We left Tafi del Valle behind and continued the serpentine road over a pass into another Valley. This whole region is known as Valles Chalchaquíes.

The landscape started changing as we climbed up towards the pass and started feeling more like in a desert. The “cardones” how the cactus are known over here, became more frequent and other trees and vegetation left space to a simpler rock and bush landscape. Next to the wonderful landscapes we passed by the Quilmes archeological site where we could find a preincaic village, actually the reconstruction of its ruins, situated at approximately 2000 m above sea level. Despite the height, it was over 30 degrees C as we walked about the place with a local guide, more or less direct descendant of the people who lived in this place some 500 years ago before the spaniards came and took most of them (some were able to hide in surrounding mountains and valleys) on foot to the Capital city, Buenos Aires, where you now can also find a city called “Quilmes” and where many years later Argentina’s most known Beer was born.

As we moved from the Province of Tucumán to the Province of Salta and as closer we got to Cafayate more and more vineyards appeared. This happens to be another huge wine region in Argentina, but this time we skipped the winetours ?.

Cafayate is a nice little town with lovely people and a wonderful surrounding which we’ll explore soon and show you in the next posts!