Cachí near Salta

I came here to visit a genuine old adobe village (dating back to Indigenous (Diaguita I think) times before the Inca even) in spectacular countryside ( it is also a good wine region). It is particularly interesting because it is one of the few remaining adobe building regions because usually the Spanish enforced building with timber. In this type of mountainous landscape with few trees, I expect they didn´t have the resources.  I went to a museum called Parque Temático Todo lo Nuestro which showed the different types of housing from 1100 right up until colonial times. It was really fascinating as you could go inside and it was as if the occupants had just left. I had some fantastic local goats cheese here, went for a run in the middle of nowhere and saw a family herding goats and went for a swim in the muncipal pool - bliss!

Iglesia San José (1796) has a barrel vaulted ceiling made of cactus wood

Some adobe giraffes that I stumbled upon

This particular house is an indigenous semi subterranean house, behind is a fortress that existed before and after the Inca arrival, in front are replica´s of buildings built in this area beginning in the 1100´s.

This semi subterranean house from above, beyond is a replica the remains of a celebration building from the inca period found in this area

Inside the semi subterranean house

This is an example of how people build and live in the mountain´s today

Really thick adobe walls looking back at the building above

Escuela Rancho (mountain school) the teacher even slept at the school. They stopped being used in 1998.

This is a replica of a 1930´s church built near here (on the way to Cafayate) where Jesuit´s live

Inside the church

Colonial style adobe house that is still commonly seen today. The cooker is just beyond outside the house.

The museum building itself

A standard kind of adobe house I saw in Cachí

On my run I saw this family herding goats

A street of adobe homes in Cachí

The journey on my way back to Salta

On the way back to Salta, bit rainy unfortunately