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Published: July 25th 2012
The second leg of our trip to Cafayate was pretty interesting. It was super early when we left Tucuman, so throughout the trip we both were in and out of sleep. At one point, the driver stopped the bus and asked a question I didn't hear but immediately several men exited the bus. 5 minutes later down the road, they got back on. Maybe a wight issue or something as it was rainy out and it looked like there was some construction on the road. I'll never know since we continued without explanation. At another point Chloe woke up and saw her shoes were missing. In the dark bus she started looking for them with her flashlight. She inquired the help of the only other gringo on the bus who's mate goard had gone rolling down the aisle moments earlier. I was asleep during this incident but woke up at another point where a bunch of school children boarded the bus screaming as they do. I had no idea what bus we were on but we stopped a heck of alot. We arrived to Cafayate by noon and were dropped at a gas station, whereupon we had to find a hostel
as we had not made reservations prior.
There were a few people at the gas station promoting hostels so we took a few cards and began walking around town with our packs checking a few out. We found a cheap one and put our stuff down while filling out the basic check in paperwork. However, upon further inspection, Chloe was appalled by the uncleanliness of the room and the separate bathroom. In the end, as we hadn't paid anything, we told the receptionist we couldn't stay and took off fully loaded again to the streets in search of a better place. After 3 more places, we finally settled at El Balcón, a hostel that was a bit pricier, but was super clean, roomy, and had an ensuite bathroom. Happy with our choice, we settled in and found our way to some lunch in the main square. For the remainder of the afternoon, we walked around town and talked about our plans for the next few days. That night, we saw the kitchen was packed with a line to cook so we went out for an easy dinner of empanadas. To our surprise, in this region they were tiny empanaditas.
Fortunately they were cheap and quality, so with 8 I was satisfied.
The following day we had signed up for a guided tour of the surrounding area but first we wanted to tour some of the in-town bodegas and taste some high altitude wines. We weren't really thristy for alcohol at 11 am but with our time schedule and plans during our short stay in Cafayate, we had no choice. We had planned to hit up 4 bodegas, but one was closed to the public and the other was closed until the afternoon so we were only able to taste at two of them, Salvador Figueroa and El Transito. Salvador Figueroa was a small bodega, started by a retired winemaker (oxymoronic I know) that produces only 5000 bottles a year. Chloe preferred their lower end malbec over the aged one which was interesting, as it was only bottle aged and spent no time in oak. The other bodega offered a free tour and tasting, a fact that proved to be the most interesting part of the bodega, other than the fact that it was the oldest winery in town with the newest building.
Our landscape tour began at
1:30, and picked us up directly from the hostel. As we drove out of the dusty town, we passed out of place vineyards and bodegas then began winding along a river lined with slot canyons on the sides. The landscape was quite similar to that of 4 corners and Moab; the drive reminded me of Highway 128 that follows the mellow section of the Colorado River. However at our first stop, I could tell this place was quite different from Moab. The distinctive rock was much more sedimentary and fragile; it would be a disaster to try any climbing here! Still, the formations were beautiful and impressive. Our guide pointed out various flora and fauna in Spanish that I had no idea the translation to, giving us an informative but unintelligible tour. Just when you think you know a language, BAM, you don't know squat! One more thing to learn up on...On the tour with us was Clay, the "other gringo on the bus" that helped Chloe find her shoes in the dark. He was from Santa Fe, NM, and recognized the 4 corners terrain as well. In fact, his sister goes to Fort Lewis College in Durango and had
been there himself a few times. This guy would end up being a good amigo through a good chunk of our trip, as he had a similar travel route as us.
