's grave. Finally back to the centre and across about 20 lanes of Avenida 9 de Julio!

 

After a quick pitstop back at the hotel we headed for Palermo and wandered around the designer shops but decided not to revamp our wardrobes.Then for a very nice dinner in a local restaurant that had the best empanadas in the city, apparently! I'm no empanada expert, but they were very nice especially when washed down with some lovely malbec. We finished the evening with a stroll through Plaza de Mayo to see Casa Rosada illuminated - in pink, of course!
 

Our second day, my birthday, was a gorgeous sunny day with a bright blue sky! And so we moved from monochrome to colour, helped by a visit to La Boca and its colourful houses. Time for a beer in the sunshine and we started to feel more like we were on holiday! 




 
Then for a walk through San Telmo and the antiques shops, and on to the redeveloped port area and a nature reserve, by which time we were ready for a break from all the walking! 

In the evening, David treated me to a lovely tango show and dinner in an old, traditional cafe near the hotel. I don't think we've mastered all the tango moves as yet!



Iguazu
Up early the next day for a flight to Iguazu, right up in the north of Argentina. A complete change of scenery, climate and pace! We landed at the little Puerto Iguazu airport, surrounded by lush green forest, and even in the morning it was warm and humid. We spent the afternoon visiting Iguazu Falls on the Brazilian side which was easy to get to by bus. We were excited by our first glimpse of the falls and things just kept getting better as more falls revealed themselves around every corner! Most of the time was spent viewing the falls from a distance, getting a good perspective on things. Though some of the walkways allowed us to get quite close - and quite damp! And all the colourful butterflies were amazing!

 














We spent the whole of the next day on the Argentinian side and we really needed the whole day - we were both surprised that you could spend two days looking at waterfalls, but that's what friends and guidebooks had advised - and they were right, David persuaded me that we needed to get there early to see wildlife, so we were in the park by just after 9. We started with a path through the forest and saw monkeys, capybarras (we think - they look like giant guinea pigs with loing legs!), possibly a sloth (it was hiding in the foliage, so hard to tell), and lots of birds, butterflies and insects that seemed to prefer biting me rather than David. 

Then we headed out to the falls again, this time getting closer via walkways that took us to the botom to look up, and over the top to look down - we also took a boat across to an island for yet another perspective on things. After all the rain a few days before, there was plenty of water and everything was so lush and sparkling - beautiful.

 














We finished the tour with a trip out to look down over Devil's Throat, where the power of the water was awesome.

Mendoza
Most of the next day was spent flying to Mendoza (via Salta) and we watched the landscape change from lush green forests and huge rivers, to flat plains with massive fields, and finally to red, dusty rock and desert, with the Andes as a backdrop. This would be our home for the next three days...

We were welcomed to Mendoza by the ministry of tourism with a free taxi ride into the centre and a bottle of wine, so things started well. Though by the time we arrived at our self-catering flat, we were tired, and the trip to the supermarket to find things to cook proved a bit daunting - so we ended up with pizza. Slightly better than other pizzas we suffered in Iguazu, but still slightly strange - the Italian influence is not so obvious when it comes to pizza!

The next morning we were feeling more energetic again and we explored the city - a bit of a concrete jungle in places as most of the city had been destroyed by earthquakes, but there were some pelasant squares to wander round, and as with Buenos Aires, everything was very relaxing andf friendly. It's the fourth biggest city in Argentina, with a population of about 1.8 million, and it's a bustling city even if there's not much to visit.

We booked ourselved onto a wine tour in the afternoon and headed for Maipu and its vineyards. We were taken to two wineriers - one fairly new one, where we tasted torrentes, malbec, and even carmenere which is rare in Argentina (and not as good as the stuff we'd tasted in Chile!) - and then an old winery set up by an Italian immigrant in 1910 - where we tasted sweet wines - white and red sparkling wines, some marsala and something else that was rather too sweet. None of the wines we tasted are exported to Europe, and unfortunately there's no room in our rucksack to bring any home!

 














Next it was time to head up into the Andes - we're so close to Chile and it's only about six hours by bus to get to Santiago! We'd booked onto a day trip into the mountains, which meant another early start, but it was worth it as we saw the sun rise and enjoyed early morning clear views of the mountains as we drove along Ruta 7, which is the main road up into the mountains and into Chile. First up through the foothills and then up into the Andes proper - good to be back! There has already been some new snow and parts of the Aconcagua national park has been closed as there have already been a number of climbing accidents. But even though we didn't get right to the Chilean border, we got great views of Aconcagua before the clouds came in. And we walked for about 1.5 hours at 3,000 meters and didn't feel too bad - some gentle acclimatisation! On the way back we got some lovely clear views of the colourful rocks - red, orange, black, grey, green, cream - and lower down in the valleys, the lovely autumn colours of the poplar trees that are grown to provide shelter from the sun and wind - thanks to all the irrigation channels that run through the desert.

 














Now it's time to head north and we're booked onto a bus to San Juan later today. We're not entirely sure where after that as we're yet to work out what's possible by bus. We know we need to be in Salta in about a week's time...