Driving through Argentina: Wine, crazy dogs and a whole lot of Jesus (statues)

We left Tucuman city after 2 nights, with our tourist map in hand and Jake behind the wheel of our Chevrolet Corsa rental car. (I only know the model because a cop stopped us and asked that on the first day! I just said 'somos turistas´and he let us proceed). From the city, we followed the ´Circuito Valles Calchaquies´through Tucuman province, passed through Salta province and ultimately reached San Salvador de Jujuy, where we returned the car. We had fun driving on the open road and getting to experience a different side of Argentina. There is a strong indigenous influence here, and parts of the Northwest looked more like Peru than Buenos Aires. We are so glad we rented a car and got to experience this region on our own time... it was such a liberating experience!

Circuito Valles Calchaquies (Tucuman Province)

The first stop was Famaillá , a town known for its empanadas. We arrived around siesta time, however, and didn't see any open restaurants or shops. The town wasn't very easy to navigate from a tourist standpoint. It seems like they invested all of their tourism budget on a grand archway at the town entrance and then neglected to create any signs pointing out attractions (assuming there are some attractions, besides the February empanada festival). Still, we did pass by an amazing religious-themed garden right off the main road, with dozens of statues of Catholic saints and a giant cross and bible. We drove right up to it and took some photos (we weren´t sure if we were supposed to enter the cobblestone street, so we didn't linger). We are now experts in Catholic iconography, since every single town has some sort of giant religious statue to welcome visitors (usually a crucified Jesus or a simple cross).

Continuing on the circuit, we passed through lush green mountain ranges and stopped at the famous El Indio monument, which portrays an Inca messenger (also known as ´El Chasqui'). The road wound through a dense forest full of livestock, and we had to break for cows, horses and a giant pig. We also saw some cute sheep by a stream... this part of the drive was very New Zealand-esque.

We kept seeing shrines at the side of the road that were marked with red scarves and usually had a tiny red house in the middle. Sometimes they included signs mentioning 'El Gaucho Antonio Gil'. I looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently he is a local folkhero revered by a large number of Argentines, especially in the rural areas of the north. He definitely is beloved by Tucuman residents!

The landscape changed drastically and became much drier by the time we reached El Mollar, a small town next known for its Menhir statues, created by the indigenous people from the area. Despite the tiny size of this pueblo, we couldn't find the Archeological Reserve where dozens of these statues are kept, and had to ask a local for directions. Turns out we were right in front of it! The reserve is a very unassuming place considering the grand name. Although we arrived during Siesta, the park was open and we went inside the gates after paying our AR$3 entrance fee (less than US$1). As we discovered, the Archeological Reserve is actually just a field scattered with ancient-looking stone sculptures, and doesn't include any details on where the statues originally came from (the brochure did point out that they were all moved to this site, and some were damaged in the process). Still, it was fun taking pictures and using their bathroom, which was in a shed but was still a HUGE improvement over the disgusting public toilets in the town plaza. (Who writes on walls with fecal matter?! We thought that only happened on South Park. Guess there aren't enough pastimes to keep the local youth occupied).

On the drive out of town, we stopped the car to take a photo of the lake and were accosted by 2 super-needy stray dogs, who started to pounce on the car. It was cute for a minute, until one tried to get inside the half-open window, and they both started scratching the rental car and actually left some marks! (Fortunately they went unnoticed when we returned the car). We sped away, and the dogs broke into a sprint, trying to follow us down the highway!!! Someone needs to give the local strays some medication (or at least some love and attention), STAT.

The larger town of Tafi del Valle was a short drive from El Mollar, but was much more touristy. It looks like a classic mountain town ski resort (although there isn't any skiing here), complete with luxury lodges and tourist-friendly restaurants serving micro-brews. Summer is the busy season (that's December and January down in Argentina), so we were firmly in the low season and the streets were practically deserted. We were navigating around town using a comically horrible tourist map, which appeared to be hand drawn with crayons and had cartoons instead of street markers. We managed to make it to the center of town, and started our search for cheap lodging (much easier now that we had a car).

We were surprised at how expensive the lodging was, given that this was low season and the hotels were practically empty. The cheapest youth hostel-- listed in our Lonely Planet guide-- was now charging AR$80 (about US$20) for a tiny, smelly, fly infested room with no heat and a shared bathroom! That's only US$5 cheaper than the amazing hotel room we had in Buenos Aires. The most expensive place we saw was a luxury resort charging AR$250 (about US$60) per room. After having just come from Tucuman, where rooms were also expensive, we were starting to worry about our budget for the rest of our South America trip. We ended up splurging on an upscale lodge for AR$200 (about US$50), that included heat, Internet and breakfast. There were only 2 other guests at the LunaHuana hotel, but the manager wasn't willing to budge at all on price, which was aggravating. We got our come-uppance by commendeering the large living room TV, with its Venezuelan satellite feed. We treated ourselves to a first-season episode of our favorite TV show, 'Doctor House'. Riveting! Much better than the telenovela the clerk was watching when we snatched the remote ;)

That afternoon we took advantage of the remaining daylight to hike to La Cruz (the Cross) at the top of the nearby mountain. We cheated by driving most of the way up the peak, but it was still a fun trek. Fortunately, Jake had written down directions to the trail from another blog, since the signage was once again non-existant. The view of the town was amazing... definitely a worthwhile excursion.

