Molinos

Molinos in Salta Province has a central plaza, a seventeenth-century church that contains the mummified remains of its last colonial governor, and about 3,000 residents — and in the late afternoon, when the light turns the adobe walls a deep amber, it is the quietest and most complete of all the Calchaquí Valley towns. The church of San Pedro Nolasco, built in 1659, has been in continuous use ever since, and the weaving cooperative that occupies the building next to it has been producing the same Calchaquí textile patterns for three generations. Nothing here suggests that haste was ever considered an option.

Molinos sits at 2,020 metres in the Calchaquí Valleys of Salta Province, one of a chain of colonial-era towns built by Spanish missionaries along the valley's pre-Inca road network. The church contains the mummified body of Nicolás Severo de Isasmendi, the last royal governor of Salta, who requested burial in an upright position to keep watch over his domain — a request that has been respected for over 200 years. The Hacienda de Molinos, a colonial-period estate that has been converted into a small hotel, occupies the block adjacent to the church and retains its original adobe construction, inner courtyards, and ceiling beams of native wood. The town's wine production, centred on Torrontés and a distinctive dark-skinned Malbec grown at altitude, was recently recognised with its own appellation — Valles Calchaquíes — separate from the better-known Cafayate production.