Valle de Calchaqui - Mara posting

I feel sorry for the Grand Canyon.  It doesn’t seem so grand anymore. The 150 km dirt road between Cachi and Cafayate, Argentina, is possibly the most scenic drive that I have done. It’s an endless, colorful landscape of canyons, eroding mountains, condors, 10 foot cacti, rivers, reds and blue, and flocks of desert parrots. (Yes, parrots. In the desert.)  There are a few small enclaves – sleepy towns with impeccable plazas and dozens of dogs laying in the shade.  In 6 hours, we passed four cars, a few dozen burros, a handful of churches, two groups of school children walking miles home from school, and countless jaw-dropping scenes. 

Sure, there are further, harder to reach places in the world. But here, you end the dusty drive in a well-kept town of 10,000 and complete the day with an affordable supper of steak and world-class wine.  It is one of the few places in the world where Google maps doesn’t have towns and town streets mapped (although you can get a map once you are here)!  I’m happy to be out of the cities for a while!