The wine museum has recently been revamped so is very modern and informative, however, we really felt it was missing a few strategically placed wine tasting stops as all we wanted to do when walking around was taste some of the delicious wine that we were reading about!
It feels obligatory to drink wine with every meal here. Fortunately, most restaurants serve local wine in 1/4, 1/2 or 1 litre jugs, so lunch time drinking is not as dangerous as it could be. After a spot of lunch, accompanied by the local white 'Torrontes', we headed of to Bodega Nanni for our first bit of wine tasting. The wine smelt and tasted absolutely delicious - my favourite was the Malbec, but then it usually is.
After Nanni we headed to the winery opposite. It was pretty hard to taste the wine here as we were poured such a small amount - perhaps they sensed that we were freeloaders with no intention of buying a bottle! We wandered around a bit more trying to find the only other winery that was open on Sunday, but had no luck. We decided, instead, to settle for wine flavoured sorbet before heading home for a nap to prepare us for a dinner of steak and more wine!
A day or two later, to have a break from wine tasting, I decided to go on a tour into the Quebrada. These colourful rock formations are relics from when huge parts of South America were covered in water...at least I think that's what the Spanish speaking tour guide said! The land formations truly were other worldy, and my camera doesn't do justice to the colours in the rocks and surrounding mountains.
Our route around the Quebrada suffered a few detours due to the flooding that occured with the February rains, washing the road away.
One of the main reasons I actually came to Cafayate was that the guide book said that it was a great place to enjoy wine and nature - and suggested heading into nature with a bottle of wine. With this in mind, Justine and I headed around all the local shops to pick up some delicious salami, locally made goats cheese, avocados, bread and, of course, a bottle of local wine! We then headed up to the river for our picnic in the sun.
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| The most amazing shop in Cafayate! |
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| Wine by the 5 litre bottle - they knew I was coming! |
Continuing with the theme, I decided to walk to the nearby waterfall the next day. The guidebook simply states that from the Rio Colorado you need to head upstream for two hours to reach the waterfall. Nowhere did it give any indication of the rock climbing that would be necessary to get me there. Loaded up with a small bottle of wine, a picnic and some water, I found a guide (Franco) at the river and we set off. I really should have suspected what lay ahead when he asked if I liked rock climbing...
The climb was actually great fun, I felt like a child again scrambling over all the rocks, and was amazed at the seemingly vertical cliffs I managed to climb. I almost got stuck in a crevice at one point, but managed to navigate my way out. We reached the third waterfall after about 2 1/2 hours, where we sat and shared my lunch.
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| An example of the kind of rock climbing this trek entailed! |
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| The fateful fourth waterfall! |
At the beginning of the trek Franco had told me that he was going to show me the fourth waterfall, which most tourists never see. I assumed this was the usual tour guide speak (and he told everyone this) so, after lunch, headed on up to the fourth waterfall. When we got there, he actually explained to me (in Spanish) that this waterfall is very special in his culture, and implied that, as he had shown it to me, he should receive something in return. I don't really need to go into detail for you to understand what he was hinting at, however, when I point blankly said no, I received a lecture that by saying 'no' I'd offended him, the people of the mountains, and his culture! I pretended to understand less than I actually did, and tried to explain that, in my culture, if you don't want to do something, you don't do it, and there is never any obligation. I managed to get my point across, and we headed back down the mountain, but it was a little disconcerting having this debate with my guide at the top of a mountain when I was relying on him to get me down to the bottom safely.
Everything turned out fine in the end, but it was a bit of a reality check about travelling as a lone female. I don't think I'll be heading off on any tours with a guide on my own again...
My body was obviously very unprepared for two hours of rock climbing (plus two hours coming back down) and moving, sitting, standing, etc has been rather painful for the last couple of days... luckily I was recommended somewhere to go for a massage today and, although my muscles still ache, I feel slightly better, and very relaxed.
I'm heading back to Salta in the next couple of days, and then over San Pedro de Atacama in Chile for some star gazing in the desert before I head north to Bolivia....where it's even colder :(
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| The view over Cafayate |
Hi Beth, realised that without your email address this is the only way to contact you! We arrived safely in Salta and had great views despite the clouds. However, I just wanted to let you know that the route to Chile is closed because of snow, there are several people at the hostel that have been waiting a week for it to re-open - they are hopeful that it will open in the next day or two but thought we'd better let you know! Catch up soon, Wendy & Gordon
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