Cafayate

---

Cafayate is a small colourful town located in the Valles Calchaquíes in the province of Salta,
This place is definitely worth a visit. We took a trip into the mountainous area of Cafayate called Quebrada de Cafayate and here we were met with Cannons and the most colourful mountains ever. The mountains were shades of red, yellow, green and sometimes grey (iron, sulphur minerals produce the colours). We spent an entire day just wandering through these mountainous areas. The ground all around you in this small town is covered in sand, this was due to Cafayate being under sea level at one stage and all the sand remained.

The town is quite small but have a lot of activities to offer, so when quad biking came up we did not even hesitate. The trip took us through the river Santa Maria, this would have being extra cool if the river had not dried up. We went through a very small dead forest in order to get us to the sand dunes and here the fun began. The one thing about it, we had to share the quad bike so Claire the back seat driver found it sometimes scary when we were skidding down the sand dunes sideways, lol!

There are lots of vineyards in Cafayate and if you do not wish to do a wine tour then you can sit at the bar sampling wines for no charge. One wine in particular which we found was famous for being chemical free was Nanni, its very good. Another vineyard whose vine was brought from Spain when the Spanish were here was called the Vasija Secreta, very good wine especially in white.

There is lots of accommodation in Cafayate and it seems to be of good quality and reasonably priced. We stayed in El Balcon hostel which was not bad really. Our room was big with a balcony and own bathroom which becomes such a luxury when travelling on a budget. The kitchen was huge with a roof top deck which had fantastic views of surrounding mountains and town itself. There was a catch, this was run by a family and there was a watchful eye at all times, as the woman of the house paraded around clicking her heels into a ground almost military style eeekk!

So after our three night stopover, we left for Salta.

---

Photos

Quad Biking
Kevo learning the ropes on the bike.

Both of Us
Claire is holding on for dear life!!

Garganta del Diablo
Devil Throat.

Comments

[Margaret Corey]

Looks very Dry??????