ANGASTACO

At about 245 kms away from Salta, going through Cachi, or 261 kms through Cafayete, the Valle Calchaquí Valley offers travellers a place where they can be agreeably impressed by the contrast of the agricultural areas and the sandy ground.

Angastaco is a town with a very uneven planning owed to the dunes and the hard topographic twists and turns; nevertheless, the area seduces travellers to adventure into hikes and endless horseback rides.

During the middle of the 18th century, the indigenous ethnic groups living in the Angastaco jurisdiction depended on the Misión Franciscana del Rosario de Calchaquí Mission, located in San Isidro, near Cafayate.

The Capilla Del Carmen Chapel was built in the area around the year 1800; a little later a church was built about 5kms away, in the area where the current town started developing thanks to the growing winery industry of that period. In the middle of the 1900s the first important wine cellar was established there.

Nowadays, the adobe houses with external galleries, of mud roofs and white façades, are repeated along 2 or 3 kms under a clean blue sky, surrounded by barren and arid hills and plains, alongside the glaring green of the intensively farmed estates.

Its richness comes from the grape vines, which were brought in from Chile by the Jesuits, who made use of the ancient ways of irrigation implemented by the natives.

This ethnic group "from the watery heights", according to Kakana language, is a remembrance of the chronicles telling about the indigenous resistance movements, especially the ones led by Juan Calchaquí, and then by the fake Inca "Pedro Bohorquez", who used to live at the current archaeological site of Pucará de Angastaco.

There is also the tragic story of the Fuerte de Tacuil Fort, much similar to that of Masada, where after resisting until the last moment, its native holders chose to throw themselves from the mountain cliffs before being submitted to serve the invaders, while the Spaniards watched unflinchingly.

Travellers should not miss a visit to the Fuerte de Tacuil Fort accompanied by a local expert guide. The Patron Fiesta is meant to honour the Virgen Del Valle, or Immaculate Conception, and is celebrated every 8th of December.

Access route: Nº 40 National Route - a dirt road
Height: 1990 m.a.s.l.
Weather: Dry and arid - sunny days mostly.