The drive to Cachi from Salta was one of the most awe-inspiring yet difficult we have ever done. It was raining when we left Salta and once we left the main road to start our climb into the mountains to reach Cachi, 160km away, the road became narrower and rockier the further we drove. Tarmac soon gave way to gravel, which in turn became large rocks and mud. As we climbed we found ourselves ascending into cloud, making visibility poor and the driving conditions b...

Leaving the multi-coloured hills of the Quebrada de Humahuaca was hard because they were so stunningly colourful, but we were eager to see more and looking forward to a bit of culture in Salta before heading back into the mountains again a bit further south for a few days. We spent a couple of nights in this medium-size town, enough to see the major sights including two huge churches one disguised as a pink wedding cake, the other, a homage to St Francis, tried t...

Leaving Tilcara to head for Salta we drove south a few kilometers and stopped at a place called Posta de Hornillos, an old low level building that was once a staging post on the trade route between Buenos Aires and Lima. The building has been turned into a museum and it´s a quiet and peaceful place. Wandering through the simple whitewashed rooms decorated with colourful rugs, antique furniture, religious iconography and descriptions of how life was lived in ...

Today we left Tilcara and drove through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which are a group of spectacularly coloured mountains to Humahuaca, which is a World Heritage Site. The town is another dusty Andean settlement, popular with tourists who gather in the village square at a few moments before mid-day awaiting the appearance of a plaster St Francis of Assisi, who slides out from behind some tin doors at the side of the Municipal Offices around about the stroke of 12 ...

We have finally left Buenos Aires for a little trip up North. We almost didn´t make it as Brian was struck down with a serious case of man flu and started weakly implying he might be too ill to travel further than our front door. I immediately went out and bought a large box of tissues, a kilo of Vitamin C - niftily compressed into a small dissolvable tablet and a family size Disprin dispenser, all of which I then forced on him at regular intervals, despite ...