Day 7: Cachi

We woke up at six and stumbled downstairs for Legado's personalized breakfast--hot medialunas and scones fresh from the oven and our first sip of mate.

Noe arrived at seven in his trusty red car, and we headed to Cachi. Along the way, he pointed out half-domed bird's nests built atop cacti. We arrived at the Valle Encantado and were disappointed to find it completely fogged in. We had hoped to spend some time hiking amid the valley's reputedly eerie landscape, searching for early spring wildflowers.

We continued on to the salmon colored Colorados de Seclantas, where we stopped to take pictures, then spent some time wandering among the cacti at Parque Nacional Los Cardones.

We arrived in Cachi around mid-day and had a delicious lunch at El Solar del Convento. We tucked into provoleta (a grilled cheese appetizer) and the most tender roast goat we had ever tasted.

After we checked in at Hotel Cortijo, a homey little place with a charming staff, we decided to take on a 6 kilometer walk to the nearby village of La Aguada. We gave ourselves three hours to make it to La Aguada, and Noe agreed to pick us up from there at 5 p.m.

The walk to La Aguada was scenic and peaceful. Along the way, we passed verdant fields, small farms and vineyards, and purplish-blue mountains that reminded my friends of the Rockies. We also encountered an enormous flock of wild parrots swooping down to perch on the cacti.

The locals we passed all waved to us from their houses, and one goat farmer came out to chat with us. Even though we had a difficult time understanding his Quechuan-inflected Spanish, he seemed to be telling us of his love for this land and the tranquility of life in the countryside. His kids shyly shook our hands, seemingly intrigued by us.

On a side note, my friends and I are of Taiwanese descent, and throughout Salta and Jujuy, we were greeted with a lot of curious stares and whispers of "Los Chinos, Los Chinos" wherever we went. I think that we were among the first Asians that many of them had ever met. (Noe told us that he knew of only one Chinese family in Salta, recent immigrants who ran a small market.) We had a lot of people, adults and kids, openly point to our eyes and make the slanted eye gesture, not out of hostility, we think, just curiosity. I had one long conversation with an elderly gentleman in Iruya who kept insisting that "Todos los Chinos tienen ojos pequenos." I kept saying, "No! no! no todos los Chinos!" but to no avail =)

Okay, back to La Aguada...At the end of our walk, we stumbled upon Miraluna, an eco-hotel consisting of several newly built cabins set amid beautiful vineyards. The workers in the vineyards pointed us to the main cabin, where we hoped we could grab a cup of coffee and find a bathroom. The cabin turned out not to be a reception area but the home of Miraluna's owner. She and her adorable baby actually invited us into her home for a cup of coffee and spent almost an hour chatting with us about her life in La Aguada. She and her husband only moved here recently to open this retreat in the countryside. They've even equipped the hotel with a telescope. With virtually no lights in this area, I imagine the stars here at night are dazzling.

Noe picked us up as promised (he had even set out a little early to find us because he noticed the wind picking up) and took us to see a lovely little waterfall in some camping grounds nearby. We also made a stop at Cachi's hilltop cemetery, where apparently a fox had once jumped out of an open grave, nearly scaring Noe and his two clients to death.

That evening we had dinner in the cozy upstairs room at Oliver Cafe: pizzas, pastas, salads, and our first taste of a submarino, a block of hot chocolate dunked in hot milk. On Noe's recommendation, my friend bravely tried an Italian digestif called Fernet Blanca, served with coke of all things! Needless to say, she slept soundly that night.

Thank you for the additional doses of your great input,Lil1210!

"Los Chinos, Los Chinos", LOL!!!

You should have called this thread "Las Aventuras de los Chinos en el Maravilloso Noroeste Argentino"!! Just kidding.

Keep'em coming!

i am so jealous that you had such time to spend in Cachi. We were thoroughly enchanted, but had to move on to our stay at Colome. (which we loved, but it would have been great to spend a night in Cachi and then time at Colome.)

We also had that fog enroute, which made the driving terrifying!! It wasn't just at the top, but along that high, winding road....

great report. bookmarking

Thanks again for the fabulous report. I'm hoping u get to BA b4 we leave for BA on Friday. Printing all this out to take with us.

I love the title, avrooster...wish I had thought of it =)

yestravel, I will try my best to get to BA before Friday. I'm glad you're finding this trip report helpful!

Day 7: Cafayate
We left Cachi around 9:30 a.m. On the way to Cafayate, we stopped in the village of Molinos to visit its little church. Because my friend was interested in purchasing a pancho, we also made a detour to Seclantas, where we stopped at the home of a local weaver. Noe explained that when Pope John Paul II visited Salta, the dignitaries presented him with a pancho made by the late father of this weaver. The pope loved the pancho so much that he ordered dozens more panchos from this artisan to give away to his friends. Though we didn't end up buying a pancho, we did leave with a few lovely tablerunners made of sheep's wool and a llama wool shawl. We were intrigued to learn that the brown dyes the weaver used were made from boiled nut shells and that the green dyes were made of mate.

We stopped briefly for lunch in a little empanada shop. Here, Noe introduced us to Coffler Block, his favorite Argentinian chocolate bar.
As we continued our drive toward Quebrada de las Flechas, Noe said that we should all crack open our Coffler Blocks because it made the scenery more beautiful =)

Quebrada de las Flechas, where parts of "Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back" were filmed, needed no help in the beauty department, however. The scenery evoked a big "wow" from all of us. Along the road, Noe stopped the car a few times for us to do a bit of climbing. From the top of the gorge, the panoramic view was spectacular.

