While in Mendoza, we had talked to people who recommended that we go northward into La Rioja province and the town of Chilecito. After another 8 hour night bus, we arrived in freaking hot Chilecito. We got ourselves a room in a basic hotel with kitchen ( but no plates, pots, pans, forks or anything to cook with) where we wondered what the hell we were doing there. There were absolutely no tourists in Chilecito, it was over 40 degrees and appeared as if there was nothing to do. We sure weren’t going to be doing any of the hikes the guide book had talked about. There was mean little dog, however.

One day we checked out what was once the world’s longest and highest cable car, which was quite interesting. It was also free, and the lady minding the museum was very happy to give us an excellent tour. The fascinating Museo del Cablecarriland cable car station documents an extraordinary engineering project that gave birth to the town of Chilecito at the beginning of the 20th century. To enable the mining of gold, silver and copper from the Sierra de Famatina, a German firm was contracted to construct a cable car running from here, at the end of the railway line, to La Mejicana, at an altitude of 4603m, more than 3.5km above Chilecito and nearly 40km away. With nine stations, a tunnel and 262 towers, the project was completed in 1904. There were pictures of the cable towers clinging precariously to the side of steep mountain cliffs. Our guide said many men died while constructing the line. Men and supplies were carried to the mine, operated by a British firm, in four hours. WWI put an end to this Anglo-German cooperation and the line started to decay, although local miners continued using it until the 1930s. They used to offer small rides in the buckets that transported the miners out and the ore back, but some silly tourist decided to pull the pin than keeps the bucket from tipping, while he was 30 meters up, and consequently fell to his death and thereby halting all future rides.

We moved to a small B&B (Finca del Paimán) in a small village a few kilometers down the road. It was a lovely little place on a small farm filled with olive trees, massive rose bushes and an assortment of fruit trees. It was really quiet, we had a great room and amazing views of the nearby mountains. The mountains, by the way, were absolutely massive. Some of them were over 6000 meters high and looked very imposing on the horizon. They also had an amazing red colour, which changed as the position of the sun changed throughout the day.

We worked out that there were a couple of things to do from Chilecito, both of which involved long rides and were quite expensive. we opted for a visit to the Talampaya National Park, where we had our own ride with an excellent guide, Mario. The drive there took us through some amazing roads with sheer drops to flat desert with a road made by simply running a grader over the sand to smooth out the bumps. The Park was massive, but the part the we were interested in was a canyon of incredible red rock, with huge 200 meter walls. To reach the canyon involved a walk for about an hour through baking hot desert with nothing but a few bushes, 1000 year old trees and lots of sand and rock. The canyon itself was quite spectacular. The wind had carved incredible curves in to the huge walls and they looked like waves of cloth rippling in the wind. We also got to have a look at Petroglyphs (ancient writing) on some of the rocks, some of which required a bit of imagination as to their true meaning. We also saw some condors, floating so high up we could hardly make them out, but we did see condors. Probably the most interesting thing about the trip was that we turned green. Well, not literally, but we looked green. Apparently, due to the high level of iron in the soil, it somehow messes with the colours that we see and our skin appeared to have a green tinge. Very strange.

That night, in Chilecito, there was a rally for the upcoming political election. There were parades and grand stands set up in the square. There were men on horse back dressed in traditional gaucho garb. It was all very spectacular and the gauchos were very handsome. On all the election posters were the picture of the candidate, their name and a number. Apparently that is for the illiterate to decipher who they are voting for.

Before we left Chilecito, we decided to have a typical regional dish, so we went to a restaurant recommended to us by Mario. No, we didn’t choose the goat, or the horse. We opted for a selection of meats that all sounded quite normal. In Argentina they eat the whole cow, remember? Even the organs and the intestines. Some was actually quite tasty, but some......ick.....

So, after thoroughly exhausting ourselves in the baking heat, we chilled out for a couple of days, reading, relaxing and doing nothing before heading back to Mendoza, where we caught another bus, straight away to almost the last town on the way to Chile, Puente del Inca.