Argentina Guide
The Northwest
Cuesta del Obispo
The dramatic mountain road known as the Cuesta del Obispo, 20km of hairpin bends, offers views of the rippling Sierra del Obispo. These fabulously beautiful mountains, blanketed in olive-green vegetation and heavily eroded by countless brooks, are at their best in the morning light. A good place to stop before negotiating the steep, meandering climb is the rudimentary Hostería El Maray, where you can have a delicious snack, tea or coffee. About 60km from Chicoana, just before you reach the top of the cuesta, a signposted track leads south down to the Valle Encantado, 4km away; this is a fertile little valley, set around a marshy lagoon, that becomes a riot of colour in September and October, when millions of wild flowers burst into bloom, but it makes for a rewarding detour all year round; its cool temperatures and delightfully pastoral scenery make it a good place for a short rest, especially if you're driving. Foxes, vizcachas and other small animals are often spotted here. Back on the main road, 1km further on, is the Abra Piedra del Molino, a narrow mountain pass at 3347m, marked by the mysterious "mill-stone" that gives the pass its name; nobody knows how this perfectly circular stone got here, but the idea that it is a discarded mill-stone is probably apocryphal.