headed west

This is me, delighted that an expert mini-van driver was the one to bring us up this road - it had more hairpin bends than I can begin to count (more coca leaves, though I think we only went up to about 10, 000 feet today).  Stunning scenery: first forest, then the altiplano: impossible to photograph, at least from a moving vehicle, and convey the full scope and magnificence of it all - and completely unspoilt (no lithium mines in these parts: that would be yesterday).  The road, I should add, is a dirt road.

It seemed to be something of a local food tour: we kept stopping (a) for the view (b) so that we could stock up on local delicacies like llama salami (which sounds like something from a children's book.  I did try a little piece: it was regrettably tasty).

And then into the Cardones National Park, which is full of, yes, cardones.  Not sure what they are in English ... not exactly cacti, but not not ... stretching as far as the eye can see ...

More viewpoints, more food for sale;

more cardones;

and then it was as though I'd space-traveled and gone to New Mexico: we were in the chile capital of Argentina.  I can only imagine they export a lot, since so much of their food is so bland.

More chiles drying in the sun, in an Abiquiu-like setting.

Cachi was a really lovely little C18th colonial town - very peaceful, and a long way from anywhere,

with time, for once, to sit and draw in the plaza,

and visit the very simple church,

Then back the way we came.  I'd seen several red-bedecked shrines on the way up, and wondered why. Remember Gauchito Gil, last seen on the back of a food truck in Bariloche, the Argentinian Robin Hood?  They are all shrines to him!

We went on a Cardones Interpretive Loop, and the subjects were waiting for their portraits.

And look who crossed our path!  Guanacos!  I also, very fleetingly, saw what can only have been a condor, and a lot of blue and yellow macaws by the chile drying spot.  But nature seems to have been very incidental in the minds of people in the van to food.  They had a very lively conversation about the best ways to cook quinoa.

The long and winding road, again.

And at our final pit-stop ... how could one eat them, however delicious and healthy their meat?

Just look at those eyelashes.  I wanted to bring this little guy home.

Evening view: rocks, river and goats.

And finally, one of the best meals I've had (no llamas involved): some pimiento flavored goats cheese, and a jar of big white beans marinated in vinegar and oil and spices and chile - bought from the stall I photographed above.  It may lack a tidy table setting, but I'm writing this ...