Still waiting for insurance, so today we decided to do some sightseeing by vehicle.

We drove south along Ruta 9 as far as the town of Leon to view the valley of the Rio Humahuaca, a spectacular drive. The valley floor is green and cultivated using subterranean water from the river bed. The valley sides rise into substantial dry and multi-colored mountains.

Back in Tilcara we decided to drive to a local attraction called the Garganta del Diablo. Which translates as Devils Throat. You may have notice that we have seen a number of attractions with this name previously - a testament to the the eroded nature of the mountains in Northern Argentina.

The road to the Garganta was a narrow twisting affair, with many switch backs, that climbed the hills east of the town for 8 km. Much of the way it was only wide enough for one vehicle (with the occasional pull out for passing) - we were pleased that most of the tourists had left the town and traffic was light. The Throat was an impressively narrow canyon that interestingly served as the source of water for the town of Tilcara. A small weir and an ingenious canal system had been built into the walls of the canyon to collect and carry water down to the town.

Late in the afternoon we got the insurance renewal email that we had been waiting for, so tomorrow we will be off towards Chile and Bolivia.