Northwestern Argentina Bicycle Tour, Day:
1
| 2
| 3
| 4
| 5
| 6
| 7
| 8
| 9
| 10
| 11
| 12
| 13
Be sure to hover the mouse over the images.
Side Trip: Peru Bucket List Adventures
Argentina: Day 8
Pictures and Stories about Bicycle Adventures
Argentina Bicycle Tour of
Northwest Provinces
September, 2016
Today, we ride for Cafayate, Provincia de Salta, Argentina
Cafayate is Known for its Vineyards (Some over 100 Años) and Wines
Above Left: Federico is porting us back to Ruta 68 to the town of Corenel Moldes where we last turned off Route 68. We will still bike over 100k on this day to Cafayate.
Above Right: Federico dropped us at a local town's bus station square, there just happens to be a bus here and many people are curious about our tour and about our bike.
Above Left: The town's plastic recycling ben.
Above Right: We see Peregrins/Pilgrims early in the day and greet them.
Above Right: La Viña actually is a Village Name (the Vineyard), so the Winery is Vineyards of Vineyard (some word play here).
Above Left: We've already been on RN 68 for 4-5 kilometers and it happens that RN 68 begins in Cafayate, so from here we have 95k to the town limit of Cafayate. We will ride another 2-3k to our hotel in Cafayate so by days end we will have done a Metric Century.
Above Right: Puente is Bridge; I do not know what S/A means.
Above Left: Just a legal notice that we are entering the urban area of the town of Talapampa.
Above Right: We admired the various adobe finishes applied over the years.
Above Left: A nice home with recently trimmed trees.
Above Right: Cafayate is only 93k now.
Above Left: A vaquero looks us over; we waved.
Above Right: Martín Miguel de Güemes is a hero to the Argentines as he led forces against the British (and captured a ship), fought against the Spanish (using smart tactics for poorly armed but clever Gaucho soldiers), and fought against Loyalist Argentine-Spanish Forces (who hired locals to hunt down and shoot in the back Martín Miguel de Güemes at the age of 36). That is the very brief synopsis; Wikipedia (the link above) has more details.
Above Left: Colorful laundry and a private creek. We have not seen water in streams for a few days, so it was nice to see water and eventually the water would be quite common. We always make mental notes of the water situation.
Above Right: South on Ruta 68, the sun is behind us.
Above Left: 85k Marker.
Above Right: El Guayacan (the heart of the town is across the river, Rio Guachipas).
Above Left: Pilgrims/Peregrins on cycles heading for Salta, we all waved.
Above Right: Zona de Badenes, the most common city name in Argentina (that is a Joke, it means Area of Speed Bumps ahead).
Above Left: Lapacho Trees ahead.
Above Right: A single vehicle bridge to access El Guayacan across the Rio Guachipas.
Above Left: We are viewing El Guayacan.
Above Right: Some Pasacana Cactus on the colorado hillside.
Quebrada de las Conchas
([The Place] of Broken Shells)
Above Left: A roadside cafe and souvenir stand.
Above Right: We are entering the Province of Salta's Natural Reserve called Quebrada de las Conchas (Broken Shells). We are about to see an ancient conglomerate sediment Sea Floor which contains Shells and other Ocean Floor Artifacts.
Above: Like many rides through mountains, we are cycling through the Rock History of Eons of Time.
Above: Terry Struck and the Bee in the Quebrada de las Conchas, Argentina.
Above: There is water and a cow in the Rio Guachipas.
Above Left: About Quebrada de las Conchas, Argentina.
Above Right: Rio Guachipas.
Above Left: The Mountain Club of Salta asks people not to Not cover the beauty with waste.
Above Right: Dennis y Terry Struck and the Bee in Quebrada de las Conchas, Argentina.
Above Left: A vineyard.
Above Right: We are near the pass.
Above Left: At or near the pass there is an emergency telephone call post (technically it is a radio phone).
Above Right: We have crossed the pass, it is unmarked, and it is not remarkable.
Above Left: We will visit Quilmes in 2 days.
Above Right: The bend in the road is due to a flood and road wash-out.
Above: There is much color in this photo image.
Above Left: Shades of Red.
Above Right: Some roadside shrines derive from automobile accidents and some just for respect to nature's view (God's Creation).
Garganta del Diablo
(It is a Geological Crack in the Wall)
Above Left: The river bed is widening and the flora is lush. A widening river bed lets a traveler know that they are approaching a major Valley of life.
Above Right: Signage for Garganta del Diablo. We took a break there.
Above: Two outside views of Garganta del Diablo.
Above Left: A geology explanation - The sediment of the ocean floor formed about 90 million years ago.
Above Right: The bird glyph is a Rhea (they are rare to see and wild in the area, related to the ostrich).
Above Left: Outside view - Vendors.
