Cafayate Wine Resort

... sort out the car. Unless it was repaired and had a working temperature gauge, we weren't going to drive it any further. So we were cooking up various other plans, but the rental company got in touch with a local mechanic, we dropped off the car, and two hours later everything was sorted.

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out the local sights. First up was a walk and rock scramble up a gorge to a series of ...

... love and thanks to Sinead and family for their wedding present. We had been hanging out for this for ages as it was recommended to us by so many people. A true authentic Tango night. It was held in a plush little restaurant with a stage, and while Phil and I ate the most tantalizing Argentinean steak and drank scandalous red wine, we enjoyed the Tango dancing and sultry singing on the stage beside us (he really did sing to me, Phil got jealous ha ha)
Cafayate, Northern Argentina, Argentina philandkatrina

... and then everyone else pushing! Pushing a car is not easy in flipflops I must tell you! And after several failed attempts we admitted that the battery was totally dead - muerte!

So what to do next? The car company had told us that if the car broke down they would send out a guy with another car. So, all we could do was leave the car where it was, walk back to the hostel and then call the car hire company. And then, like our second set of guardian angels ...

... was 10 pesos (3 dollars and 36 cents) but it would be 15 if we wanted an extra bed sheet. We settled in and went and found a little restaurant that cooks the food from the same kitchen they use for their home. It was actually quite delicious. The next day we hiked to an even more remote town called San Isidro. The trail was quite irritating as it crossed the river over and over, and of course it took us most of the way there to figure out that the 'true' trail had ...

... insisted on playing a tape with pan pipes blasting over the radio which gave the best of us a headache! Headed back to the hostel that evening and tried our first Mate ( a traditional argentine tealike drink) it was quite nice although not sure if I was fully converted! The next day we were to meet Abby in a small town called Jujuy so we chilled for the evening until our bus the next morning.

... mics. Continuem un parell d'hores més de viatge. Al arribar a Cafayate, Jessica i Sandra compren els bitllets per anar avui mateix a Mendoza i després busquem allotjament per nosaltres dues. Soparem les 4 i xerrarem fins la 1am que surt el seu bus. Després a dormir!!! Estem supercansades! Però ha valgut la pena aquests dies de viatge han sigut molt divertits! Hem conegut gent molt diferent!

The Salta Eight is what Andy has called the two popular routes out of Salta, one loop to the south and one to the north which, when put together on the map, look a bit like the number eight. He gave us all his recommendations for doing it on public transport (with one stretch requiring hitching a ride), but after further discussion he decided it was crying out for a rental car if it was within our budget. It turns out that if we paid for three of us to ...

... ver la puesta de sol entre los viñedos que hacen famoso a este pueblo, es precioso. Degustacion de los vinos locales es de rigor .....y como Richard no est á todavía recuperado del estomago, ya os podéis imaginar a quien le toco la dura tarea de hacer la cata de vinos .... es un trabajo duro, pero alguien tiene que hacerlo, je,je,je ...

Today was ALL about the wine tours. We had a nice lie-in, eventually getting out of bed at about 10am, strolling into the square and deciding on a place to rent some bikes. We had already decided to head off into the countryside, to explore a few of the local "bodegas", or wineries/vineyards, plus a local farm specialising in goats cheese, another food & drink favourite of ours´... The bike ...

Our alarm screamed us out of sleep at 5:30am, but we got straight up, did all our packing and were out the door by 6:15am which was pretty good.

There wasn't a taxi to be seen on the streets outside, so as it was a pleasant temperature and 'only' about 15 blocks to the bus station, we decided to walk. Or as I told Katie, let's START to walk, and we can always get a taxi somewhere en route if necessary...

It was pretty dead that early in the morning, and dark, but the ...