August 8: QUEBRADA DE LAS CONCHAS

Early morning in the car. Light chacarera music feeding our ears. Coffee cup in one hand, guidebook in the other. Sleepy faces browsing the map. The new discoveries to come were already catching our eye. When we reached the "Quebrada de las Conchas" (broken shells) we were surprised to notice the landscape change every 5 km. First, the ground was dry and red tanned then it turned pinkish yellow, gray and again evolved into magnificent sculpture shapes. The "Quebrada de las conchas" is devided into 8 natural treasures (actually true natural sculptures in the mountain): "Los Castillos" (the castles), "la Ventana" (the window), "El Obelisco" (the obelisk), "Casa de loros" (parrot house), "El Sapo" (the priest), "Tres cruces" (three crosses), "Anfiteatro" (amphiteater), "Garganta del diablo" (devil's throat). Impressive Mother Nature. Fantastic talkative view with a hint of mississipi and arizona style. If only the rocks could talk and witness the secrets of the past. When we stepped into "Anfiteatro", a native indian picked up his enchanted flute and played a few tones with nobleness. The echo resounded all over the site. Then, we climbed the "Tres cruces" valleys, we could still hear the flute from far away. A little further, at the "Casa de los loros", we could not observe the hidden parrots but later on they all showed up and flew elegantly in the sky dancing over the bushes and disappearing all of a sudden in the horizon. Suzanne was thrilled by this vision!

We still had a long way to get to Salta. Trapped in the mountains, feeling hungry and cold, the only thing we could think about was a nice bowl of soup, background native traditionnal music and a tea by the cheminy to warm up. Nature listens: our wishes magicaly came true as the only restaurant in the whole Quebrada area appeared behind the mountains. Hocus-Pocus! No need to say that little paradise happenned to be exactly what we were hoping for.

August 7-8: RIO CALCHAQUI and CAFAYATE

We kept crossing the astonishing Calchaqui valley desert, discovered the dry "rio" (river) of the region and finally reached our next destination: Cafayate. The area is surrounded by refined wineries. As a result its wine gained some celebrity. However the village itself looked a little plain to us as we barely stayed for the night, we surely tasted some really good wines such as Nanni Sauvignon, Nanni Torrontes, Malbec and others. I tried on all the craftman's boutique "ruanas" (feminine poncho coats worn with a silver brooch and cowboy boots) and tested the outfit of a real Cafayate macho gaucho. Exquisite impression!!