Río Yacochuyo

The next stop on our exploration of Argentina's Northwest is Cafayate, a 372-kilometre drive from Purmamarca.

When most people think of wine from Argentina, they immediately think of Malbec from Mendoza. Cafayate is an up and coming wine region producing wine from grapes grown at high altitude and specializing in the white Torrentes varietal, but more on that later.

Once again, Argentina threw us a curveball as both Brenda and I figured the ride here would be a relatively smooth and gradual descent from the 3400 meter elevation of Purmamarca to the more comfortable 1700 meters of Cafayate. We had imagined leaving behind the breathtakingly beautiful colored landscape of jagged mountains to arrive at a lush green valley dotted with acre upon acre of vineyards.

Uh-unh. Nope. The stunning vistas of Purmamarca followed us all the way to our destination, along a road that required all my attention to navigate. Twists, turns, ess-curves, and switchback after switchback challenged my driving skills as I managed to keep our rental car's four wheels on the tarmac while still enjoying the view.

As we neared Cafayate, designated viewpoints began popping up where drivers may pull over and take photos or just enjoy the views.

Anxious to arrive at our destination, we stopped only at one of these natural wonders dubbed La Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat).

The photos speak for themselves, but don't really do this sight justice.Read more