cachi, salta, pumamarca

So much has happened in the past few days that it had been hard to find time to write! sorry

After our amazing tour in the land of beauty we decided to have a day of rest in beautiful Cafayate - even though we are on vacation it is still always go go go so it was nice to have a day to do whatever we wanted. In this valley it is said that they produce the best white wine in the country - a Torrientes. SO needless to say we went on several wine tours and I tried various yummy wines (and Giorgia, although she is from Italy, does not like wine... so sometimes i had her sample too :) We went shopping a bit and did the muesem thing and just hung out eating kilos of grapes. I really hope I won't get sick from that... i seriously eat about 2 pounds of grapes a day. that is because they are SO good and taste NOTHING like our grapes, these are real white grapes that have the most wonderful taste. And since there are people selling grapes on every other corner it is super convienent. mmm...
The next day we took a tour to Cachi and then up to Salta. The trip up to cachi is one of the most amazing roads - sometimes it was a dirt road for a bit, but the scenery was so amazing that it was a crime if you were to sleep through it. We ate lunch in the small mountain town of Cachi and then continued on to Salta. We saw everything on this trip - cloud forests, colorful mountains, cactus, deser.... a little bit of each. When we arrived close to Salta, gioriga and I about about 5 others got off our tour bus with all of our stuff to wait for the local bus to take us into the town of Salta. I'm not sure why the tour bus could not take us all the way, but oh well. We waited seriously for about an hour on the side of a road, in the dark, for a bus to pass by that was not stuffed to the seams. The other girls (french) that got off the bus with us started to try and hitch hike and finally got in the back of a pick up truck with their stuff.... ya.... no thanks. I'll wait. Well we did just that! Finally we got a bus and got aboard with all of our giant backpacks.... it was a long 45 minute ride! However we did meet the very nice people that we were squished up against. One man was getting off at our stop and insisted that he help us find our hostel... very nice old man. Every time I have to pick up my bags and walk a few blocks takes so much effort! I have a bag full of purchases, so I guess that doesnt help at all! Salta, which is called "La Bella" the beautiful was just that. We took a gondola up to the top of a moutain and got the whole panoramic view.

*** to be continued... I have to go and catch my 25 hour bus.... suck. wish me luck.