Most of our route is generally planned just a few days ahead. We have a general plan but things like which cities to visit or how long to stay are decided almost on the moment. There is of course some disadvantages to it, but this gives us also a flexibility and a great sense of liberty. Furthermore, it has been giving us some pleasant surprises, such as places we ended up in that weren't part of the plan or that we haven’t even heard about them before!
This was the case of Tafí del Valle and the Valles Calchaquíes. We wanted to go from Tucumán to Salta and there is a direct route, but after hearing so much about the Valles Calchaquíes area just west of Tucumán, we decided to do a detour of two to three days through this region. The Valles are a series of valleys with typical desert mountain climate, a pre-Andes mountain region, where many tucumanos usually take refuge for fresh air when the city’s temperature is boiling hot.
This was the case of Tafí del Valle and the Valles Calchaquíes. We wanted to go from Tucumán to Salta and there is a direct route, but after hearing so much about the Valles Calchaquíes area just west of Tucumán, we decided to do a detour of two to three days through this region. The Valles are a series of valleys with typical desert mountain climate, a pre-Andes mountain region, where many tucumanos usually take refuge for fresh air when the city’s temperature is boiling hot.
Let’s get first to our initial destination, the peaceful town of Tafí del Valle. We will tell you more about the Valles Calchaquíes later. After an interesting bus trip from the lowlands all the way to the top of the valley through an impressive landscape, we settled in our hostel, had a good Argentinean lunch and decided to hike a trail that went from Tafí del Valle until El Mollar.
The path followed the river all the way through Tafí Valley until a manmade reservoir where El Mollar is located and it had nice views. The altitude of about 2000m above sea level wasn’t enough to feel any altitude sickness of any kind, but the burning sun and the dry air made this hike more difficult. Through the valley we could see hordes of horses scattered around. The mountains all around the valley made it an impressive view as well.
Only after 3 hours of almost continuous walking, we reached El Mollar, tired but happy, just to discover that we had missed the last bus back to Tafí del Vale! Luckely there was a remis (aka taxi) that took us back to Tafi.
Only after 3 hours of almost continuous walking, we reached El Mollar, tired but happy, just to discover that we had missed the last bus back to Tafí del Vale! Luckely there was a remis (aka taxi) that took us back to Tafi.