We spent 5 days in the Salta area in late November and loved it. I wouldn't hesitate to rent a car. Driving was really quite easy. Signage was very good. And I love the freedom of having a car and stopping when you want to take pictures, stop at the roadside pottery stands, etc.

We flew into Salta, rented a car and headed south to Cafayete. The drive south, which took most of the day, was spectacular. Cafayete was a charming town with a cute town square. Great wine and wineries in the region.

The next day we drove northwest to Cachi. Unfortunately, we didn't realize that more than 100 miles of the trip was on unpaved roads. Again, the scenery was amazing, very desert like with great sandstone formations, but the drive was long, hot and dusty. We traveled about 25 miles per hour for most of the day. Cachi was purported to be an artist town, but we were disappointed. We did enjoy dinner at a nice local restaurant, but not much else going on.

Day 3 we drove over the mountains back toward Salta. That drive was truly amazing, even though much of it was also on unpaved roads; however, the driving was much, much better and the views were unbelievable. We drove back towards Salta and then north. We stayed in Jujoy that evening. The drive to Jujoy was through the mountains on a 1 lane road. We saw goats, gauchos, cattle, darling little Argentine children, etc. It was great fun!

Day 4 we went to Purmamarca and Tilcara…again, beautiful scenery and wonderful little towns. That night we drove back to Salta and then spent the following day in Salta enjoying great shopping, restaurants, and the churches.

If I were to do the trip again, I would drive to Cafayete and then back to Salta on the same road. I would then drive to Cachi traveling west and than back again on the same route. I would not take the circular route and drive the road from Cafayete to Cachi. However, I would go back to the area in a heartbeat!

Since I've "failed" 3 tries at Beginner Spanish put on by the local Community Education, I would have to say that my Spanish is very, very limited; however, I approach conversing in South America to be an adventure. I keep trying and mix a bit of German with the little Spanish I remember, and somehow we manage to communicate. I remember locking my keys in the trunk when we rented a car in Chile. 4 policeman came to rescue us (business was very slow that day . They couldn't speak a word of English, yet we managed to let them know what our problem was, and they tried hard to help us. When driving in South America, I believe that knowing the language is helpful, but it's certainly not necessary.