Above Right: Inside View - First Level.
Above Left: We're on the first level looking at the second level.
Above Right: More or less it says that it is OK to visit the bottom level but that you should have proper gear to climb beyond. Do not paint the rocks and take out your trash. Keep the monument natural looking.
Anfiteatro / Amphitheatre
(It has a Medium Sized Round Floor Opening)
Above Left: Anfiteatro / Amphitheatre.
Above Right: The entryway.
Above: Wild Parrots guard the entrance.
Above Left: Welcome and Warning Signs. The place is used by indigenous people to pay respect to "Pachamama" (Mother Earth, more or less).
Above Right: El Anfiteatro / The Amphitheatre.
Above Left: The upper part of El Anfiteatro.
Above Right: The lower part, the floor, of the El Anfiteatro.
Someone has gathered rocks into piles and it may be more for art than for any native beliefs, I do not know, but the rock gathering is not consistent with anything that we learned of pre-Spanish Argentina or native practices before or after our arrival here.
Above Left: Another view of upper part of El Anfiteatro.
Above Right: We are still following the Quebrada de las Conchas ([The Valley] of Broken Shells).
Above: We passed by a ranch that has been here for over 200 years. This is just the entry way, the main structures are out of view.
Above Left: It is the red rock conglomerate that has the sea floor shells.
Above Right: A fully loaded fellow traveler, we waved.
Above Left: El Sapo (the Toad) is ahead.
Above Right: It does look like a toad from this angle. El Sapo is a Red Rock Conglomerate that contains sediment evidence of its formation time.
Above Left: We did not see any Sea Shells in El Sapo but it probably has been picked clean.
Above Right: A happy Stoker.
Above Left: Rio Calchaqui.
Above Right: Evidence of ancient geological activity.
Above Left: Geology Rocks!
Above Right: It appears to be an old mining or mine processing structure.
Above Left: Split Rock.
Above Right: The mountains continue.
Above Left: Lamas - A roadside stop advertises Home made Bread.
Above Right: We stopped for a little break, water, and snacks.
Above Left: The alluvial plain is getting bigger, we know that we are about to exit the canyon/cañon.
Above Right: Balanced rocks.
Above Left: This is the end of our cañon. From here on, we are in the north-south mountain Valley that contains the city of Cafayate.
Above Right: We passed by another vineyard, they have guests, and they are burning off vine cuttings.
Above Left: Rio Calchaqui.
Above Right: 16 km, more or less, to Cafayate.
Above Left: We have turned away from Rio Calchaqui and we are crossing through Colorado.
Above Right: There is a wild fire in the mountains above Cafayate.
Above Left: 10 km to Cafayate.
Above Right: The smoke from the wild fire is barely visible.
Above Left: Now the smoke from the wild fire is visible (with telescopic zoom).
Above Right: On the outskirts of Cafayate there is a paved running/pedestrian walkway.
Above Left: The sign implies that Ruta 52 goes straight but it is a T-Intersection.
Above Right: At the T-Intersection we will turn left (south) on Ruta 40.
Cafayate, Provincia de Salta, Argentina
Above Left: Centro Cafayate is 2 km.
Above Right: Federico flagged us down at an open air restaurant located directly across from the main plaza. According to our understanding, the Cockspur Coral Tree (Erythrina crista-galli, Fabaceae) is the National Tree of Argentina.
Above Left: Other cyclists were at the restaurant, we found a place for the Bee. We had conversations with other cyclists; they were neither Argentine nor American.
Above Right: Cheers! We were thirsty and hungry.
Above Left: Pizza and Cerveza Negra, our meal would end-up as dinner.
Above Right: As we sat in the open, we were bombed by Cockspur Tree Seeds. The seed's coral color is magnificent.
Above: The restaurant's interior, it was too warm to sit inside.
Above Left: A mural inside our restaurant.
Above Right: A mural across from Hotel Killa.
Above: Mural located just outside of Hotel Killa.
Hotel Killa
Above Left: A mural and poem across from Hotel Killa.
Above Right: Hotel Killa.
Above: Hotel Killa, like all really interesting hotels of the old ways, the hotel has a minimal street side exterior exposure and a magnificent interior decor.
Above Left: The entryway.
Above Right: Mano y Metate.
Above Left: Walkway.
Above Right: Flowers.
Above: Walkway, we have not found our room yet, and more cyclists
Above Left: Colorful Flower Pot.
Above Right: Naranjas.
Above Left: We found our room.
Above Right: The Bee found her own room.
We had a long, fun, and a very interesting ride today.
| 66
| 
| 
![Quebrada de las Conchas ([The Place] of Broken Shells).](Argentina/2016-09-14 056.JPG "Quebrada de las Conchas ([The Place] of Broken Shells).")
