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We decided to take a more northerly route back to Córdoba, via San Juan. We stayed in a small hotel with a pretty garden at the edge of the town. Here too the town suffered badly from earthquakes. Juan Perón first became a national figure for his relief efforts after the earthquake of 1944, which destroyed the town center. There is a nice central plaza with funny little frogs in the fountain, and several places to have a pleasant breakfast.
We spent a day driving into the mountains. The landscape is very arid, with miles and miles of emptiness. Fortunately the road is quite good. After crossing the ridge of the Sierra Tigre we entered a very wide valley with a great view of 6,000+ meter peaks in the distance. We had lunch in an old-fashioned thermal establishment, then turned toward home following the Jáchal river, passing a large hydro-electric reservoir on the way. This is really a mountain desert, with huge mounds of clay, baked by the sun and eroded by the infrequent rains. All along the road you find elaborate shrines, dedicated to the "Defunta Correa", a semi-historical figure, patron of travelers.
It does not rain much here, but when it does, it can be quite destructive. The road between San José de Jáchal and San Juan had many scars to remind us of it.
The road between San Juan and Córdoba is very flat, very straight and very boring. Fortunately, recent rains had made the desert bloom with brilliant colors.
We spent our last night in Argentina in a small hotel in La Falda, a vacation resort in the North of the Sierra de Córdoba. The garden was full of flowers and all the rooms were named after South American writers!