Heading north from Córdoba it was time for us to cross the mountains and start heading towards the desert. The first stop in our desert journey would be Cafayate, Argentina. To get there, we headed to Tucuman on the overnight bus, arriving dark and early, in time to switch to the bus that went across the mountains to Cafayate.
Before we even got to the desert, this was an awesome journey. Leaving Tucuman's 800m above sea level, the bus pitched for close to 2 hours up the hills to reach just over 3000m, passing through such a long stretch of cloud forest it was impossible to believe your eyes when a house popped up here and there.
The bus eventually rounded over the peak of the mountain range and by lunch time we found ourselves in the small town of Cafayate. There's not much to the town itself really. A dozen or so blocks of colonial architecture never more than 2 stories high, with the standard plaza in the middle of town, and on the outskirts were wineries that then gave way to vineyards, desert, and mountains. But we were excited about all that lay beyond its edges.
The first afternoon we settled in to the hostel, wandered around town for lunch and ice-cream, and then went looking to try some local wines from the vineyards that were set up there in town. We had tried wine from this region earlier in the trip and were quite excited to find it again and particularly try more of the local Torrontes. We found 2 wineries in the first afternoon, just a few blocks from the hostel, and it was a good start to the 4 days planned here.
The next morning, we headed out of town a little way to the Quilmes ruins. This was another of the ancient civilizations of South America. This particular group, whilst less well known, have an amazing history of fending off potential conquering nations including the Inca nation as well as the Spanish for over 100years.
In a similar fashion to the Inca nation, these people didn't own property but worked as a community to develop agriculture, water systems, food caches for the winter and drought, and a strong military stronghold. The way they built their house walls was slightly different in construction to the Inca nation but the roofs were made from the dried Cactus and Adobe.
Cactus thorns
We returned to town from this fascinating site by lunch time and with the afternoon spare, it seemed only right we look for some more of the in-town wineries. Unfortunately, after 2 days in we were still yet to find one that made us wow.
The following day we organised a taxi to take us out on a tour of the Quebrada (gorge or revine). This area of Cafayate extends for around 50Km with numerous areas sapped by wind and water over time to reveal different formations. The most striking thing about these formations however is the colours that radiate with a good bit of sunlight. Mostly we found deep red rocks, but along the way there were the greens of copper lines, as well as rainbows of colour where different minerals had settled.
Cathedrals (Bottom right of picture)
In many ways, it felt like we were walking through another world.
Devils Throat.
Waiting for sunset to see the last of the golden light on these impressive formations, we headed back to town, arriving well into darkness. After not yet having much luck with the wineries in town, after dinner we headed to the local wine bar on a recommendation. It was freezing cold outside and the tourist season had just started to die off so when we entered an empty bar we weren't really sure about the recommendation.
Now what we were to do with a long wine list and an offer of a wine degustation on the menu. Neil, we're sure you would have wanted us to make the most of it.....
This wine bar turned out to be a little gem of a place. Not only for the fabulous range of wines on offer and a great degustation, but the owner had previously worked in a number of local wineries and was able to offer some advice about visiting a few a little bit further out than the edge of town.
With plans to take yet another overnight bus, we had a day to fill in and the best thing we thought to do was to stretch out legs. And where better to do it than in the direction of a couple of the wineries.
This is what we had been hoping for. After the time in Mendoza and the wineries we had already visited here, we were feeling that whilst the wines themselves were nice, the experience of visiting wineries left something to be desired. But this was perfect. Reminiscent of wine touring in the Hunter Valley, Margaret river, or Wodonga region, there was grand sweeping vineyards in the sun, large outdoor areas around the vineyards to soak it up, and great restaurants if you were looking for something to eat along the way.
We enjoyed our rough 15km hike around the vineyards but it was time to get back to town and prepare to continue heading north one again. This time we will have to cross a somewhat larger mountain (the Andes) to reach the driest desert in the world.
30 778 Km (14011Km Flights, 7876Km Sailing, 8761Km Bus, 112km Hiking, 18Km Horse riding)