Cachi-Cafayate-Humahuaca y...BOLIVIA!!!

From Salta,we took a 'remis' (a local taxi) to Cachi, a little town, 3 hours driving through small curvy mountain roads, rivers that flooded, a quite inaccesible road,but worth crossing because of the nice views. Cachi is really small but very cosy, with a nice little market place (where we met a couple from Texas in the only bar, that were there 12 hours in a row drinking beers, but not much to do, but to go hiking,and so we did. We decided to walk 7 kms to a little town nearby (where there was still less to do),but where we picked up a dog that followed us the whole day long (in Argentina it is normal that you are constantly followed by at least one dog). As we wanted to take another road to return to Cachi,we asked some locals, and followed their directions taking another way back. We discovered that the other road was actually three times as long, after another 10kms (the dog still at our side),I (Anke) was getting quite tired (ok,exhausted), but Bart reveiled himself as an untireable monkeyboy,climbing on every mountain we passed! Anyway,after some 20kms walking, there was finally a car that passed, we were so happy! The driver pointed at the dog,so we yelled that he wasn't ours,that we didn't have to take him, but actually the driver was the dog's owner,that was looking for the dog! Result: the dog got a ride and we could hike some more...
We had a good night's rest,and took the bus to Cafayate in the morning,a little town famous for its wineries and mountain ranges. We went to do some wine tasting in a local bodega and visited the wine museum. In the evening we drunk the bottle we bought and went to the local 'festival'. The town celebrated the Jesus de la Misericordia; it was like a typical folkloric fair in a little town, with a tiny stage on which people from Cafayate did local dances and sang religious songs; in between a woman kept on talking about Jesus and the Lord, but it was nice to see how the local people celebrated. The people here in the north of Argentina are incredibly religious, the churches are always full, and every time they pass a church or cemetry, they say a pray. The people are quite poor here,but they are not really interested in making money, they don't like working...
They are very aware of nature and they want to maintain their culture and their way of living ,so innovation is the enemy,because innovation brings pollution and deterioration of their culture and of nature off course.
This is good for us,because their nature and culture are amazing! We went to Quilmes, ruins and a fortress from the Quilmes civilisation, built upon the side of a mountain, really nice,especially if you hear the history of the place: they were attacked by the Incas but resisted, but eventually were horribly overthrown by the Spaniards.
The next day we did a tour to the Quebrada de las Conchas,some incredible mountain constructions (as soon as we can put the pictures on my facebook,go and look for mountains in the shape of the Titanic, a frog, an amphitheatre, and obelisc, the devil's throat...). We could really walk into the mountains, into the different shapes,and through all the different colours of the mountains, red,green, yellow, white,you see all colours and shapes in the same mountain range!
In the envening we met a couple from Belgium in the restaurant,and guess what their names were... Anke and Bart! Crazy...
Then we celebrated our three year together with a full day busride! yeah! and on top of that, the bus had a problem with the brakes,so we couldn't continue and had to wait (in the rain) for a new bus to pick us up, so we arrived really late at night... We decided however that we had earned a nicer hotel room for this stay, the romantic diner had to wait until the next day, as many restaurants were already closed... romantic !
So the next day we had a quiet day,visiting Tilcara,a nice town nearby, and we spoiled ourself with a nice dinner by candlelight and romantic singing on the background...
Then we went to visit Iruya, a town that is like hanging at the cliff of a mountain,really beautifull! As also the 3 hour busride to get there, a curving road going up until 4000m altitude, just a pity of the weather,it was really cold and rainy!
And today,we crossed the border to BOLIVIAAA!!! We thought the north of Argentina was already like bolivia, but the change is actually quite big. The town at the border was 'real' Bolivia,with only very tiny little people with two long plaids and a hat,with a lot of skirts on top of each other,woolen socks in sandals,and carrying a kilo of freight on their back (or a baby). Especially at the border,it was stunning to see how much they can carry on their back,people running forth and back between the Argentinean and Bolivian border, to smuggle as much as they can into Argentina,as Bolivia is much cheaper.
This was a first impression of Bolvia, the first day...