Tafi del Valle
High Valley Town At About 2,000 Metres In The Sierras Of Tucuman, With A Jesuit Era Chapel And The Menhirs Of El Mollar · Tafi del Valle, Tucuman
Tafi del Valle is a high green valley in the mountains west of San Miguel de Tucuman, at about two thousand metres, reached by a road that climbs out of subtropical forest through cloud to open grassland ringed by peaks. For people from the hot cities of the north it has long been the summer escape, and it has the feel of a mountain resort, with weekend houses, cheese farms, horse riding and a reservoir, La Angostura, where people fish and sail. Its oldest sights are much older. At El Mollar a park gathers dozens of menhirs, standing stones carved by the Tafi culture about two thousand years ago, some with faces. A seventeenth-century Jesuit chapel, La Banda, is now a museum. The town is also the gateway over the Abra del Infiernillo pass, at about three thousand metres, to Amaicha del Valle, the Quilmes ruins and Cafayate, which makes it a natural stop on the north-western circuit. The valley's cheese, made on farms around the town, is the thing to eat.
Tafi del Valle, Tucuman, Tafi del Valle, Tucuman, T4137, Argentina
The valley is open at all times. The menhir park at El Mollar and the Jesuit chapel keep daytime hours. The mountain road from Tucuman can be affected by summer rain and fog.