Argentine Inca Trails on Horseback - Salta

"We reach campsite after a day riding in the wilderness. We will never forget our new friends and horses. At the campfire, dinner gets ready while we listen to the local ancient tales. The evening star comes out as the night shows up. It is the first of the million stars that lighten the sky of the southern hemisphere. Long conversations recreate the incredible day gone by. This is how our nights are..........This is how our riding vacations are." – Pioneros brochure

Day 1 – Yungas forest. Night in Refugio in Lerma valley.

The day started off hot & humid in Salta city. After breakfast, we packed up & drove 2 hours into the mountains to meet our horses. Upon exiting the van, the noise of the forest was deafening. Had lunch, met our horses, saddled up & took off into the mountains. Temp was warm but no longer horribly humid. Beautiful scenery, red earth, crossing streams, cacti larger than trees sticking up out of the brush further up on the valley walls. The sounds of birds, insects & our guide hacking through the forest in front of us with a machete (also on horseback). Saw Pata del Agua (sp?) birds, strange looking creatures, perched on top of the cacti, with long hooked beaks & a strange, deep cry.

Later in the day, as we climbed higher and higher in the valley, we needed to dismount & hike ahead of the horses, and then the vaqueros drove the horses along the trail to meet us. The trail was too steep at that point for us to ride through. While waiting on the opposite side for the horses, we heard the ominous sound of thunder. Sure enough, about 20 mins later, large, fat drops started to fall. Everyone suited up for rain. I decided to take the advice of the guide from the Torres del Paine talk, accept the fact that I was going to get wet, & keep my Gore-Tex dry for when I would need it later when we stopped moving. The downpour was so heavy that the Gore-Tex would have been useless anyway. After 20 mins, the rain seemed to ease up & while my riding trousers were soaked through; my multiple top layers were only damp underneath my fleece. "That's grand" – I thought to myself – "I'll get the chance to dry off a bit now". But it wasn't to be, a clap of thunder & a flash of lightening a few minutes later & the rain came down heavier than ever. Again, as in Mendoza, I was amazed by the horses; they paid no attention to the thunder & lightening crashing around us for the next hour. I got soaked through to my underwear but it was the stuff (my) horse riding dreams are made of! The smell of the forest in the rain was mouth-watering – so sweet – like honeysuckle. Crashing through a forest on horseback, trying to beat the rain – it was the most fun I've had since Antarctica – and reminded me that the white continent is not the only beautiful/fun place on earth.

Tonight we are staying at a Refugio (with flushing toilet – heaven!), using our saddle blankets as mattresses & sleeping bags. The storm has finally stopped & the sounds of the forest have returned. I am warm & dry again thanks to a change of clothes & 2 "Irish" coffees – courtesy of one of the other riders on the trip (thanks for the whiskey Oscar!). Everyone's wet clothes are hanging on a makeshift clothes line stretched along the main room of the Refugio & I am crossing my fingers & toes that my clothes are dry in the morning – at present my boots make squelching noises when I walk in them & my riding trousers & fleece are so wet that they are dripping onto the floor – even after I have wrung them out. Please, please, please let them be dry in the morning.

Day 2 – Crossing from Lerma valley to Calchaqui valley. Night at Refugio in Amblayo village.

My first thought/action this morning was to reach out & feel my sheepskin saddle blankets to see if they were dry. Relief! – Almost dry, merely damp. I got up quickly to check my clothes, no such luck there; the riding trousers were still soaking. The sun was coming up over the mountains, so I took all my stuff outside & hung them on fences/trees/window sills – wherever they could get the most sunlight. Over the next 2 hours while we had breakfast, packed up & the horses were saddled, I kept rearranging my clothes according to the sun. When it was time to go, my clothes, to my great surprise & relief were dry enough to wear.

This morning's riding was difficult going for the horses. We were climbing out of the valley & after yesterday's rain – the red dust was now slippery red mud. By the time we stopped for lunch, my horse looked exhausted. We stopped for an hour or so for lunch & the horses were able to catch their breath. The scenery at the top of the valley was amazing & I had a really great view when nature called! J

After lunch, the going was much easier, apart from one hairy moment over rocks where we were instructed to just let the horse choose his/her own path, do nothing but hold on! My horse decided to hop from rock to rock (or at least that was how it felt). When we passed, our guide smiled at me & told me to take a moment to get my soul back into my body – I must have looked terrifiedJ. After that, the trail was a gentle downhill slope into the next valley. The scenery was so beautiful. After climbing out of yesterday's narrow & forested valley, from the mountains we crossed, you can see (what appears to be) endless similar forested valleys, it looked like a rolling green carpet. There were condors flying overhead & the only sounds apart from the horses, was the occasional bellow of cattle grazing on the mountain pastures.