We continued on to Cafayate, humming along with our favorite Jorge Cafrune song, "Zambita pa Don Rosendo" as we passed the vibrant green fields of grape wines.

In Cafayate, Noe brought us to Bodega Nanni, a winery close to the main plaza. We sampled their Malbecs and Torrontes, then took a short tour of their lovely grounds. Our tour guide explained that their entire winemaking process was organic, such that they even removed sediment from their wines with only egg whites. We also dropped by Bodega Domingo Hermanos, which, like Bodega Nanni, is owned and operated by local people, unlike some of the larger wineries. The prices at both bodegas were incredibly reasonable.

After visiting the wineries, Noe dropped us off at our hotel, Killa Cafayate, and said good-bye. He left us in good hands. Annabelle and Martha Chocobar (we were quite envious of their delicious last name!) were incredibly gracious and warm hosts. And the gardens--bursting with rows of lavender and bright red amarylis--were clearly lovingly tended. We spent more than an hour taking pictures of their flowers and cacti, reveling in all of the lovely little details.

Before the sun set, we decided to check out the building carved with a giant llama that Noe had pointed out earlier. We were surprised to see that a family actually lived inside; they didn't seem to mind our taking a few pictures. We headed back to the picturesque main plaza to admire the church against the sunset. We had dinner at a restaurant on the plaza that Martha recommended (sorry--can't remember the name!) We had a very flavorful bife de chorizo and were regaled with large groups of Argentinian tourists singing and clapping along to the folklorico performer.

After dinner, we had ice cream at Heladeria Miranda, famous, supposedly, for pioneering wine ice cream. We didn't love the Torrontes we tried, but the fruit flavors were all quite tasty.

Cafayate is a charming little town. I would love to return someday for a longer stretch of time to do a bicycle tour of the countryside, as Martha Chocobar suggested.

Oops...that should have been Day 8: Cafayate

Okay, last day in Salta Province!

Day 9: Cafayate -> Salta -> Iguazu

In the morning, we caught a three or four hour bus from Cafayate back to Salta. We were sad that we couldn't get out to see Quebrada de las Conchas more closely, but at that point, we were already a bit sated with our overzealous picture-taking from the days before.

Back in Salta, we had to catch a 23-hour Flechabus to Iguazu at 3 p.m. Before we left Salta, though, we had to pick up a few jars of the region's famous dulce de leche, Campo Quijano. We also decided to equip ourselves for the lengthy bus ride ahead by loading up on snacks!

Fortunately, the bus station had a luggage storage service, so we checked our luggage in and then took a cab to Vea supermarket on Mitre. We bought chips (Lays' tomato basil variety is addictive!), Paso de los Toros pomelo soda, Los Andes soy apple juice, and, of course, Coffler block! We also stopped at Cafe Tobias to to buy some empanadas, the perfect travel food.

In the end, though, our 23 hour semi-cama bus ride to Iguazu wasn't as bad as we had feared. We could have taken another bus with cama service, but then we would have had to make a transfer at Tucuman or Corrientes. Even though our semi-cama seats didn't recline all the way, we each had plenty of room to stretch out because the bus wasn't full, and the seats next to us were free. Also, Ariel at Hotel Balcarce who had helped us book our tickets reserved the very first row on the top deck for us, so we had a great view of the open road ahead. All in all, we saved a good chunk of money by taking the bus instead of the plane to Iguazu. (US $62 per person instead of US $557 per person, plus we saved a night of hotel lodging.) More money for shopping and steaks in Buenos Aires =)

You are making forum history with your report, Lil!!!

Allow me a couple of comments:

You are talking about a "poncho", not a "pancho". In our country, a "pancho" is a hot dog.

Your report about the bus trip from Salta to Iguazú (or viceversa) is particularly helpful for forum readers. While I knew this could be done, it is great to have feedback from someone who actually did it.

At this time, to fly from Salta to Iguazú, or viceversa, you have to fly to BA and board another flight to Salta or Iguazú, which could take up most of one precious day in our country.

Besides, as Lil pointed out, you can save a lot of money, plus the cost of one hotel night, which should be of particular interest to budget travelers.

Thank you again, Lil. We are all anxiously waiting for "Las Grandes Aventuras de los Chinos en las Imponentes Cataratas del Iguazú". LOL!!!

I forgot to point out that a direct flight from Iguazú to Salta and viceversa is in the planning stage.

I am so embarrassed, avrooster...I can't believe I wrote pancho instead of poncho!!! Imagine, the pope ordering dozens of hot dogs for his friends around the world =)

That's what I get for working on a trip report at 2 in the morning!

Meh, it's a cute image! ;)

Do you think you might have time to post your Buenos Aires report (if you were intending to) soon? :D :D :D

Hi Kavey! I will try to work on it soon. When do you leave for BA?

Well, Lil, I don't know about the Pope, but I imagined a forum reader in Salta telling his guide he wants to buy "panchos" and his guide leading him to a hot dog stand!! LOL!!!

Don't worry, guys, you'll have great time in our country, no matter whether you wish to buy "panchos" or "ponchos"!

Just under two weeks. (We're going via a few weeks in the Antarctic). :D