Tafi del Valle itself is a quiet, laid back town in low-season, and is surprisingly cold. I actually broke out the scarf given to me by my friend Johanna, and we were wearing all of the layers we own (which isn't much)... we were really glad we had heat in the hotel room. We had dinner in a cute but empty restaurant on the main street, which had the disctinction of serving the worst pizza outside of rural Laos. (Quite an honor, since in Laos they use mayo and ketchup instead of cheese and tomato sauce). The local micro-brew was tasty though ;)

After a night's rest, we set out for Amaicha del Valle , where Pablo at the tourist office had recommended spending the night. We're glad we didn't, since the town was insanely small and was absolutely dead when we arrived at Siesta time. We had planned on checking out the Museo Geological (aka the Museo Pachamama), buy it was closed for Siesta, so we settled on taking photos of the rock sculptures from outside the iron gate. Probably for the best, since we avoided the entry fee!

We drove on through the town of Quilmes, where we took a dirt road for 5km to get to the Quilmes Ruins. The ticket price had increased to AR$10 per person (for tourists), but it was worth it. We skipped the local guide, and walked around the ruins on our own. It was fun hiking up the hill surrounded by crumbling stone walls, and we got an up-close look at the resident llamas. Surprisingly, it seemed like an indigenous-operated site; when we paid the entry fee, we were given brochures that explained the local people´s struggle to get government reparations for indigenous land claims. We were especially happy and proud we hadn't come here on a tour, since we saw a tour guide sleeping in his van while his clients had to take pictures of one another, and they actually paid additional money to hire a guide at the site. How shady is that?

That ended the official Tucuman province driving circuit. On to Salta...

Cafayate-- Wine Country

Our next stop was the small town of Cafayate , located over the border in Salta province. We LOVED Cafayate and would have stayed there for longer than one night, except we had to keep moving to return the car. Fortunately, that was enough time to experience the wine tastings and local cuisine.

Cafayate is a cute, tourist friendly town with many wineries (bodegas) within walking distance from the town square. There is a staffed information office right on the plaza, which lists info for local bodegas (hours, addresses, and prices) and hands out helpful maps. We pulled in at 3PM-- Siesta time-- but we still had time that day to go to the tourist office, get a snack, and then go to 3 different bodegas.

We checked out a few hotels, but fell in love with the Hostal del Valle (located at San Martin 243, tel. 03868-42-1039). It was a small bed and breakfast with a very friendly manager named Zulemita; the beds had fluffy duvets, there were beautiful flower gardens, and breakfast was served in a 3rd floor terrace with 360 degree views. Our room with private bath and breakfast was AR$120 (about US$30)... this began our string of great accommodations in Argentina. We ended up splurging the next few nights and stayed at really comfortable, even luxurious places for AR$120-$160 (US$30-40). For that price range, you get so much more... cable or satellite TV, comfy beds, breakfast, great locations.

Cafayate fulfilled our images of wine country; the town is surrounded by acres and acres of vineyards, has scenic views with mountains in the distance, and offers wine tastings at classy bodegas for free or at low cost. The region is known for its white wine, particularly Torrontés, so the wines available at the desgustación (wine tasting) are more varied than Mendoza, which is very red-wine centric. If you can only go to one wine region, definitely choose Cafayate!

Wine Tasting

We checked out 3 bodegas, Nanni, El Transito and Salvador Figueroa, and had much different experiences at each. Nanni was the most well-rounded, with a free tour of the grounds that included a detailed explanation (in English) of the wine making process. The tasting was only AR$5 for 5 wines (2 white, 3 red) and could be shared by multiple people. The cost was refundable with wine purchase, so we bought a AR$15 dry Torrontés wine (unfortunately we were exhausted and fell asleep while drinking it in our room!).

El Transito was an upscale show room where you can sample a wine of your choice at no cost. Jake sampled a red, but we didn't buy anything.

The last bodega, Salvador Figueroa, was a really small operation where a young worker in overalls took us into their lab and showed us their instruments. I use the word ´lab´because it was an actual, working space that looked like a science lab, with big plastic barrels of wine, mechanical instruments and none of the glamour of Nanni. The worker was really nice, and explained how they have to do everything by hand since their operation is so small. During the harvesting season, they have to stay up days at a time to press all of the grapes using a manual crank, and they must process the entire harvest of grapes at once, vat by vat. On his desk we spotted a bottle of cheap supermarket white wine (we knew the brand very well!) and a breaker... which made us wonder, are they trying to clone supermarket wine or something? It was all very un-romantic, so we opted out of a tasting. We felt a little bad, since the guy was SO nice and obviously worked really hard at his job. I´d like to imagine that the 1-dollar supermarket wine we drink is aged in French oak barrels and not processed in this kind of industrial workshop, but now that I've seen the behind-the-scenes operation, I may upgrade to the 3-dollar variety!

The Northwest is known for its cuisine, so we sampled some empanadas and humita (similar to corn tamales) a a local cafe. The humita was GROSS... it looked and smelled like barf! In fairness, this was probably because we ate it at a random time, in off-season at a divey little cafe. Still, we had enough of the local specialties at that point and tried to eat more standard Argentine fare from then on (our stomachs were going through some really rough times during our trip through the rural Northwest).

Cafayate is also known for its white wine ice cream , so we went to the local ice cream shop (the Lonely Planet-recommended 'Helados Miranda´). The owner was a gruff old man who acted put-out to have to leave his ancient ledger book and serve us, but this seems to be part of the 'experience'. The ice cream did taste exactly like wine... more specifically, a super-sweet Moscato. An acquired taste...

In dog news, Cafayate was home to many cute strays, which took turns chewing on a huge (horse?!) bone outside the butcher shop. It seemed like at every new town, the number of dogs was multiplying.

Next stop: Argentina's Outback

OK, that is not the official name of Salta and Jujuy provinces, but we felt like we were driving through the Australian wilderness when we hit the arid regions near the Bolivian and Chilean borders. Bear with us, since we have a lot of blogging to make up for... stay tuned for the rest of Argentina, then Chile and Peru! Sorry for the lack of photos, but it's frustratingly slow to upload photos on these computers.

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Part of trip: Round-the-world Trip

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