Living the good life in Cafayate
We said goodbye early in the morning to our local friends in Salta as we took the bus to Cafayate. It takes four hours to get there and as we do, we go pass Quebrada de las Conchas, with its gorgeous terracotta colored weird rocks which makes us want to miss the bus and spend an entire day in it taking photos.
Cafayate (1683 m.o.s.l) has a privileged microclimate thanks to the permanent sun and the water from rivers which bring to life the vineyards all around the town. We stay at El Hospedaje, where Martín Perez shows us around the refurnished house which once was his grandparents and has now become a hostel. It is the typical local contruction made out of mud, with an internal patio which makes it always fresh and silent and at the same time warm and cozy. Of course we want to visit a wine cellar. Martín recommends Finca las Nubes. It is near a waterfall, so you can combine the visit with trekking or a short bicycle ride. We decided upon the latter, but taking into consideration our lack of training, we take a taxi (with bikes and all!) to the top where this wine cellar is located and come down riding.
The cellar is small but luxurious, and the visit itself –with some tasting going on- is very interesting. Everything looks new, clean cut; the wine is too delicious…so we ride our bikes along the dirt road a little bit happier than usual. The sun is burning, and we get really tempted when we see the shadow of a group of trees near a small river. We decide that the trekking to the waterfall is quite a challenge with no guide, so there isn’t any choice but to lie down in this spot and stare at the water. We get very metaphysical as we enjoy of a great view of the valley, were the church of Cafayate stands out, vineyards all around and the hills at the back. Coming down riding our bikes is exciting, so with that last touch we are now completely awake.
That night we ate yet another of the best meals on this trip (as always, a very good meal costs 10$ per person) and we went to sleep feeling that our trip was coming to an end.
Ruin of Quilmes, Tafí del Valle, jungle and vertigo on our way to Tucumán.
To go from Cafayate to Tafí del Valle you have to go through Santa María, in the province of Catamarca. From there, and two ours later, you can take a bus to Tucumán. Half an hour away from Santa María you can find the ruins of Quilmes, one of the most important archeological sites of the Argentinean pre-columbine history. A taxi charged us 20$ to take us there, wait for us, and bring us back. It is worth going with some extra time.
After we cross the Cumbres Calchaquíes and the Infiernillo, the sun comes down, the landscape gets greener and we start coming down to Tafí del Valle. As everything we left behind was rock, dust, sun and dangerous roads; here the earth was dark, the rivers and the Angostura damn composed a fertile scene.
We only had the trip to Tucumán to bring our journey to an end. This was an amazing hanging track in the middle of the jungle, with a river way down, but so far away down that it made our breathing cease.
Content courtesy of Nomada Magazine
