summerized blog

We took the Minitrack, a modified pickup truck, on another excursion, south of Salta.

Leaving town, we drove through a lush green valley, a rarity in northern Argentina. Then we climbed through a mountain pass, on a road almost as intricate as the "road to the clouds." The landscape got much drier, and cacti came and went.

We chatted with our fellow passengers, and the staff; everyone was really charming. There was a couple from Brazil, a couple from the States, and a man from Costa Rica who lives in California.

After some hours, we finally arrived at Cachi, a lovely and isolated town in a very dry landscape. Lunch was good, except Jason and I don’t like goat cheese, north Argentina’s specialty. Jason had a rabbit empanada.

For some reason, people always seem to put up bizarre, over-sized sculptures in the desert. Cachi was no exception, with this, um, lovely gazebo, fashioned from multiple cement llamas.

We wandered through the dusty little berg.

And saw the archeology museum.

In one corner was this alter to Pachamama, an earth goddess.

I bought some clay and wood mugs at a shop, continuing my delusional, high altitude rampage of gathering questionable souvenirs.

We moved on to a national park full of cacti, and not much else.

 

On the way home, we stopped at a gas station, and had a tailgate party of sorts, with beer, nuts and olives.