Salta & Surrounding Area
6th December - 12th December
Day 277 - Day 283

We finally arrived in Salta after a gruelling 21 hrs on the bus. They were no seats left that turned into beds, so we had to settle for the next best thing.

The first couple of days we were in Salta were bank holidays to celebrate the birth of Mary. There were processions and lots of music and alcohol.

I really like it here in Salta, it's a small town with some odd shaped buildings, a beautiful main square with lots of restaurants and some very distinctive and colourful churches, baby pink and lemon yellow and bright red and yellow.

We took two day trips whilst we were up both starting at 7am and finishing at 8pm! Very long days but well worth it.

Our first day trip we went south driving past small villages, tobacco fields and through the quebrada (gorge) de Cafeyate until we got to Cafeyate. The landscape enroute was very beautiful with huge rock formations and amazing views of the mountains.

Once in Cafeyate we did a tour of a winery and some wine tasting. We smelt and swirled our wines like professionals (thanks Dan and Pizz).
We had some free time to wander round where I sampled some white wine ice cream. I never knew all it took me was a scoop of ice cream to go red and tipsy!

On our second day trip we headed north driving through the Quebrada de Humahuaca and visiting the small villages enroute. The landscape was even more stunning as we saw mountains made up of several different colours. We stopped at the famous seven coloured hills, we saw pictures beforehand and thought that they had been photoshopped. The colours of the rocks though were very vivid and distinct close up.

We made one stop to a small village church that contained some paintings of 'angels'. We were told that when the spanish first arrived, they asked local painters to paint pictures of angels. The local people did not know what angels looked like and were told by the Spanish that 'angels looked like us but with wings'. When we went into the church we were surprised to see paintings of Spanish soldiers with tiny wings and armed with weapons. It was a surreal moment.

Tomorrow we make the painfully long journey back down to Mendoza before heading to Valpariso. I am definitely very tired of bus travel now even when there is free wine, champagne and whisky!

Xxx