Cafayate
Trip Start
Sep 05, 2007
1
24
38
Trip End
Feb 24, 2008
Tucuman,
Argentina
Monday, December 10, 2007
After lunch in Cafayate (I tried goat, a local specialty -- can't really say I'm a fan though...) the rest of the group headed back towards Salta, but I stayed in Cafayate. I checked into a hostel and then went walking around town, specifically to a few wineries. There are a handful right in town, even though they grow their grapes just outside of town (but the wine is made in town)
01 - Quebrada de Cafayate
. They all offer quick tours and also free tastings. Torrontés (a white wine) is the main wine of this region, though the wineries also make a smaller amount of Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, and perhaps another wine or two. Torrontés originally came from Spain, but at this point is predominantly grown just here in this region of Argentina. There's also an ice cream shop in town that sells wine (Cabernet Sauvignon) ice cream. It was allright, not great, but fun to try.The names of the bodegas I visited were Vasija Secreta, Nanni, El Transito, and Domingo Hermanos. So let me know if you happen to see one of these brands in Canal's (or whatever your local liquor supermarket is).
The next day, I rented a bike with a plan to see a 30+ foot waterfall (and go for a swim there). I left around 11:15 and rode the bike out of town towards the Rio Colorado and a nearby campsite, where I was able to leave the bike (getting from the campsite to the waterfall can't be done on bike). I think it was about 6km to get to the campsite. The road was not good for biking though, it was covered with sand (not paved) so it was tough to build speed. Plus it was also more uphill than I realized, since coming back down was really easy.
02 - Quebrada de Cafayate -- "The Titanic"
So after dropping off the bike at the campsite, I starting walking to the waterfall. I didn't really know where to go, I was just trying to follow the river (reminded me of Benny and I hiking to the waterfalls in Arshan, in Siberia, this summer). There didn't seem to be a path in most places. Or sometimes you'd come across a path but then it would stop 20 feet later. I had to cross the river on rocks a lot (no logs like in Siberia) and also had to climb over lots of rocks.
It took about 1.5 hours to get to waterfall. Luckily, halfway through, I followed a group of 4 people, one of whom was local and knew exactly where to go. So I think during the second half, I stuck better to whatever was the easiest way. It was worth the effort to get there, as the waterfall was great. The water in pool was cold, but being hot and sweaty from hiking/biking it was very bearable. Standing under the waterfall was like a massage, the water came down very hard. The sun more or less went away about 10 minutes after I left the water so it wasn't really appealing to go in more than once. But it was a nice place to just sit for a while. Getting back to Cafayate definitely took less time than getting there, and I got back around 4:45.
The next day I did a tour offered by my hostel that was a mix between a hiking and driving tour
03 - Crazy Building in Cafayate
. It actually went back up the Quebrada de Cafayate, which I had already seen on my drive from Salta, but I decided to do it since you actually do a bit of walking away from the road and get to see more that way (plus people in the hostel said it was great, and it was fairly cheap). Anyway, it ended up being good, though I saw some stuff I'd already seen and it wasn't quite as much hiking as I'd expected.There was only one site where we stopped that I'd already stopped at on my initial tour (Devil's Throat), though I saw many of the same things from the van. But, while we made about 5 stops, on a couple of them we did go significantly away from the road and see some great stuff. To go up to a formation called The Castles, we had to take off our shoes, roll up our pants, and walk across a small river. One stop was at this giant naturally-carved out area called the Ampitheater. Apparently it has 80% of the acoustical properties of Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and they even hold concerts there sometimes (there was a three person band playing folk music while we were there).
Overall, the quebrada is really beautiful anyway, so it didn't hurt to see it again. Really amazing rock formations throughout, reminds you of Arizona/Utah/Colorado (at least that's my impression based on pictures from the last two places, as I've only been to Arizona).
We had left Cafayate around 2:30pm and got back after 8pm. I took a bus at 2am that same night to Tucumán, where I am now. I was hoping to just sleep the whole 6 hours to Tucumán, but was not too succesfull, so I'm a bit tired. I have a bus to Buenos Aires at 3pm, which puts me there a bit before 8am the next day. So a long bus ride, but should be a more comfortable bus. Tucumán's not supposed to be too nice, so far I just walked to the center, had breakfast in the main plaza and now just found some internet. I'll walk around a bit when I'm done and then head to the bus station. OK, adios, next time from Buenos Aires.
