ANDES’ TRADING ROADS: SALT, ESTANCIAS AND WINE – MULTIACTIVE EXPLORATION AND CULTURAL IMMERSION A few days that will transform travellers by going deep into a region, disconnect from noise and reconnect with nature and self. Learn, share, experience. From day one we will meet experts and visit places that the independent traveller would not access. We will hike together with the Andean communities who still mine salt manually. We bike and Page | overland over a road built on the Inca Trail that connected the Calchaquí Valley with Cusco, Peru. We stay in Cachi, a 1 town from where brave gauchos, the arrieros, set off to Chile driving cattle over the Andes towards the Atacama Desert to supply the British nitrate mines. We then enter the world of high altitude wines, staying at a vineyard tucked into red mountains and see how wine is changing life in this high desert valley. The trip is designed so that travellers experience and understand the region as a whole. Hiking, biking, horses and 4x4s make you slow down and see things – and life - from a different angle. The trip is planned for delegates to experience the four distinct regions of NW Argentina: the Yungas (montane forest), the temperate valleys, high dry valleys and the Puna or Altiplano, and learn about the people that inhabit each area. We will visit the most well-known places in the region but stay at off the grid locations. The cultural aspect of the trip is deep and genuine, sharing time with people who work the land and who are looking at tourism as a means to improve their economy. This is a truly responsible trip, designed to support grassroots projects that need the income travellers can provide. Six days to explore 1,300 km in 4x4s, on a bike, on a horse and on foot. Visit the archetypal regions in NW Argentina, go off the beaten path (really) and discover the magnificent Andes’ geography and people. Duration: 6 days / 5 nights | Start: OCT 10 in the afternoon - End: OCT 15 in the afternoon. | From/to: SALTA Activities: biking | hiking | overlanding | horseback riding Grading: activities are different each day but all from Easy-Moderate to Moderate-Vigorous. Intensity is mostly due to altitude, not requiring participants to have special skills or to be very physically fit. Support vehicle is always close by. Cultural: contact with Andean native communities. Food production. Archaeology. Andes’ trading routes. Wine and cooking. Wine production, vineyards and boutique wineries. Group size: 4 to 6 fully hosted delegates* Inclusions: all meals, drinks, accommodation, transportation and activities. Not included: laundry, personal expenses and gratuities for driver and guide. ACCOMODATION: following our ethos, we use characterful accommodation that enhances the overall adventure travel experience, using local homes adapted to host travellers. We will accommodate travellers in single rooms in the city of Salta and in a combination of single, triple or double twin rooms with en suite bathrooms in the remote locations throughout the trip. *NOTE: if a hosted delegate wants to travel with a paying companion please contact A&L. HIGHLIGHTS: ▪ Yungas Cloud Forest – bike old route 9 under a Green canopy ▪ Quebrada de Humahuaca – organic farming and solar energy, a foodie experience. Page | ▪ Salinas Grandes – hiking with Andean communities,, a grassroots local project. 2 ▪ The Acay Pass – biking down from the highest point on Route 40 ▪ Guasamayo, Pucara – horseback riding, cooking under the stars by a hidden vineyard. ▪ Cafayate high altitude wines – biking and (later) tasting and learning about altitude vineyards. ▪ Quebrada de las Conchas – explore and photograph the red formations along route 68 DAY 1 – OCT 10, 2017 - ARRIVE IN SALTA – Arrive in Salta and check in to your hotel, a driver will meet you at the airport and drive you to the hotel. At 05:30 pm we meet at the lobby and walk into town, see the main square, visit the MAAM -High Mountain Archaeological Museum. Dinner and briefing of days to come. Meals: D Accommodation: Design Suites http://www.designsuites.com/hoteles/hotel-en-salta.php Activity: walking city tour 2 hours including museum. Grading: 1 - Relaxed DAY 2 – OCT 11, 2017 - SALTA TO SALINAS GRANDES – POZO COLORADO 08:00 AM - Depart in the morning on a 30 minute transfer to the town of La Caldera a small town from here you will bike your way along the ‘Camino Real’ or Royal Road that connected Lima, Peru to Buenos Aires in Argentina during colonial times. From La Caldera bike north following a mountain