August 6: CALCHAQUIES VALLEY (Salta province)

7AM: good morning Salta! A café con leche woke us up and made our day. As soon as we grabbed our bags, we rushed at 9 de Julio plaza to get to our appointment with Suzanne and François. Few minutes later the four of us were hitting south to Cachi (in Salta province desert) with a three day rented car. The Calchaquies valley started to seduce us, the journey was getting more and more beautiful revealing stunning western "quebrada" (name given to the mountain ranges) landscapes, some risky and exciting trails and the most surprising weather (we drove in the foggy thick clouds and experienced a 30°C to 2°C (and again vice-versa) weather change in less than 15 minutes!). We could hardly see the road and the view itself disappeared in a steamy opaque haze when all of a sudden "La piedra del molino" chapel (3348m high) showed up on the peak of the freezy mountain. The tradition is to leave a little thing to the Virgin Mary and the "Pachamama" (mother earth) as a thankful present, some argentinians even offer their cigarette butts with a quick prayer. A few meters away from the chapel, the fog was waiting for us again but that was just a tricky facade as behind this bloody mist the burning sun and clear blue sky welcomed us in no time. We bumped into cute baby goats and cactus forests (the wood inside the cactus is used to built furniture and ceilings). We could tell Cachi was getting close..