Another time! The trip from Cafayate to Salta is enchanting. Some photos with as extra the dique Cabral that I didn?t visit the last time. Also a nice, but very touristy place. Hithhiking was easy since we went with the same guy who picked us up in Tafi del Valle.

On the last day of our roadtrip we head back early in the morning from Tafi del Valle in the Tucuman province back to Salta to bring back our overly dusty car. From Tafi we pick up a hitchhiker ( the second! – we are so good for people ) and drop him in Cafayate.

From Cafayate the road takes us through beautiful dry hills. The road is good and easy to travel on. We arrive in Salta about 3 hours before the car is due ( they opened on sunday just for us, talk about service ).

Still that amounted to stress in the end. We really wanted to clean the car, but most of the wash places where either closed for sunday or permanently. After a lot of time we find one, who were as good with soap as with compliments to my female companion. I’m wondering how we managed to get a centimeter of dust inside our car in just 4 days.

Karen decided to join me in last minute to Cordoba ( it’s -cough- on the way to Brazil ) so we go to the terminal. Of course all cash machines are not working and we need a lot of money to pay for the car and the bus tickets. Another hour later with the tickets in the pocket and 20 minutes left, we need to get gas. And -yes-, no euro97 to be found in town. The only station has a huge line where we stress into.

With -5 minutes to go (and 45 minutes till the bus leaves) we arrive at the rental company. Who were not so happy about the whole gasoline episode earlier, because they send somebody from Salta to our location (500km) to ask for assistence we didn’t need.

Indeed in Tafi a guy showed up with 10L of gas. Anyway we have to pay a bit extra and have just enough time to jump in a taxi, head for the terminal and jump in the bus. Our end of a remarkable and intensive road trip, which got me apart from the experience, seeing a lot of beautiful scenery also new friends. Enjoy the photo’s.

The third day of our roadtrip leads us from Cafayate, the wine area, across dry land to the Ruinas of Quilmes. An for the ‘indigenas’ sacred place where an old civilization used to reside to be wiped out by the spanish and the vanishing of fresh water in the area. Up till this day they are still fighting the government over land rights.

It was also an interesting day because we got stuck twice. The first time only for about five minutes because I was so handy to drive into loose sand. Fortunately two friendly locals with a shovel helped us out.

The second time we went out of gas in the middle of nowhere. This was caused by me not having the experience of driving uphill. We had more than enough to make it, but because of the incline gasoline floats to the back of the tank causing distruptions in the engine. Secondly Argentina is seriously out of ‘super’ (euro 97/98/95) gas in the northern part. Which means that in all gas stations they where out. Even (later) in Salta it was hard to find. Weird for one of the more prosperous countries of South-America.

We had to leave our car and hitchhike back to Amaicha del Valle to get gas. Not only has the gas station hardly any gas, but also no jerrycan we could use. After a short search the people at the ‘remis’ ( taxi / collectivo’s ) could help us with both the gas, the jerrycans, the transport back and filling up our tank manually. After a more than 2-hours delay we reached tired but satisfied the town of Tafi del Valle. Please note that Amaicha and Tafi are about 20 km apart but a whole different climate.

Roadtrip in a rental car throughout the province of Salta. Second leg was a 170 km stretch of which 150 km was an unpaved dirt road passing by many pueblos, like Molinos

Report of an amazing roadtrip with two lovely persons I met on the bus from San Pedro ( Karen and Angie ) . Together we did a few hundred kilometers throughout the countryside of Argentina. From Salta to Cafeyate, to Tafi del Valle and back. Dirt roads ( more than 200 km in total ), getting stuck in the sand, and without gas. From desert to canyons to winecountry. This is Salta Province (partly), enjoy!

Dangerous routes: 5 deaths in two days in Salta. On the first day we rent a car

First leg of the trip was from Salta to Cachi (171KM)