In Buenos Aires continued

Hola!

Wednesday we arrived in Cachi. Wednesday afternoon we drove along Rt 33 to Parque Nacional Los Cardones, which is a recently established reserve to protect the forest of cardon cacti. This type of cactus grows very slowly at less than a few millimeters a year and their wood is attractive for furniture. In this valley at over 10,000 feet they are as far as the eye can see, many of them 15-20 feet tall.

Beyond cordones cactus we approached a pass and on the other side the landscape changes dramatically from red dirt to green that descends, along with Rt 33, into the valley below. This is known as the Valle Escantado (Enchanted Valley). We found a road that winds down for a few kilometers to a small picnic area that is marked by a line-drawing of a mate gourd. The place is beautiful with many rock formations similar to those in Utah combined with low greenery and a small stream.

From there we headed the hour and a half back to Cachi. Along the entire drive we saw Vicunas (I know my spelling is incorrect here, but it's a llama-like animal), mules, sheep, goats, bulls and cows. Many times a herd blocked the road.

Thursday we woke early for the drive to the Salta airport. We retraced our steps from the day before through the cardone cacti and intothe Valle Escantado and then beyond deeper into the valley. The drive is gorgeous with hairpin turns, some dirt road, some paved road, and several small stream crossings. The morning light glowed in the valley, and the further we descended the more homes and farms we saw.

Our new friends from Seattle who we met in Cafayate warned us that the final stream crossing is a bit deeper and wider than the rest. I knew it was coming and indeed it was rather large: about 30 feet across and a couple of feet deep. On the other side were two tourists who parked their car and were standing, looking into the stream, probably wondering what to do. Only from our friends did we know the stream is doable in a tiny rental, so like Mariano from our trip to El Ray, I stopped, looked, found a path, and went nice and slowly in 1st gear. The tires rolled over the round rocks in the stream, a few times slipping, and in a few seconds the car emerged on the other side with a splash as the two tourists looked on. I nodded hello, probably with an air of attitude, happy to have the last obstacle behind me.

From there we sailed smoothly in to Salta and arrived a bit early for our 12:30pm rental drop-off time, so we detoured into a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city for food. We found a hole in the wall that appeared to be a kitchen created from the garage of a house. It was a mom and pop place, and they seemed curious that a couple from the US found it. We ordered despite the less than sanitary conditions - flies were buzzing around and there was an odd smell I didn't like. The owner tried to talk with us and when Allison tried to see the hummingbird outside he immediately came out to tell her about the trees (scaring the bird away) -apparently one of the trees has medicinal properties. When the meal arrived is was a one dish meal of food- mashed potatoes, eggs, chicken, & parmesean - the potatoes were "instant"and the cheese from Kraft, but it was amazingly good. It reminded us of the relatively recent KFC "bowls" - referred to as a "failure bowl" if you're familiar with Oswald Patton's humor.

Without any incident emerging from the meal we made it to our flight that afternoon and arrived in Buenos Aires, pop. 12 million, which was quite a change from the small towns from which we just left.

More later. Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao.

Mark