Cafayate, Argentina

  Cafayate, Northern Argentina, Argentina
Sunday, July 8, 2007

Days 27-30 (4th - 8th July): Cafayate, Argentina

After a 5 hour bus trip we arrived to nice, warm weather in Cafayate (around 20 degrees), settled into El Balcon hostel and were told about the various activities around the town. We met an Israeli girl, Dana, who joined us on a trip to the local winery for some sampling. The main wine in this region is white Torrontes. After our wine sampling, we headed to a El Rancho restaurant around 930pm (these Argentians love to eat late!) for some great steak and Torrontes wine!
 
On Thursday, our plan was to do a leisurely local hike in the nearby mountains, and sample some wines on the way. We were told that there was a great route, where you can find "pinturas rupestres" (paintings on rocks done by the Quecha - aboriginals of the region), followed by a trail along the Rio Colorado ( Colarado River ), which leads to various cascadas (waterfalls). We were also told that we should knock on the doors of the mountain people, for a local guided tour.
 
Being the "knowledgeable" professionals we are, we thought we could do the trek ourselves without the help of locals. We started on the "pinturas rupestres" route, but after about an hour, didn't seem to find any paintings on these rocks or a route that led to the waterfalls. So, we turned back and started along the main road to the mouth of the river. 
 

Guia loco

When we started following the route of the river, one of the local guys came up to us and offered to take us to the cascadas. At first we thought it would be quite easy to find our way (just follow the river, right?), but after a few minutes with Daniel (the 23 year old local), we realized that the route was a bit more complicated than we thought. It's not possible to follow the river directly and there are various climbs, tunnels and rocks you need to walk through.

Steep Climb

As our hike progressed, it seemed to get A LOT more difficult. Approximately an hour into our journey along the river, the "hike" turned into a rock climb. We found ourselves literally hanging onto crevasses, while trying to climb along vertical rocks. It was the most adrenaline-pumping activity we've done. Maybe the fact that we were initially expecting a leisurely stroll and the fact that we didn't have appropriate climbing gear added to the adrenaline rush. After approx. 45 minutes of this rock climbing, Daniel was ready to take us to more extreme climbing, but we asked to turn back (along a slightly easier route) so that we still make it before the sun goes down.
 

Devil's Throat

On the next day, we went caught a bus to the end of the Quebrada de Cafayate and cycled back. The cycle ride took us along spectacular hills, some of which had bizzare shapes and had names such as Garganta del Diablgo (Devil´s throat, not to be confused with the falls in Iguazu), El Anfiteatro (The Ampitheater) and El Sap (The Toad). The ride was very tiring (50km on clunky bikes), but ultimately rewarding.

Asado

On Saturday we were due to leave for Cordoba, but we made an impromptu decision to stay another night, as a few of the Argentinians in the hostal were keen on having an asado (BBQ) that night. One of the Argeninians, Augstin, kindly provided the meat as a welcome to Argentina gesture, and as it turned out we made an excellent decision. The meat from the asado was probably the best steak we every tasted and beat anything we had eaten in the restaurants hands down.

Lots of cow

The Argentinian asado is the complete opposite of a BBQ in NZ (gas BBQ´s are frowned upon). The coals are burnt in a small separate area, and then transfered over to the main area once they emit a slow steady heat. The meat (2 whole slabs of 3kg beef, and 2kg of chorizo sausages - food for 20 people) is then slowly cooked for about and hour and a half, so that it is fully cooked, but still juicy. The whole process takes about 3-4 hours, so it was quite late till we ate. Fortunately we had a master asado chef to do the asado, as we wouldn´t have been able to do it ourselves.

Party time with Argentinians

The asado gave us a great chance to talk the guests in the hostel, which included a mix of argentinians and forgeiners from around the world, and then party it up at the local discoteque at about 1am (people here don´t go to clubs till after midnight at the earliest).

Needless to say the next day was a slow one ... in the afternoon we caught a bus to Tucuman and then on to Cordoba.