Salta

Salta, Argentina - 12 May - 17 May 2016

Valles Calchaquies

Prior to arriving in Salta I was under the apparently common misconception that the surrounding landscape would be dry and barren. Salta I thought stood for salt as in Salt flats, plus the Bolivian desert is just a couple of hundred kms further north...I was (fortunately) very wrong...The name Salta comes from the native name Sachta, which actually means place of beauty. The city is situated at the base of a hill (or more like a "koppie"), and is surrounded by beautifully green mountains, and the vegetation almost looks sub-tropical. The city has a particularly strong colonial character, which along with its strong native roots has created a very interesting place. We again dived into a free walking tour on our first morning to learn about Salta, it's history and culture...

Strong colonial influence

Being so far north and close to the borders of both Chile and Bolivia, Salta fell within the reach of the mighty Inca empire but also became an important trade town/outpost for the Spanish once they arrived in the 16th century.

Group of kids in Salta - you can clearly see the
native roots

The city also played an important part in Argentina's battle for independence in the 19th century and was the base for the army of the North, led by a young but highly talented general Guemes, who was like our Generaal De La Rey in the Anglo-Boereoorlog. He trained groups of "kommando's" made up of local "guachos" (Andean cowboys) and townsfolk in the ways of guerrilla warfare, using the mountainous terrain to their advantage.

He lead the army of the North against the Spanish and delivered a important victory for the then nascent Argentina. They honoured his legacy with a massive statue at the base of the mountain that overlooks the town, riding his horse, his gaze forever fixed on the horizon, making sure no danger befalls his beloved Salta...

General Guemes

After the walking tour we went to search  for this local Empanada place I read about on another blog...Patio del Empanadas...it was quite a bit out of our way and some distance from the city centre, but it was so worth it once we got there...First of all its not one place but a whole bunch of small Empanada joints, each serving pretty much the exact same menu...so it's ecos 101 for a perfectly competitive micro-economy! The minute you step inside the dilapidated building you enter a court yard with numerous multi coloured tables and ten different hostesses waving you over to sit at their joint! It's quite something and the best of all because of the fierce competition, the empanadas are really cheap and muy delicioso! Definitely a must visit for anyone traveling to Salta...

Empanada heaven

Later we visited the MAAM museum that's situated at the main town plaza. The main attraction at the museum is to see one of the "Ninos de Llullaillaco". These are three Inca children who along with possibly many more, were sacrificed to the Inca Emperors, by being buried alive high up in the mountains, in this case the nearby (and still active!) volcano, Llullaillaco. Because of the extremely cold conditions on top of the mountain their bodies were cryogenically preserved over the last 500 years!...They were uncovered by an archeological team in the early 2000's...while it's pretty brutal, it's still an amazing discovery and a real life glimpse into the ancient world of the Inca civilization...

That night Kristi organized for us to go out to dinner to a local place, Casino Molino, which Joh-nell, a friend from South Africa who recently visited Salta, recommended. A Parisian girl, Sterenn, who we met at our hostel joined us.

Casino Malino

The place was located towards the outskirts of town, so when the taxi driver dropped us off and waved towards a dark property we were all a little hesitant, but he insisted it's the correct address and in we went. Although once we entered through the old wooden doors we knew he right! We sat in the courtyard around a big open fire, with the barbeques blazing in the background and a couple of locals sitting at the table next to us playing guitar and singing beautiful local folk songs. We had a fantastic evening- thanks Joh-nell :)

The Salta province has some of the most scenic roads in Argentina. We decided to rent a car and visit Cafayete, which is a 4 hour drive south. Cafayete is a Northern Argentine wine village, renowned for its Torrentes white wine.

Cafayete

The route from Salta to Cafayete takes you through the spectacular Valles Calchaquies with its characteristic red canyons. We had a 'pitstop' and enjoyed tea, sandwiches and the view that lay before us. We arrived in the heat of the day and checked into our sweet little hostel, Rusty-K, and headed to the town's plaza to rent some bicycles and start wine touring.

One thing I love about my wife is her ability to do things her own way, no matter what the norm is, but sometimes it can backfire...Like when you choose to ride on a vintage 1 gear bicycle, with the pretty little basket in front for your baguettes, to all the different wine farms in the Cafayete region...Being rural Argentina, it took us about 1 km before we hit the gravel roads and being at the foot of the Andes mountain range, another km before we were going up an incline that would feel at home in the Cape Epic...:) toe trap dai een rat nie meer so lekker nie!

The big smile is because it was all downhill from there!

We eventually arrived at our first (and given how look it took, potentially our last) wine farm, or Bodega, Domingo Molina. Beautiful setting that looks out over the whole valley and it was a nice sunny day so we did the tasting outside! We tried out some of the local favourites like the torrontes and the malbec, muy bien, and then tried a familiar cultivar, carbernet sauvignon, which was good but I think we make it better back home...haha, biased maybe?

Wine tasting Domingo Molino

We then stopped at a few more bodegas on the way back to town, Vasigre Secreta and Esteco...the former a less well known winery but apparently the oldests in the valley while Esteco is probably the biggest operation in town with close to 600 hectares of vineyards scattered over a 60km radius...

Wine tasting at Esteco

After all the wine we had to take a quick Siesta (now it's all starting to make sense)...and then for dinner we just decided to do "comida para llevar" which is take-aways from a little corner café. The food was very cheap, 12 empanadas for R60, but Kristi insisted on also ordering a chicken ravioli...which firstly was almost impossible to explain to the poor waiter, and when it arrived, was just cooked ravioli pasta, with a chicken drumstick lying on top! #youdontneedanitaliantocookitalian

The next day we missioned to Cachi, a small mountain village, with yet another beautiful, scenic road taking you there. You really have to hire a car when you visit Salta, it's so worth it. 

Paprika!

The closest reference I have for Cachi is probably, Wuppertal in the Cederberg Mountains...isolated, charming little town, with unique, friendly locals and this immense backdrop of snow-capped mountains...

Cachi by day

Cachi by night

We didn't book beforehand so we had to go old school...which entails knocking on doors to find out if they had room for two weary travelers...:) We found a nice little hostel, whose owner also runs a restaurant around the corner which was convenient but we also (unexpectedly) had some of the best food we've had thus far on our trip! 

Locro!

Especially the locro which is a speciality in the Salta province, mostly beans, pumpkin, maize and different cuts of meat - regte "bergkos"!

The next day we headed back down the awesome pass back to Salta for our final night in Argentina! Once we got back we essentially just scurried around town to do everything that we needed to get done (get a haircut - hilarious experience!, buy bus tickets, look for matching alpaca jerseys...etc) before we head off to the next stage of our adventure: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile and the Uyuni salt flats of Bolivia!

"Shorto on el sidos y longero on el toppo"

In Cachi, when we had dinner, Kristi and I talked about what we will always remember Argentina by: definitely the beautiful and diverse landscape, it's friendly and proud people, all the dogs (more dogs than people, seriously!), "habla ingles", and that its not that cheap (yes even without the leather jackets), but definitely well worth a visit!

I feel like there's someone standing right behind us

Adios Argentina, muchas gracias y hasta luego!