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Published: March 29th 2008
Sometimes it's nice to take things slowly. After hitting the furthest corners of Argentina, with the inevitable long bus rides that entails, my next stop was just a few hours up the road, in Cafayate. Like Tafí, the place had apparently been packed over the Easter weekend, but when I arrived on the Monday it was pleasantly sleepy - not to mention hot.
Cafayate is blessed with a wonderfully sunny climate, and some of the most spectacular scenery I've seen so far in Argentina. It also produces a fair amount of wine. My plan when I got here was to visit some of the wineries, go to the pre-Inca ruins at Quilmes, and try some wine flavoured ice cream. Well, one out of three ain't bad!
Practically as soon as I walked into the hostel (Ruta 40 - great place, definitely recommended!) I bumped into Flor, the girl I'd met in Tafí. As it turned out she and the sisters who I didn't manage to go for a walk with in Tafí were all in the same room as me. So we had a little reunion, and went out that evening on the main square to sample some of
the local wine.
On my first full day I went out to the Rio Colorado, five kilometres from the centre of town, with another girl from the hostel, Steff. You can go on an organised tour, or you can go by yourself. Or you can do what we did, and hire a local guide to take you along the trail. Ours was a guy called Franco, who was was just great, worth every peso. He'd grown up in the mountains, and knew so much about the area. He's only 23 (embarrassingly, when he asked us how old we thought he was, we said 35!) but has been working as a guide for 10 years already. It really made a big difference to the day. For starters, I don't see how we could have found our way without him. Although in theory the trail is simple - follow the river to the waterfalls - in practice, it's not as the path splits in many places, and disappears in others. Franco helped us to the extent of literally telling us which foot to put where so we didn't slip...although I did still manage to fall at one point, and bang my
knee quite heavily against a rock. When we reached our destination, we wanted to have a swim to cool off. Franco said we had to jump into the water...so we did. It was absolutely bloody freezing, so cold it took my breath away. Franco was right - if we hadn't jumped, we'd never have gone in.
The next day I headed out along the Quebrada de las Conchas (Gorge of the Shells - I prefer the Spanish name). Although you can do an organised tour to the gorge, being a glutton for punishment I decided to cycle along it. I got the bus at 9am, with the bike I'd hired, got dropped off 45 minutes later at the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat - they obviously like the name here in Argentina). From there it was a 50km ride back to Cafayate through some of the most spectacular landscape I've ever seen. I'm not really sure how it was formed, but what I do know is that before and since its formation around 20 million years ago, natural elements have helped to create some very weird and wonderful looking rock formations. I was the only one foolhardy enough on
this particular day to be cycling along the road, so on many occasions I was all alone, surrounded by this amazing scenery. It certainly beat cycling through the centre of London :-) Unfortunately it was also stinking hot, and I was out in the full sun. Despite drinking three litres of water, by the time I got back to the hostel I had a blinding headache. Oww!
A little later on, when my head was feeling a little better, I decided I had to try out the wine-flavoured ice cream. I had the white wine flavour, made from the local Torrontes grape. I have to say, I didn't really like it - but at least I tried it.
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