📷 Garganta del Diablo

The road between the cities of Salta and Cafayate in the province of Salta, Argentina, you can drive rather quickly if you do not stop for some reasons — it will take about 3.5-4 hours. But, of course, you shouldn’t do this unless you travel there on business or quite often: you are either in a hurry, or have already seen all the pleasant surprises that these 200 km of road and their immediate surroundings can present.

In addition to the majestic views that open on the sides of the road, when rocks and mountainous hills either surround you almost closely, or at least loom somewhere in the distance on the horizon, there are many places where it is worth stopping or driving off the road — give a little extra time to see something interesting.

One of these places (just 50 km from the town of Cafayate), and generally speaking, inconspicuous from the road, is Garganta del Diablo, which translates as the Devil's Throat. This is a big, but not very deep cleft in the rocks; one could call it a large cave, if not for the lack of a vault overhead. It is remarkable for its shape and the reddish color of the rock — many years of erosion have given it a look that truly resembles a giant, terrible throat that can swallow a dozen people at a time and not choke.

Local sellers of all sorts of handicraft and not-so-handmade souvenirs and decorations often sit at the entrance, laying out their goods on the stones at the entrance, or even hanging some of them on dry tree branches. Fortunately, when we were there, there were not many sellers, just a couple of people, and no tourists except us, so nothing distract us from the attractive view.

And there is something to look at: these layered, wavy, curving reddish rock walls rising around...

And in the back part of the cleft, the ledges deepen as if a cave, on the layers-steps of which some bushes, grass and even trees manage to grow. At the very top, on the right, it bends and goes further out of sight, behind a ledge.

It would be interesting to see what is further there, in the depths of this Throat — but you cannot climb there, on these ledges, there is a sign there. It’s not very convenient, it’s a bit high — but I’ve seen in photographs that people are climbing.

It would seem that the attraction is relatively small, visiting it while driving past will take very little time: you don’t need to go far from the road, you just need to leave it at the right place and stop for literally 20 minutes, but the impressions of Garganta del Diablo are amazing. While inside, I really felt like a midget inside a huge red throat.

Overall, I definitely recommend stopping by here if you have the opportunity! And I hope to tell you more about my experience and impressions of other places and views from the road to Cafayate another time :)

It's better to watch photos in high resolution.

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Camera: OLYMPUS E-M1 Mark II

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You can also see my photos in my blog LJ and in my profile on RTraveler. You also can read a short interview with me here.

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