Well this was another unplanned stopover that ended up keeping me longer than I had planned. Salta is a beautiful colonial town. This lesser-known attraction, though, is most famous for the terrain between it and Cafayate, which is 200 km south. To see this terrain, I rented a car with a french girl, Melanie.
For the first 100 km, we were surrounded by very lush tropical forests and very noticeable, because they were so out of place, TALL cacti. Then, out of nowhere, the forest disappeared and we entered a valley of incredible red rock formations straight from mars. One of the more famous formations bears the same name as the famous Iguazu Fall, Garganta del Diablo, but it is much drier and less terrifying. There were also Antiteatro (amphitheater), Las Ventanas (the windows), El Fraile (the friar), Los Castillos (the castles), and, my favorite, El Sapo (the frog).
Then, only 6 km from Cafayate, the red rocks are replaced by blindingly white, sand dunes. By the time you reach Cafayate, though, there are grapes and wineries everywhere. It was like time travel.
Once in Cafayate, we sampled the ¨world-famous¨wine-flavored ice cream at Miranda´s Heladeria. I tried both the Cabernet and the Torrontes. Then we went to Etchart to try the wines. Yummy!
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