We stopped about every 10-15 minutes to check out different natural formations or points of interest. But even the drive between theses points was gorgeous, as we passed stratifed hills of rock with shades of red, yellow, and green. One of the main points of interest was a natural ampitheater created by an old dried up waterfall. Although the place was not used for professional concerts, we had the luck to receive a private opera by an Argentine man on our tour. The acoustics were pretty good and the guy's voice wasn't too bad! The main stop at the end of the tour was La Garganta del Diablo. This Devil's Throat was the opposite of that in Iguassu Falls as it was completely dry. Beautiful yet not as awe inspiring as its giant waterfall counterpart, it was still impressive. A giant curving canyon, it actually had the appearance of an oversized throat. Unforunately people had not respected the place and there was trash and graffiti strewn about the
canyon. At one point we saw blood on the rock wall. Clay's theory was a gang fight; as the most intriguing theorgy, we went with that. Not exactly the most pristine location but it was still a pretty cool spot. There were some steep parts climbing up the canyon but nothing too extreme. On the way back down, Chloe lost her grip on the rock and slid down the face in a crouched position that put her on her ass. Luckily she escaped with only a dirty butt and small scratches on her hands but knowing her, it could have been much worse. After leaving La Garganta we drove back to town while watching the sunset casting deep glowing colors over the sandy ridges and stratified rock layers. We got back to town in the late afternoon and bought some meat, veggies and a bag of coal to do a BBQ that night. We decided to get a snack and drink before though, so we headed to a reputed empanada place (different than the night before). At La Casa de Empanadas, we ordered a handful and a liter of wine to share. By the time the handmade meat pastries came
out and we finished the wine, we noticed it was close to 10 and an attempt to BBQ would mean eating by after 1am. So we decided to postpone the BBQ and went to bed on a mostly liquid dinner.
Our final day in Cafayate we rented bikes from the hostel and set out on a personal winery tour. As they are pretty spread out and have short hours open to the public, we would only have time to ride to 2 or 3. Our first destination was La Finca de los Nubes (Vineyard in the Clouds), about 5 km out of town and holding commanding views over the valley as it was the highest winery in the region. The gradual climb in the intense sun along a gravel road from town took a toll on Chloe, who expected a casual bike tour like we had in Mendoza. I tried explaining that we were in the mountains and would have to work for our wine here. She didn't like it but she continued and we made it to the winery before it closed for lunch. The location was stunning and trumped anything we visited in Mendoza. I turned to
Chloe and said, "Now was that worth it?!" This was answered on the fabulous tour. We were told that this area was perfect for growing grapes as it had bountiful sun during the day was was cool at night. In addition, it rarely rained so they were able to control the growth of the vine and grapes more directly on their drip system. At this vineyard, they bottled 100% organic wine. An interesting fact our guide pointed out was that the rose bushels found at the head of each row of vines acted not as simly a pretty addition to the vineyard but rather as a natural pesticide, where the rose pollen in the air deterred pests from defecting the crop. They also were the only winery in the region that involved the public during harvesting, so locals and lucky tourists alike could experience the buzz of harvest season by picking grapes. Obviously, there was a secondary control to screen through the grapes as the public does not have the trained eye of a seasoned grape picking veteran.
For the tasting, we tried a Malbec rosé, Torrontes, and a pure Malbec. The other couple on the tour, from Buenos
Aires, had come to this winery specifically for the rosé. Turns out they had good reason, it was fantastic. Since it was only sold in Cafayate, you had to be here to try the goods. Although Torrontes as a varietal is specific to Cafayate, Finca de los Nubes nailed it on their rosé, not the Torrontes, which was too sweet for our palate. A good Torrontes has a sweet and fruity nose to it, but is crisp and smooth like a Pinot Grigio. We really wanted to buy a bottle of their rosé but as we had much more to ride and no place to store a bottle, we thanked the guide as we paid for the tour and left empty handed.
Our next stop was Etchart, about 6 km away. Fortunately, it was mostly downhill the whole way, a fact that proved to be more important than relaxing as we picked up a German shepard mix that barked as we passed his domain and then persued us for about 5 km. Chloe was a bit freaked out by this and although I was uncomfortable with the situation, it was my job to work damage control an my girlfriend.
