I was excited about the scenery from yesterday when we headed east along Ruta 33 from Cachi towards Salta, thinking that today would be a bit of let down. How wrong I was. Ruta 33 climbed steadily into a range of mountains called Cumbre De Obispo - these appeared insignificant on our map - but turned out to be quite something. The road topped out at 3400 m before beginning a hair raising descent into Cueste del Obispo along a gravel road with many many tight hairpins - 1st gear most of the way.

At the top of the descent we met an Austrian couple (Gerhard and Greti - 4 years on the road). After the descent at one of a number of narrow bridges we met a group of Argentine born Australians on vacation to visit family. What a small world.

Ruta 33 turned out to be a spectacular route with magnificent steep mountains, deep red rock valley walls and in its lower stretches the vegetation changed from desert to sub-tropical before giving way again to a more temperate climate in Salta.