Leaving Tucuman we drove south, climbing through thick cloud forest enveloped in heavy mist, before crossing the pass and entering an entirely different landscape, the dry, arid region of Catamarca. Catamarca is Argentina's least populated province, a statistic that becomes obvious as you drive along the twisting, newly laid road. Tiny blink-and-you-miss-it hamlets speed by, points on the map that barely seem too warrant a name. The road winds along the valley floor, cactus studded landcapes stretch off into the distance before rising steeply up into dry, barren mountains. Far off on the horizon, you occaisionally catch glimpses of snow capped peaks, towering some 5000m above sea level.
Passing through gorges and wide valleys, we arrived in the town (I use the word loosely) of Aimogasta in time for lunch and a cold beer. In the afternoon we continued heading north, passing through the village of Londres (London!) where we stopped to vist the pre-Incan ruins of El Shincal (and have a few beers while we watched the Champions League final with the locals) before arriving into Belen late in the afternoon. The guidebooks say Belen has a population of 30,000 but it had that ghost town feel- we went into the first hotel we saw on the main street and despite calling out and ringing the reception bell for a good 5 minutes no one seemed to care that there was profit to be made. After doing a few laps of the town we came back to Hotel Gomez and somebody finally deigned to let us have a room! That night we had a freaking amazing bife de chorizo (t bone steak) and a bottle of red wine at a local restaurant and staggered off to bed very happy!
Sunday we continued along Ruta 40, heading north via Hualfin and Santa Maria, arriving into Amaicha and saying goodbye to Santi & Tim.
Amaicha is one of those places where there isn't a whole lot happening, but the days seem to slide away very nicely regardless. This morning we headed out to the ruins of Quilmes, another pre-Incan settlement that was eventually absorbed into the Incan Empire, and then defeated by the Spanish after 130 years of resistance. Tomorrow we'll rent a couple of bikes and cycle up to El Remate, a small canyon with a little waterfall, and probably spend the afternoon in the rocking chairs they have here, reading in the sun.
We both agree that the Kindle is, without a doubt, the best piece of technology invented since twist-top beer bottles.
Wednesday the plan is to take a bus to Cafayate, centre of the northern wine region...hence today and tomorrow are designated AFD's : )
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