Blogs from Cafayate, Salta, Argentina, South America

It has been a hard long ride from Arequipa in Peru to Cafayate in Argentina. After an early start out of Arequipa, with me leading everyone out of town with Tiny leading from then on. The instructions and briefing was specific that we do not go to Lima, well how come I saw Jack and Rodrigo returning from that direction as I was heading towards Chile??. There is a tricky Y intersection that we had also talked about at the briefing, unbeknown to me Tiny took the right hand fork (as he and Rippa did a couple of years ago) and took most of the guys with him. I spotted Don a little bit down that road and had seen Scratch getting fuel back a few kilometres, so I got Don back on track, but he ... read more

Gan neįprasta, bet aš po truputį priprantu prie vietinių nuorodų. Jei kasnors sako, kad Salta labai įdomi vieta, tai nereiškia, kad nuvažiavęs į tą miestą pamatysi kažką įdomaus, miestai čia panašūs. Argentinoje visi didžiausi miestai taip pat yra ir provincijų pavadinimai, tad dažniausiai ir kalbama apie visą provinciją, o ne apie konkretų miestą. Ir net jeigu sako, kad būtinai reikia aplankyti tos provincijos mažą miestelį, tai dar nereiškia, kad miestelis kuo nors įpatingas. Dažnai tiesiog šalia miestelio yra kokia nors lankytina vieta. Taip ir su Cafayate, miestelis labai turistinis ir visi tikrai pasakys, kad turi čia apsilankyti. O mieste jokių stebuklų, tvarkingas nedidelis, turistinis miestelis su panašia kaip visuose miestuose centrine aikšte. Tiesa čia dar aplink miestą nemažai vynuogynš, tad galima dar ir vyninėse apsilankyti. Jostely... read more

Cafayete is a cool little town, a lot more going on than Cachi. We´re glad we decided to stay there instead of Cachi as originally planned. We got dinner, hit the ATM then hit the hay. The next morning we got on the road again, heading north back towards Salta. This time the road was paved the whole way, unlike the mostly dirt roads of the day before. The views were pretty epic, once again. Red rocks coming out of the earth at an angle, wide open washes and rivers. On the way we stopped at a little canyon thing called Garganta del Diablo (devil´s throat), same name as the big waterfall in Iguazu. We had to take off our flip flops to scramble up the rocks. ... read more

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 ... read more

Left salta rafting and drove on towards Cafayate in the wine region. We stopped off on the way to buy some meat for a BBQ which was going to be cooked later around the camp fire. We decided to join forces with Ivan, Dave and a few others in buying meat on the basis that they understood the decent cuts. We found a cafe and sat in the open with a coffee for about 20 minutes while the groups cooking over the next couple of days did their shopping. On arrival, we looked at an upgrade option to hotel/hostel but it would have been a longish walk from the campsite with our baggage. The campsite was all dry sand and a bit dishevelled and messy with a few dogs roaming around but the toilets and showers ... read more

As I already mentioned, the bus-trip to Cafayate was the most impressive so far. We crossed the Calchaquí mountains that ranged from a jungle to a desert and Cafayate is beautifully set within the Calchaquí Valley and surrounded by vineyards. From our hostel rooftop terrace we had a nice view of all the mountains around us. The city itself is quite small and touristy but very cute and intriguing. There were lots of arts and craft stores and we strolled through the stands and checked out the variety of things they offered: jewelery, ceramics, clothes, maté tea cups, pastries, goat cheese, all kinds of stuff. Cafayate is famous for two things: nature and wine. On our first day, we booked a guided tour through the Quebrada, which is the very colorful valley around Cafayate. The stones ... read more