Upon descending into the next valley, which is flat, u-shaped & desert-like, we stopped for a group photo opportunity in front of some ENORMOUS cacti and then headed for our Refugio. If I was pleased with last night's Refugio because it had a flushing toilet then tonight I am in heaven! J We have beds, electricity, flushing toilet & even hot water for a shower. I joked that the rest of our group were spoiled & would not be able for all the camping on the Mendoza ride (see previous post – Ceiling of the Andes).

I am clean & sleepy after showering. The only thing that is keeping me up is curiosity over dinner. Last night we had empanadas, which, while tasty, I do not consider them overly nutritious. I remember reading as part of the trip literature that one of the nights we would be having roasted goat for dinner. We passed goats (live ones) as we arrived into the village. I am partly curious; partly horrified....I wait & will see.

Update: I don't like goat.

Day 3 – Amblayo village. Calchaqui valley.

An easy day. After breakfast we explored the village of Amblayo – on foot. Amblayo is where our current Refugio is located & has a total of 40 inhabitants. After visiting the local telephone booth (I kid you not) and the church, which has a really old painting, we were invited into the local school where the students were practising for the April 2^nd commemorations (Islas Malvinas Day). The children referred to us as "las turistas" which made me laugh as I was the only true tourist there.

After lunch, we rode out into the valley, to a dry river bed, which because it was sandy, was perfect for some fast riding. And because we were staying at the same Refugio for 2 nights, we hadn't needed to pack & make the horses carry our saddlebags. As my horse was carrying about 10kgs less, I felt much better & less guilty about galloping. I can't describe the sense of freedom – only to say that I felt truly free & totally happy during those gallops up & down the river bed. Nada mas J. I was also chuffed when told I rode like a gaucho not like a European – but maybe that was just flattery J. On the way back from the riverbed, we posed for photos on top of some large rocks which we had to ride up onto.

Update: Until tonight, I had been disappointed with the food on this trip compared to the Mendoza trip...but tonight we had the most delicious milanesa – the best I've had (milanesa wise) since arriving in Argentina. The meat was tender, the bread coating crisp, fresh & clearly just out of the pan, not pre-made, frozen, defrosted & reheated, like I've had plenty of before.

Day 4 – Riding out of Calchaqui valley. Night at Refugio at Cafayate Creek

A long day of riding. We were called at 7.30am this morning & started riding out of the valley by 9am. As we approached the end of the valley, the landscape began to change gradually and we saw guanacos grazing low down on the hillsides nearby. Out of the valley, we descended into a beautiful red canyon, which one of my fellow riders proudly proclaimed was more beautiful than the Grand Canyon.

We were descending gradually further & further down, with the canyon becoming narrower & narrower. Near the bottom we met a small river and the canyon ground became quite rocky. As at the beginning of the week, we needed to dismount the horses, go part of the way on foot, and wait for the horses to make their own way down (see video). Once back on horseback, we made our way up into the mountains again, and reached our Refugio near Cafayate Creek.

Day 5 – Riding out of Cafayate Creek & back to civilisation

I couldn't get over how isolated the last Refugio we were staying at was. What really brought it home to me was the old lady who lived there with her 2 sons. The Refugio was a mud hut (as the one on the first night had been) but there was no running water here, no electricity, and the dogs there were so thin you could see all their ribs and hip bones sticking out. There was a mad rooster who kept crowing all evening and of course woke us up at daylight. I asked our guide how the old lady survived up there with no running water even, and she told me that one of her sons lived in a "nearby" town and would bring supplies in to his mother every now & then, when he could. The only way in & out of this place was on horseback – a good four hour ride to the nearest road, again down gravelly mountain sides, where we had to walk in front of the horses and they would come down after us. I didn't expect to find this isolation and such a basic way of living and if I'm honest, it scared & shocked me a little. It could be a beautiful but harsh way of life, and certainly took some of the romantic sheen off of living in the mountains, and was a reality check for me. On that last day I was very glad to get to our meeting point & take the bus back to the hostel in Salta where hot running water awaited J.

A beautiful 5 days in the wilderness which really showed me some of the harsh realities of living in the mountains.