Blogs from Cafayate, Salta, Argentina, South America - page 5

The tour to and from Cafayate took 12 hours. There was a good mix of people in the van, two Brits, two Americans, the rest from Argentina and me. We stopped to take photos of geological sites along the way. The mountains are red clay, sentimentary rock. Hmmmmm, about twenty of my photos did not transfer to my flashdrive and I deleted the camera....guess they are gone. Oh, well, you get the idea of the day from photos. The colours were really vivid as the sun began to set....ooops, those are the missing pictures....... read more

I took an organised tour to Cafayate today, because I thought that I would see more variety than if I went alone. In addition, I am truly tired of arranging buses (often 2,3,4 buses) to get to a location. It´s exhausting, and I didn´t want to go through what happened in Paraguay. Saltá ´province´s main produce is tabacco. It is pretty driving in the ´country´ towards Cafayate, since you can see tabacco plants left and right, and in the distance the green mountains. Quebrada de Cafayate is amazing!!! I cannot describe the feeling. It is now a canyon, but millions of years ago, the OCEAN used to come right up there! (ps: the ocean is nowhere NEAR this site now). In the canyon, along on the cliffs and mountains, there are fossils from when there were ... read more

Jeg ankom Cafayate i regnvær, som senere skulle vise seg å utvikle et fryktelig haglevær med haggel store som erter. Jeg minner om at vi nå befinner oss et sted der teperaturen midt på dagen er rundt 40 grader i januar. Jeg behøver ikke legge skjul på at det regnet hele tiden jeg var der, så jeg hadde god anledning til å gå på vinsmakinger. Mange forbinder Argentinske viner med Mendoza, kanskje mest fordi Mendoza var blandt de første områdene som importerte vindruer, allerede før 1900. Imidlertid har flere områder med forskjellige mineraler i jordlagene kommet etter. Et av disse er Valle de Cafayate, ikke spesielt godt kjent hjemme. I selve Cafayate har de 4 store i Valle de Cafayate sine bodegaer, med gåavstander fra La Plaza. Tre av bodegaene ligger sogar innen bebyggelsen. Bodega Nanni ... read more

The tick was the size of a small grape. I found his fat body buried in the tan fur of Tidie´s neck. I was careful not to grab strands with my thumb and forefinger. The tick waved his legs feebly, frantic for his warm home.I dropped him on the ground and let my foot drop. Like a ketchup packet, his belly split and spurted stale blood into the dirt. As Tidie trotted away to chase chickens,I sat down in my seat at the table, ready to resume our game of UNO. Tom, a belgium I had met at the boarder between Bolivia and Argentina, chatted rapidly in Spanish with the children, a boy and girl of about twelve. I listened feebly, the words blurring together in my ears. My mindwandered, and I stared into the distance, ... read more

Our bus the next day to the small wine-producing town of Cafayate takes us through this crazy colourful canyon called the Quebrada de Cafayate. We strike up a friendship with 2 Australians, Rob and Keiran, when a bottle of wine stashed in our overhead luggage falls out and nearly brains Rob. We check into the same hostel, where we link up with Ray and Ana from New Zealand on the roof terrace and together we set about sampling the excellent local wines. My favorite is a light fruity white Torrontes, best icy cold. It´s a civilised few days spent touring the local vineyards, tasting at the bodegas and cheese farms...picnics at waterfalls after 20km walks...the Salta Philharmonic playing a free open-air concert one night in the lovely town square. But us English speaking nations do seem ... read more