Cachi

We took a little vacation from our trip to visit the little village of Cachi, Argentina, way up in the mountains , southwest of Salta. The road from Salta to Cachi goes through El Parque Nacional de los Cardones. Cardones are cacti that grow everywhere on the hills. They are very similar to saguaros, and they are protected by law. The road climbs and climbs, and goes over a 12,000 foot pass before descending to Cachi.

The road is not paved high up there, and it is really narrow. Once, when there was another vehicle (a pickup truck) coming the other way, our driver had to back up around the curves until there was a wide spot in the road. Mon didn’t like that part too much.

Cachi is a quiet little town, about 6800 feet above sea level. It’s old, with beautiful stonework and adobe. The town plaza is especially lovely, with stone arches for entrances, and stone walls for definition.

The whole town seems to be right out of Zorro—–especially the church and the buildings nearby. At sunset, three girls galloped by on horseback, and I thought we were in a time warp.

There is a sign when you pull into town that tells you that Cachi is 2280 meters above sea level, and then it invites the visitor to discover the poetry hidden in its old houses and streets, where time is asleep, then it implores you to please try not to wake it up.

We tried not to.

After three days in Cachi, we got on a bus back to Salta, back over the 12,000 foot pass. The bus was crowded because the day before there was a rockslide and the road was closed. The driver played really loud and bad music, but my thought was, “Hey, anything he wants.”

From Salta, we continued north. We are headed toward Bolivia, but first we stopped in Jujuy (pronounced hoo-hoooo-eee) and the small village of Tilkara, just in time for Carnaval.