2 days-1 night |
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DAY 1 | DAY 2
Safari to the Calchaquíes Valleys
It's a very nice program visiting the most ancient villages and small towns, having contact with locals and enjoying the nature.
The first journey we start in Salta at 8:30 am driving to the west, through a paved road at the beginning, but after few kilometers, and when we start to ascend, conditions changes. We will go up the famous Cuesta del Obispo, it has a difference of altitude of 1100 mts in 20 kms, reaching 3348 m.a.s.l. in Piedra del Molino into Parque Nacional Los Cardones.
Once there, we will descend to Valle Encantado, an small valley that marks a transition between two eco regions: Monte and Pre-puna. If weather permits we might be gifted with the majestic flight of a condor over us.
After Valle Encantado, about 40 kms further away, we will visit Valle de Tonco a place unknown for most of the people and which entrance is restricted just for tourist operators with an special permission gived by Administracion de Parques Nacionales. There we will see a geological formation called Yacoraite, the same one that you could see in the famous Cerro de los Siete Colores, but here is its greatest expression.
Continuing with our trip, after we left Parque Nacional Los Cardones, we will take across Payogasta village and few minutes later we will arrive to Cachi to have lunch, and visit its picturesque chapel and the archeological museum.
Going to the south our route continues on the famous Ruta 40 through other small villages such as: San Jose, Seclantás and finally Molinos also known as "the poncho's capitol". Molinos has an historical chapel built in the XVIIth. century and a Vicuñas breeding place that belongs to a local artisanal cooperative. In Molinos we spend our first night in a hotel. |
