De Quebrada de Cafayate
Once more we have travelled and seen a lot since we have published our last report.
We will never forget the journey from Cafayate to Salta in the most Northern province of Argentina. Our path led us through a beautiful canyon ( see picture above ) about 60 kilometres long, with walls of red sandstone up to 100 metres high.
Along the way are canyons and rock formations sculpted by wind and water, never before seen by human eyes. We have seen this wonder of nature in the parks of Utah, but here we felt alone while the parks in the USA are visited by millions every year.
From Salta we flew to Buenos Aires, where we had a day to walk through the streets of this enormous city. We concluded that Argentina is a really beautiful country with a great diversity in environment, nature and the countryside. This enormous country has only 40 millions inhabitants, of which 14 are living in and around Buenos Aires. Apart from some other cities the country is virtually empty! Since the financial crisis that hit the country in 2002, Argentina changed from one of the most expensive countries in South America into one of the cheapest. Because it is so widespread , we had eight flights by Aerolíneas Argentina that proved to be a reliable company. We really had a wonderful time and recommend everybody to visit Argentina.
From Buenos Aires we flew to Rio de Janeiro, where we would stay for four days. We had booked a good hotel in the Copacabana area where, after eight weeks travelling, we took a well deserved rest during the weekend. Of course we have seen a lot of Rio.
The city is surrounded by the sea at three sides, giving it a number of very wide beaches with well-known names as Ipanema and Copacabana. Furthermore the city is divided by mountain ridges of which some of the peaks are a thousand metres high. Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, along with its favela slums. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovadomountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambodromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival and Maracana Stadium
one of the wolds largest football stadiums. The city also boasts the largest and second largest urban rain forests in the world: Floresta da Tijuca, or and (almost connected to the first) the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, or White Stone State Park, more than 32 square kilometres in total.
We had time to visit the above mentioned places and paid our daily visit to Copacaba beach
where we had our meals.
We have often written that we do not favour large cities but Rio appeared to be an exemption.
We will never forget the journey from Cafayate to Salta in the most Northern province of Argentina. Our path led us through a beautiful canyon ( see picture above ) about 60 kilometres long, with walls of red sandstone up to 100 metres high.
Along the way are canyons and rock formations sculpted by wind and water, never before seen by human eyes. We have seen this wonder of nature in the parks of Utah, but here we felt alone while the parks in the USA are visited by millions every year.From Salta we flew to Buenos Aires, where we had a day to walk through the streets of this enormous city. We concluded that Argentina is a really beautiful country with a great diversity in environment, nature and the countryside. This enormous country has only 40 millions inhabitants, of which 14 are living in and around Buenos Aires. Apart from some other cities the country is virtually empty! Since the financial crisis that hit the country in 2002, Argentina changed from one of the most expensive countries in South America into one of the cheapest. Because it is so widespread , we had eight flights by Aerolíneas Argentina that proved to be a reliable company. We really had a wonderful time and recommend everybody to visit Argentina.
From Buenos Aires we flew to Rio de Janeiro, where we would stay for four days. We had booked a good hotel in the Copacabana area where, after eight weeks travelling, we took a well deserved rest during the weekend. Of course we have seen a lot of Rio.
The city is surrounded by the sea at three sides, giving it a number of very wide beaches with well-known names as Ipanema and Copacabana. Furthermore the city is divided by mountain ridges of which some of the peaks are a thousand metres high. Rio de Janeiro is famous for its natural settings, its carnival celebrations, samba and other music, and hotel-lined tourist beaches, along with its favela slums. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ ('Cristo Redentor') atop Corcovadomountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambodromo, a giant permanent parade stand used during Carnival and Maracana Stadium
one of the wolds largest football stadiums. The city also boasts the largest and second largest urban rain forests in the world: Floresta da Tijuca, or and (almost connected to the first) the forest in Parque Estadual da Pedra Branca, or White Stone State Park, more than 32 square kilometres in total.We had time to visit the above mentioned places and paid our daily visit to Copacaba beach
where we had our meals.We have often written that we do not favour large cities but Rio appeared to be an exemption.
On 3. November we flew back to Buenos Aires, where we had one day to reorganize the suitcases (Margreth) and to update the blog (Jan) before we would fly to South Africa in the evening of the fourth of November.
Reflection of the Catherdal of Rio in opposite buildings.
