Quebrada de Cafayate and Salta

The Quebrada consists of a  multi-coloured desert, dusty mountains, dry rivers and huge valleys that surround the little town of Cafayate, and its a great place to explore for a day. We started our trek at the low slow-moving river which was surrounded by low, red-coloured mountains and green bushes.  As we continued  through the desert the mountains became much larger and multi-coloured, and the trees became sparse, illuminous coloured twig-like plants.

As the wind forcefully blew us across the top of the mountains, we had spectacular views of the giant rocks of bright orange, crimson red, mint green, grey and maroon. Some of the mountains were striped with different colours and it almost looked as if someone had painted the rocks like rainbows. As we walked through the valley with the mountains overlooking us, it felt as if we had been abandoned, as if we were the only people for thousands of miles. I felt so tiny and completely isolated.



During the walk we were lucky enough to see a group of friendly llamas wandering around the vacant desert.

We ended the day at Garganta de Diablo, the Devils Throat, a giant cave that we were able to climb to the top of, (with a little difficulty). The fun part was coming down by sliding down the rocks. 

Salta, known as 'the beautiful', is a pretty, sunny city with a small town feel in the north of Argentina. As with all cities and towns in Argentina, the main area consists of a large grassy plaza surrounded by beautiful colonial buildings. However, the plaza in Salta seemed much more grand than most others. The plaza was covered with brightly coloured trees and pink blossom, and an old pink cathedral stood at the centre of the square.

We were able to take the cable car to the top of the highest mountain, overlooking the entire city of Salta. It wasn't until I reached the top that I realised what a huge city Salta actually is. Also, what you don't realise whilst walking around the city is that this 'small town' is completely surrounded by mountains. A bottle of wine whilst overlooking 'the beautiful' city of Salta was a perfect way to end my trip in Argentina.