Just another day of adventure…

July 19, 2009

Sunday morning we woke up thirsty, but refreshed and headed to the Museo de la Vid y el Vino, to educate ourselves a bit before a morning of wine tasting. The museo had a collection of information, photographs, and old machinery relating to the development of wine in the region and throughout the world. At just 2 pesos ($0.50), it made for an interesting browse-through.

Picture of an artisan house across the street from the museo.

But, it was also a giant dark barn, full of old equipment and black and white photos, and eventually, enough was enough and it was time to return to some sunlight and fresh air. We headed to the Bodega Domingo Hermanos, and walked through a short tour followed by an even shorter tasting. We tried a sweet-sweet torrontes and a very average cabernet. We asked about their malbec, however they were unable to sample it, and at 45 pesos per bottle ($12), we figured it probably wasn’t worthwhile.

Next, we headed to Nanni, a less industrialized-feeling, but equally modern looking bodega. Instead of being a tour group of 6, we were about 30, as was the previous group on the tour half an hour earlier. And nearly everyone was leaving with bottles.

Disappointingly, the guide didn’t speak about the organic part of the wine-making process, however the torrontes we sampled was much more drinkable, followed by a too-light-and-fruity rosé which reminded me of watermelon. I ended up buying the malbec we’d had with dinner the night before, and Tammy bought a couple bottles as gifts for her family.

Finally, we were ready for lunch, which we’d carefully planned around buying more empanadas and cerveza, and having a picnic in the main plaza.

You know planning is a big no-no on vacations, right? On our hunt for beer, we stumbled upon the Restaurante Colorado, featuring artisanal beer and an ecclectic menu including a few Mexican plates, Thai chicken curry, French onion soup, and chicken cordon bleu. In my year in Argentina, I’d never seen anything like it!

We were hooked from the nachos, and settled down for some spicy food and quality beer. The owners were actually from Colorado (U.S) and quickly produced a bottle of hot sauce and a delicious homemade salsa to accompany the unspiced guacamole.

The beer, Me Echo la Burra was fabulous, and solidly alcoholic (8%). (It also cost about the same as our food and appetizers combined, adding an unsightly charge to our bill after we went for second round!)

We drunkenly wandered to the Museo de Arquelogía Calchaquí, which was inexplicably closed, and then stumbled back to a cafe on the plaza to sober up with a coffee and wait for our bus.

At 6:30 we boarded a little shuttle bus with a driver who seemed determined to break all speed records through the windy quebrada, deftly navigating curves and potholes, and making our 4 1/2 hour drive in just under 3 hours!

Finally, back to a big city! We checked into our hostel, Las Rejas, and then went off to explore Balcarce the main strip of bars, restaurants, and peñas. It was only 11, so most people were still having dinner, but we shared a beer in a quiet pub (Bonnie and Clyde’s), before calling it an early night. Our trip has strayed so far from its action-packed start. As we made our way back, we passed all the kids, just heading out.

Cafayate, so much to do!

July 18, 2009

We had big plans for Saturday, but as travelling often goes, we only completed a fraction. After breakfast we headed to Tambo, a goat cheese farm, where we got a great tour of the farm and a huge block of cheese for 10 pesos ($3). The creamery partners with a organic winery, and uses the goat droppings to fertilize the soil, while feeding the goats leftovers from the wine making process.

Lunch was planned for the House of Empanadas, where aside from basic empanadas de carne, all combinations crossed to the rarely-seen-in-Argentina realm of exotic. There were Turkish empandas with tomatoes, olives, and goat cheese; Greek with leeks and a mixture of veggies, Arabic with seasoned beef; and a vegetarian option which seemed to contain at least a dozen different veggies including squash, corn, carrots, and potatoes. They were a lot of fun (normally empanadas come with chicken OR spinach OR onions (and cheese) OR corn, etc.), and all handmade. I also got my first taste of the Salta brand cerveza. Tammy assessed it up quite succinctly: Miller Light.

We'd booked a trek through the Quebrada de Cafayate (Cafayate Gorge) for the afternoon. The area was beautiful with bright, bright red rock formations, blue sky, and challenging angles our guide encouraged us to scale for rewarding views.

We hiked trails, scaled rock formations, and crossed icy rivers barefoot to see the best the valley had to offer. Our guide, Walter seemed to know the area quite well, and entertained us with family stories and local legends as we tooled around the valley in his tiny, white car. However, he was sold as an English-speaking guide to the British couple who went with us and it quickly became apparent who would be doing the English translations on the trip. His English was incredibly rough when he attempted it, but generally he asked us to translate the trip.

We arrived back at the hostel, exhausted, and decided to revive with some sugar at the much-

talked-about Heladeria Miranda, where their claim-to-fame is wine-flavored sorbets. Tammy had the mild torrontés, the white grape for which the region is known, while I had the very alcoholic tasting cabernet sauvignon.

We planned to catch up a bit on our journals before dinner, but Tammy had left hers at the hostel so we jumped straight from ice cream to dinner (we're on vacation!) at Carretera de Don Olegario, where we split a salad, a bottle of wine (a local Malbec from the Bodega Nanni, an organic winery), and had our own plates of raviolis for less than $10 each.

However, after our long day and wine, we were zonked and opted for our earliest bedtime to date--midnight...on a Saturday!

Respite from the cold: Cafayate

July 17, 2009

After two nights in Tafí, we had still not seen the little town in daylight, so Friday morning we went out to explore. We visited the Jesuit chapel and mission (photo below) which was fun and scenic. The museum had a guide meet us AFTER we went through the property to give us insight on the house and its history.

We browsed gift shops afterwards, then ate lunch—a very mediocre pizza at the Patio de Empanadas. Our plan was to catch a 2.30 bus to Cafayate, but the bus was sold out, so we waited two hours (journaled, see photo below) and caught a 4:30 bus to Santa Maria before transferring to Cafayate.

Our hostel, Rusty-K (we think they were playing on the word, “rustica,” or rustic) in Cafayate was comfortable and the staff were excellent. We had dinner at Baco, which emptied out around 11 p.m. (on a Friday night!), however a couple stragglers kept us from feeling too uncomfortable as we finished our bottle of wine. Disappointingly, they were out of the Chilean mushrooms on the menu and I was jaded after my pizza lunch, so I kept to a green salad for dinner.

We returned to our hostel amidst a birthday celebration and enjoyed some cake while we made more hostel reservations online, and headed to bed around 2.