El Peñón - Piedra de Pomez - Carachi Pampa
El Peñón is a small village in the province of Catamarca. In itself, the village would be quite ordinary were it not for the natural wonders that surround it.
Just a few dozen kilometres from the village, there are some marvellous sites such as Piedra de Pomez and the Carachi Pampa lagoon. These are among the most beautiful sites I've seen in Argentina.
Piedra de Pomez
Campo Piedra de Pomez is a huge field of pumice stone whose current appearance is the result of erosion over several millennia. I spent the night in a tent in the car park near the site. It was well worth the effort, as the scenery is even more spectacular at sunset and sunrise.
The route to the site is far from easy. The track is only passable in a 4x4 because of the accumulation of sand. It's possible to get through on a motorbike, but with a bike like mine, loaded down with a lot of luggage, there's a risk of getting tangled up in the sand. With great difficulty, I managed to get there, and I only had to dig with my hands under the bike once to drive on.
Carachi Pampa lagoon and volcano
Just twelve kilometres from Piedra de Pomez lies an equally spectacular landscape. The Carachi Pampa volcano left a carpet of black volcanic rock around 750,000 years ago. It is surrounded by a salar and a magnificent lagoon.
The landscape is a fantastic contrast of colours, with deep black lava mixing with light-coloured sand, and the white salt of the lagoon contrasting with the red and orange of the mountains in the background. It's simply breathtaking.
