Parque Nacional los Cardones

The route back on highway 33 was mainly through very flat land with no striking feature. It passes over the small mountain chain that are part of the Parque Nacional los Cardones amd then continues inLæs mere
Mirador Valle del Encantado

The 3rd and the last point we visited was the Mirador Valle del Encantado. The viewpoint of the enchanted valley. It was a km back up towards the top of the mountain. It didn't turn out to be anythingLæs mere
Cuesta del Obispo

The 2nd stop was about 2 kms down from the top. It was the viewpoint of the snaking road coming up to the mountain pass from Salta in the plaims below. Its a 21 km road built between 1928 - 1931. ItLæs mere
Piedra del Molino

Piedra del Molino is a high altitude viewpoint into a valley on the other side of the altiplano. It is 3457 mts above sea level. We had climbed about 2500 mts since starting in the morning. There wasLæs mere
To Piedra del Molino

The greenery continued for some time and the suddenly as we started climbing, it changed to high altitude desert landscape with cactii and clay and sand. 70 kms later, we turned Eastwards for about 50Læs mere
Cowboy countryside

Further up from Angastaco, it was typical cowboy country with green valleys, horses, cowboys and vineyards. A complete contrast to the scenery from the previous late evening.
Camping at Angastaco

We reached Angastaco village by around 8:40 pm. It was quite dark by now. The petrol pump was at the start of the village and it turned out to be a small one. We refueled a bit here. There was an openLæs mere
To Angastaco

From here, to Angastaco village, the distance was about 25 kms. This was the village where there was a petrol pump where we hoped to find the services facilities and to refuel as well. The landscapeLæs mere
Sunset at Las Flechas

There was a viewpoint of the Las Flechas on the way. We stopped there and climbed on one of the fins to get a panoramic view of the fin formations and the valley behind. The instructions near theLæs mere
Las Flechas

Around 8 pm, we reached the area called Las Flechas. It is a beautiful landscape that has formations in the shape of fins. The land here is formed 20-30 million years ago when the land block wasLæs mere
Near Las Flechas

The light continued to fade but we wete still quiye many kms away from where we had planned to sleep for the night. The road had been way more scenic than what we expected, so we had made quite a fewLæs mere
Clay formations continue

It was not a small stretch of these white clay formations but we were driving for more than 20 minutes and our road continued passing by and through them. It reminded me of the Chambal valley in IndiaLæs mere
Amazing Clay formations

We were under the impression that it would be a bleak landscape all the way back with no interesting formations or views but were very wrong. Just 2 hours into the drive, went were in a totally alienLæs mere
The Return Journey Begins

We were done with the waterfall trek by 5:30 pm. This was to be our last destination towards the South North Argentina. We had to return to San Pedro de Atacama in 1.5 days with about 680 kms. WeLæs mere
7th Cascade

We reached the final waterfall at about 4:40 pm. This was a much bigger, proper waterfall. It was about 15 mts high amd was along a rock face. We stayed there for about 10 min before returning back.Læs mere
Into the 2nd valley

The 7th and the final cascade was in a different valley than the initial one. We had to climb a ridge amd go down the other side into the valley. Here, the path continued in the same vein, across theLæs mere
5th and 6th Cascades

As we went deeper into the canyon, the path became harder to find but we continued following the stream and crossing it when there was no more place to go further on that side of it. The cascades tooLæs mere
1st 3-4 cascades

The path was quite clear till the 1st 3-4 cascades. In fact I wouldn't even call them cascades, they where just water from the stream jumping over some few small rocks. The biggest one was about aLæs mere
Cascadas del rio colorado

The Cascadas del rio colorado or the Siete Cascada are a bunch of 7 waterfalls on the Rio Colorado deep in a gorge near Cafayate. I had read mixed reviews about whether to take a guide there or notLæs mere
Cafayate

We reached Cafayate at around 1:30 pm. We saw some boards advertising lunch menu for 60 ARS + Postres (dessert). This seemed like a very good price for a meal considering we had been paying upto 90+Læs mere
Los Castillos and Los Colorados

The next formation along the route was Los Castillos or The Castle. The rock looks like a castle with ramparts and spires.
From here on, there were a lot of wineries along the way, all the way up toLæs mere
El Obelisk and Las Ventanas

The next stop was about 50 mts from the ravine. It was a sandstone formation in the form of an obelisk. It is about 20 mts high and right next to the road.
A bit further are the Las Ventanas or TheLæs mere
The Ravine

We continued further till the ravine. Its a narrow gorge with lot of green bushes with thorns. A nomadic looking family was staying there with their 3 big dogs, all of which looked very underfed andLæs mere
Red rock and clay formations

The route coutinued meandering along the red Las Conchas river and the beautiful red clay and sandstone cliffs continued having different kinds of formations, shapes and shades. It was a beautifulLæs mere
Sapo (toad) and the Monk

A bit further along the route, we came across the El Sapo or the toad formation. Its a volcanic rock on tge side of the road and its shaped like a toad. A km or so away, we stopoed at the Monje oLæs mere
Tres Cruces

A few kms later, we stopped at the Tres Cruces point. This is a beautiful viewpoint into the valley. We walked about 15 mts to the top of the hill to get a spectacular view of the red hills, the greenLæs mere
Rejsende
With no habitation around,no industry etc. still they have built so big & so sturdy roads.
Rejsende
😋😋😋
The Craze for Travelling
Ya. Very true.