Cafayate and its Quebrada

the very same evening we arrive in cafayate, a little bit better than a tourist village, a tourist town in the andes of salta. refreshing 1680m low and full of argentineans and europeans cafayate is not quite what i would call chilled. various artesania stores and markets, restaurants, bars, hostels. what makes it charming are the mountains in the background. cafayate is in the center of the valles calchaquies, surrounded by mountain ranges.

main attraction for backpackers seems again the wine of the region, we are recommended like 6 differend wineries. well, again we are rather intrested in the nature around, which is actually aswell stunning. 6km from town starts the quebrada de cafayate. this is a more than 60km long valley of naturally built stone sculptures. wind and weather over million of years caused the spacey formation of rocks in the valley. it looks a little bit like a moon valley, or at least as beautiful. on the first 40km you find the main attraction of the quebrada.

these include a giant stone-frog, a huge formation looking like a castle, an obelisc and the famous amphie theatre. this is a formation of rocks formed like a theatre, causing surprising sound effects for the visitors. might be the reason why there is always a crowd of screaming people in, clapping hands and singing. for me those were the real attraction..