I swear, Dog Whisperer everywhere we go, whether we like it or not (not being the case the majority of the time!). Once we hit pavement and road the last few kms to Etchart the dog had fallen about a km behind and then found trucks to bark at and chase after. When we arrived to the winery there was a tour guide waiting outside but no one else. As we had arrived at the hour of a scheduled tour, we got a private one! Etchart is the biggest winery in Cafayate, producing 6 million bottles a year. Definitely a big name in Argentine wine. We were walked through the immense fermentation area and given an oral tour then led to a room with old wooden fermentation tanks where we watched a video about the winery. We hadn't understood everything our guide had said so this video really helped answer any uncertainties we had. After the video we walked to the tasting room, which turned out to be the best part of the tour, regardless of the booze. We were poured 2 different Torrontes, a rosé, cab sav, and a malbec. Then instead of simply tasting at our leisure, we
were walked through how to taste, using all the senses to understand the full character of the wine and not simply base the quality on how it tasted. A great experience, I just wish we had this lesson back in Santiago, where we had our first winery tour and tasting! At the end of the tastings we found out the tour and tasting was free and were led to the exit. Amazing! We rode back towards town, happy and a little tipsy, taking in the beautiful landscape we were riding through. Somehow we passed the last vineyard we had wanted to tour and with an important FCB Champion's League match on our schedule, we continued on to a goat farm instead, to check out some artesan goat cheese.
Once again on arrival, we were the only people and got a private tour. This was most definitely a farm, with chickens and roosters running about, cows in pastures, and lots of goats corraled in covered feeding areas. During the tour we learned the male and female goats were separated, and took notice of the older generation of billy goats with their long beards in their own separate corral. Goats are
funny creatures, but I won't expand on that...On the tour we saw the sterile milking area, and learned that the owner here played classical music during the milking to calm and sooth the goats. Too funny. After checking out the minature baby goat corral we headed in to see the processing area before getting to the tasting. During the tasting we had the opportunity to try regular, aji (spicy) and basil/rosemary goat cheeses as well as a semi-crema dairy cheese. All the goat cheeses were spectacular and blew the dairy out of the water but the camposino (basil/rosemary) was especially good. As we were planning on leaving to Salta the next day, we couldn't buy any cheese since it would spoil on the bus ride so we had to pass up on some delicious goat cheese. However, the farm was owned by the same family that owned the Domingo Hermanos winery (ironically the same as we had passed trying to find), so we bought a bottle of Torrontes to bring back to the hostel. We watched the horrible semi-final Champion's League match where Barça lost to Chelsea 1-0, only made slightly better by the fine chilled Torrontes.
That night
Slippin Chloe
Right before she ate it!we planned on having our asado but I ran into a problem. I've always used the chimney contraption to start coals but this was different. I didn't have any lighter fluid or any contraption to start these unfamiliar type of coals. I inquired the help of an Argentine staying at the hostel. All Argentine men are trained in this art and he knew exactly what to do. For some reason I hadn't thought of the simple solution - start the coals as you would start a fire. With kindling, paper and cardboard surrounding the coals, I started a fire and with time and patience, ignited the coals, continuously fanning them to heat up the rest of the coals. An hour plus later, I could begin to cook. By midnight, our grand asado we served. Chorizo, yams, red peppers, and of course, a couple big steaks, all came out perfectly done, regardless of Chloe's intermittent nagging of, "Are you sure you know what you're doing?" and "Are you close to being done?" After a delicious late dinner, we turned in, with a new understanding why its really only worth expending the energy on an asado when there are 4 or more
people eating!
The next morning we packed up and clocked out, then walked to the bus station. Here we loaded on, only to find that an entire middle school class would be joing us on our journey. Yelling, throwing things, gossiping up and down the aisle, constant energy in general. Not necessarily their fault, but the 3.5 hour journey to the province city capital of Salta turned into 5 hours of dragged on annoyance. Goodbye Cafayate, we will miss you!!
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