road under a green canopy of the Yungas, a cloud forest. We end our ride at La Cienaga from where we transfer north for 1 hour towards the Quebrada de Humahuaca, for a light lunch in the small village of Purmamarca. In the afternoon we drive up the Cuesta de Lipán and over the Andes into the Puna – or Altiplano – we reach our destination, in the minute town of Pozo Colorado, where we stay at a Posada run and owned by the indigenous community that work on the salt flats. Dinner on the salt under the stars. Meals: B|L|D Accommodation: Posada del Silencio – Pozo Colorado Activity: Biking: from La Caldera to El Carmen bike along old route 9, under a canopy of cloud forest. It is a rolling road that goes from one green valley to the next. Small agriculture farms are dotted along the way. Grading: 2 – Easy Active - 50 km Elevation gain: 250 mt - From 1,380 m.a.s.l. to 1,630 m.a.s.l. in 25 km – Elevation loss: 360 mt down to 1,270 m.a.s.l. Today’s route DAY 3 – OCT 12, 2017 - POZO COLORADO AND SALINAS Full day hike into the Andes to visit the small agriculture producers at Carrizal. We hike out of our small town, and hike NE into the mountains that surround the high plateau or Puna. We are guided by members of the local community who will show us how they use pack animals – llamas and donkeys – for transport of salt and food produced in the high Page | mountains such as Potatoes, quinoa and fava beans to be exchanged by fruits and other goods from the low valleys. At 3 Carrizal the local ladies will teach us about agriculture production at 12,000 ft above sea level. We then return – on a bike - towards Salinas Grandes to learn about the different way salt is harvested. During the late afternoon we drive for 1 hour to San Antonio de los Cobres, a mining town where we spend the night. Meals: B|L|D Accommodation: Hosteria de Las Nubes – San Antonio de los Cobres Activity: Hiking: from Pozo Colorado over the Salt Flats on sandy trails and on hard salt; at 12,000 ft above sea level. Grading: 3 - Moderate – it is 24 km total – 9 km walking and 17 km on a bike. Elevation gain/loss: 140 mt - From 3,420 m.a.s.l. to 3,560 m.a.s.l. in 12 km (walk up(bike down) Today’s Route DAY 4 OCT 13 – SAN ANTONIO DE LOS COBRES TO CACHI Depart at 07:30 am – this is our big overlanding day. We travel along route 40, the longest in Argentina and cross over its highest point at the Abra del Acay, at 4, 895 m.a.s.l. / 16,155 ft – after breakfast at the small mining town of San Antonio de los Cobres we drive up to the high pass, stopping several times to acclimatize and take photos. We will bike down (depending on wind conditions we will decide what part of the road) and enjoy stunning landscapes that change dramatically as we go from high mountain into the Calchaqui Valley, stopping for a box lunch and to catch our breath at one of the many times we cross the river – still a stream – that zigzags across the trail. The road continues down passing through the small town of La Poma and Payogasta. In the late afternoon we reach our destination: a restored old house in the town of Cachi. This beautiful colonial house, built in adobe (mud bricks) and renovated by its new owners will be home for the evening. Before dinner on the terrace we will learn how to weave in a loom. Meals: B|L|D Accommodation: Henderson’s House – Cachi. Activity: Biking: after the pass get on your bikes and descend the twisting gravel road, from the Acay Pass to La Poma – depending on weather conditions and the participants’ adaptation to altitude guides will adapt biking distance. Grading: 3 – Moderate – 25 to 40 km Elevation loss: 1,865 metres – From 4,895 m.a.s.l to 3,030 m.a.s.l. Today’s Route DAY 5 - OCT 14, 2017 – CACHI TO ANGASTACO Today we have an easy morning, and after a hearty breakfast we will learn about the weaving techniques in the Calchaqui Valley. We head south, again along Ruta 40 driving through the small villages of Seclantás, Molinos and Angastaco. Lunch in the courtyard of a historical Hacienda before we turn west deep into the Andes and go on Page | uncharted roads towards Guasamayo, a small boutique vineyard tucked in the middle of red mountains. We reach our 4 destination, unpack and set out on an afternoon hike through vineyards and up to an archaeological site from where we will have stunning views. Return to the main house to freshen up before you test your skills cooking in a mud oven and making a real argentine asado. Meals: B|L|D Accommodation: Casa Finca Guasamayo Hiking: 10 km on stony sloping terrain.