So after our marathon bus extravaganza, we landed in Salta, where we took things pretty easy, and spent a few days just chillin and getting accostumed to higher prices and a stricter budget. Salta is a lovely city, with a cosmopolitan feel, and what I imagine Buenos Aires to feel like, on a much smaller scale. There is a beautiful main square, which we visited in both in the daytime and nighttime, enjoyed some new indulgences, and stayed at a nice hostel with a very friendly owner. There are three things that were new to us in Argentina that we experienced fairly quickly...1) dulce de leche - a delicious caramel straight from the plastic tub right onto our bread for breakfast (almost every morning thus far), 2) empanadas - yummy pasties filled with meat, chicken or cheese, sold everywhere and a cheap meal and 3) parrilla/asado/mixed grill. So, we know that Argentine´s enjoy their meat, and we found out when we ordered our mixed grill for 2...the waiter came out with a small grill that he put on our table full of chicken, ribs, steak, sausage, intestines, blood sausage and some unidentifiable meat that was really gross. While most of the meat was pretty good, a lot of it was fatty, and I couldn´t bring myself to eat more than a bite of the intestines and none of the blood sausage. The wine and fries we purchased with it helped it go down a little easier. I´m certainly not a huge meat-eater, but thought I would indulge Guy this once and give it a try.
From Salta, we took a 5 hour bus ride to the charming town of Cafayate. Its fairly touristy, but out of all of the places we have visited thus far, I can imagine living here more than anywhere else. Its covered in bodegas (wineries) and beautiful countryside - a smaller city - but with all of the amenities you need. We are staying in a fantastic "hostel" which is more like a three bedroom extention of this wonderful family´s home, and they have been so kind and helpful to us. The accomodations look very new, and only about $15 U.S. dollars a night! Plus, they have the cutest puppy in the world. (In case this leg of the trip sounds a bit extravagant, let me assure you, we ate many meals from the supermarket in order to do some of this...plus the wine tours were all FREE!!)
One of the first things we did in Cafayate was visit a few of the bodegas - "Domingo" and "El Transito," where we got tours and sampled some delicious wine and cheese. That night we had some really good steak and pizza on the main plaza. Another night we both tried a "lomito" sandwich, which had steak, ham and eggs, and really delicious (and probably really unhealthy!) Another yummy treat was the gourmet ice cream "heladaria" that we visited and indulged in exotic flavors like wine sorbet and banana dulce de leche.
One of the days we went on a day excursion to "Los Cascades" (waterfalls) just outside of town. Guy had read about this place online, and apparently its a pretty popular place to go for a hike and of course see the waterfalls. So we took a 10 minute cab ride to the edge of where the hike begins, and decided to pass by the "guias" or guides that take gringos through. I was feeling very apprehensive about going without a guide, but Guy assured me of his boy scouting days, and off we went...in the wrong direction. Luckily, two young girls saw us going the opposite direction and pointed out the correct way. We realized fairly quickly that this wasn´t the easy hike with a clear walking path that both of us had envisioned. About a half an hour into the hike I was feeling really uncertain of our whereabouts (though we were to follow the river) and really wishing we had a guide. Moments later a group appeared behind us, and gave me the serious reassurance I needed to feel good about where we were headed!
It certainly was a challenging hike, with lots of rock climbing and river crossing, and both of us had our spills and scrapes along the way. When we finally arrived at the third and final waterfall, we were fully prepared with our swimming suits to dive in for a swim. We were pretty warm from our hike, but this water was BEYOND cold! The group we had seen earlier was also at this last spot, and Guy and I took our turns walking into the water up to our waists and going underneath the frigid falls, while they cheered and clapped for us. I´m thinking this was Lake Superior cold! From here we headed back to the beginning of our trek, where we found no taxis, and had to do the one hour walk back to town. After 8 hours on foot (since leaving that morning), we arrived back at our hostel, exhausted!
The next day we headed out...for horseback riding!! I was so excited. Our hostel owner had been trying to coordinate this for us for a few days, and I wasn´t certain it was going to happen. We had also heard there was a horse man that had horses on some corner just out of town that we had visited twice and had no luck (just horse poop). It seemed you just had to be able to catch this man at the right time in order to be able to go! The man we ended up going out with was that very horse man, Freddie, and for a 3 hour ride. While a bit hot at times, it was a fantastic ride and we had beautiful scenery almost the entire time. Horseback riding in Argentina? I think I´ve died and gone to heaven.
Today (our fifth and final day), we visited two more bodegas - one of the biggest in town - Bodegas Etchart, and a smaller one in town, Bodegas Nanni. Bodegas Etchart gave us a wonderful, more lengthy tour (the others were only a few minutes long), with a generous tasting, and in my opinion, the best tasting wine. We were a bit startled when we looked over to see a group of children standing next to us, watching us during our tasting and continuing the tour with us. I don´t remember any wine tours in my elementary school days, but I do suppose it is a large part of their culture and existence in Cafayate!
Five days in Cafayate has been heavenly, and definitely one of my favorite places thus far on our trip!
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