Sat 13.3.2010 by Liz
After Purmamaca, it was time to head down out of The Andes and backtrack to Salta and then down to Cafayate. As we neared the Cafayate area, the road wound down from the hills to the bottom of a big valley full of green trees and red hills. After deciding we probably wouldn't make town before nightfall we decided to find a place to camp in this valley and we found a little spot off the road near the river. We weren't the only ones with this idea as we later discovered a cyclist who set up camp in the trees not too far from us.
After a nice relaxing night of camping, which included a little star gazing, we packed up camp and drove down to Cafayate. Once out of the valley, the road wound its way on a dry desert floor toward the town. For a very dry and deserty area, the town was kept remarkably clean, and I was surprised there wasn't more dust around the streets.
We had a nice lunch of Milanesas and continued down south towards the Quilmes ruins. The fact that we were in desert terrain was amplified by the heat and scorching sun. With our sun-screen re-applied and hats and shirts on we strode up to the ruins entrance to walk around the ruins.
The ruins were built into a hill side, so on this quite hot day it was a little wearing climbing the ruins. After a well deserved rest up in the fort area of the ruins, we made our way back down to the car to head to our next stop and hopefully our stay for the night... To the Observatory!! But alas, upon our arrival, we see a notice "cerrado" on the entrance (it means "closed"). We were mainly deflated not by the fact that we didn't have a camping place for the evening here but because we didn't get to do Observatory space things. Bummer. Luckily it was early enough in the afternoon to push on and find another place to stop for the night - which we found a cute little foresty picnic / camping area off the road beside a river in the hills after the town of El Mollar - and I got pictures of llamas in the hills along the way! :D
We are in awe of Argentina and its diversity in landscapes, but considering the geographical size of the country, it isn't unimaginable. And we were very pleased with its consistency in giving us great little places to camp in for the night.
Well, after a few cruisey not-so-long-drive days, this one was going to be different. We continued south to make our way down towards Ischigualasto National Park where there was a region called Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). We knew we weren't going to make it all the way down there AND then see the national park in one day, so we aimed to get to the town closest to it, Patquia, about a 500km drive away from where we were.
As we made it down out of the windy hills to a dry flat terrain, the temperature rose. We pushed on through the hot weather - which we were enjoying very much - but my happies were interrupted momentarily after I got stung on the hand by a wasp. That'll learn me to stick my hand out of a moving vehicle. Heading into Patquia, it became clear that this wasn't a place to stay, so we opted to basically drive by the national park and loop down to Villa San Augustin, in the next province.
About 15 minutes from Patquia we saw some people on the side of the road with a car. Due to our stuff living in the back seat, we generally pass on hitch-hikers, but we weren't sure if they needed help with their car or not and we could possibly be a way for them to get back to the town if need be. So, we stuff our things into the boot, in case a ride was necessary, and drove back to the people.
We established that two of the people, the two girls, were hitch-hikers. Their previous ride, now on the roadside, had broken down and they were looking for a way to the national park that didn't involve waiting 3 hours for the bus. The park we were heading towards lies across province borders; we were going to the part in San Juan, they wanted the one in La Rioja. Through our Spanglish - assisted by their broken English - we found out the camp site they were headed to had showers AND possible use of electricity - which is all that we needed. It being just as close to the Valle de la Luna as our intended destination, we offered to change our destination and take them although in the end we didn't need to do so.
We arrived at the Ischigualasto National Park the next day conveniently 10 minutes before the next tour was about to commence. We bought our tickets and waited in the car park with the others on our tour. The Valle de la Luna circuit is about 45km and the tour is for about 3 hours. Instead of jumping on a bus and hauling us around the park, the guides got in their little white car and all us visitors piled into our respective cars and we convoyed around the park. We would follow the guide on the sandy / rocky / dusty roads and at the designated "oo, there's something to see here" spot, our guide would stop and we all followed suit.
We'd all then get out of the car and walk the "something to see" and our guide would tell us about the "something", like "it's a fossil" or "it is thought this was once an sea bed", etc. Unfortunately for us, this was all in Spanish, and complex scientific terms were really beyond our Spanglish skills but fortunately, another visitor had either befriended a bilingual visitor or hired a translator and we could get bits and pieces of the commentary as they walked by us.
The "something to see's" varied quite a lot. Mostly all rock, yes, but the type of rock, the colours, the ways they were shaped were different. I was quite fascinated by the rock formations that were smooth which were quite reminiscent of the works from the Surrealist art movement, Surrealism being my favourite movement.
Over 3 hours later (we must have had stragglers in the group... those damn Australians in the back always lagging behind...), we ended our tour. As we left the park later than anticipated finding a camp was a little harder in the dark, but we managed to score a nice little place down in a little valley - with gum trees and all!
Oooo, termas... (Thermal Springs). The drive to the termas in Pismanta was a very short one from where we set up camp the night before, so it left a full day for warm water relaxing. Any of you that know me will be well aware of my dislike for the cold, so dumping myself into a bath of hot water is a very happy thought (I am my father's daughter).
After checking in to the termas hotel (which gave you the dorky day-spa towel robes, which I happily wore) we went for a little walk around to see the area and behind the hotel we discovered a public pool overlooking a mountain landscape. We figured we enjoy the sunny day by the pool and melt ourselves in the hot baths at night. We floated in the warm waters (the pool also used the natural spring wates, but wasn't crazy hot) enjoying the day, even if it did included defending my ice cream from two stray dogs.
The baths were not outside, or had an outside view, as I had hoped but instead were in small little dungeon-like rooms that you closed yourself into. Meh, it's still indulgently warm, I'm going in! So, I started with the 42 degree room, thinking that was a good temperature. Well, to my surprise, it got too hot for me. Imagine, me, being too hot... unthinkable, right? Ok, so I moved down to the 41... only marginally more bearable. I kept skipping down in temperature until I made it to 38, which was where I could just float and sit for a nice long soaky while.
After dinner in the little forest-like BBQ area of the hotel again defending our food from stray animals, we both made our way into the termas. We decided to start low and work our way up to the hottest temperature. We did make it to the 45 degree bath but could only stay for less than 5 mins, but it was good. Jack was laughing at the expression on my face as I submerged into each bath - one of pure indulgence. Well, I was after all, indulging in the warmth. I was not sure when else I would get a chance to soak up the warm springs, so I was making the most of every hot, sweat inducing moment. Ahhh... termas!
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