Up to the village of El Maray, the valley of the Quebrada de Escoipe is squeezed between ever higher mountains, where dark red earth appears, covered by dense vegetation in summer. Gigantic cacti - cardones - grow here and there. The climb up Cuesta del Obispo begins in earnest after the village, with a difference in altitude of 1 200m over the course of 20km of hairpin bends between gullied slopes and precipices, and its highest point is Piedra del Molino.