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Cafayate, Argentina

Random Country Fact Time: Argentinian isn’t a word but Argentine is. The countries official name isn’t Argentina it is Argentine Republic.

On the road again with a new truck, three newbies and a new leader and co leader. Having a better understanding of Dragoman has reset our expectations and in doing so we are enjoying it more. The lady who was co leader last trip has stepped into the role of leader. I’m really impressed with the extra information she has given us, such as a cook book for feeding 25 and a book about South America. If local guides aren’t an option, that makes for a pretty good second. Sixteen people between the ages of 18-30 set off for our first night of this 21 day leg up to La Paz, Bolivia.
After one night in the university town of Cordoba we moved onto the Estancia, translating to Farm Stay, we spent three nights there camping. The Anglo Argentine Estancia is located east of the Andes in the centre of Argentina. The 6,000 acre farm has been in this particular Argentine family for four generations and is a working cattle ranch, farming the prized Argentine Aberdeen Angus cattle.
The terrain and stonework looked similar to that of an English countryside. The main purpose of the stay here was horse riding, as it is for all guests staying at the farm. The farm offers luxury accommodation options for those coming to the horse estate privately. At first, I was a little worried it would be a repeat of the Pantanal horse ride. Thankfully, it was very different. At the Pantanel we were just shoved on these horses and told to walk only, no further instructions given. The 140 horses at the Estancia are bred purely for the horse enthusiasts visiting. Gouchos (Argentine cowboys) and the international horse guides took extremely good care of them, to the point that there were strict weight limitations enforced to ensure the horses were cared for. The outcome of this was we all progressed rapidly in our horse riding skills. At the Pantanel we were allowed to walk only, not even a trot. The guides at the Estancia had a completely different approach. They matched our personality and weights with a horse and then worked on improving our riding skills. After day one I took my trot to a canter and by day two, my canter to a gallop. The best way to describe this terminology is: walk to a sprint, sprint to a fly. Fast cantering or galloping was an unreal feeling, flying at the speed of light. Day one we spent 5 hours riding and day two about 3 hours. The reason our skills improved so quickly was down to the quality of these horses and our need for speed. Riding a quality horse with a professional trainer, giving clear, individual guidance was what made those two days so enjoyable and a highlight of South America. Following a superb lunch on the first day, we pulled up our horses next to the pigs and cows and had multiple attempts at lassoing. That was a hoot and a half – until we were in an arena with the calfs. The 6 calfs went round and round like a heard of angry wilder-beast.
The Estancia owner, Kevin, is part owner in a vineyard so he had a few other little surprises up his sleeve. Firstly, on night one, wine tasting by candle light. Kevin wasn’t shy on the wine either. A few too many whites, a few reds and a dessert wine left us partying in the games room till the early hours. On the second night we had the muti talented gauchos orchestrating traditional music with their Argentine and South American instruments. One instrument in particular was “Greenpeace’s worst nightmare”, according to the gauchos; a drum made from a tree base, decorated in snake skin with cow skin at each end. The last night, the night of all nights, we were treated to an asado or an Argentine BBQ. The complementary wine started around the campfire, through dinner and into the evening in the games room. 16 cheap-ass backpackers couldn’t even finish, what seemed like, an unlimited supply of 5 litre bottles of wine. As for the feast, cooked by the local gauchos, there was 5 types of meat, straight from the farm. Under candle light we attempted, pathetically, to get through the: ribs, rump, upper flank, lower flank, beef and pork mixed sausages followed but Argentines best invention dulce de leiche (Caramelised condensed milk) on top of home made fruit salad.
Speaking of wine, us dedicated wine connoisseurs took the two day drive to the wine region of Cafayate. That particular drive was one of Argentina’s most beautiful. Roads wound directly up, sharp S bends for 50km through the clouds, literally. The next drive was through, what looked like the Grand Canyon. It was just on sunrise and we had been driving for a few hours by the time we awoke to the brilliant red landscape. We woke up that morning at 5am to drive to some old ruins someplace in somewhereville. The road was blocked for “Political Reasons” so Plan B was activated. Drive to Cafayate for a 10am **** up. To put this into perspective, we had been driving for 5 hours by the time we arrived at the campsite in Cafayate. We had been camping for a week prior. When we arrived we were given 30minutes to put up the tents and be back on the truck for the vineyards. I can’t express how sh*t we all looked when we arrived and how fast 9 ladies, showered, shaved the legs, did the hair and make up and put on our one pretty outfit. 10 minutes and we looked like real ladies! Fifteen minutes later we were at our first vineyard. How are we ever going to appreciate the beauty of a vinyeyard again. New Zealand, Australia and America doesn’t have anything on Argentina.
Argentine vineyards. Cafayate is located in the southern part of Valles Calchaquíes, with an altitude of more than 1,800 meters. This high elevation enables Cafayate to produce high quality wines and the fact the region only gets 250mm of rain per year. From a landscape perspective, it’s located in a valley between rolling hills. The vineyards and architecture reminded me of Spain or Tuscany. That first vineyard was famous for sparkling wine. It was that good, no orange juice was needed. Moët could learn a thing or two! We enjoyed bottle after bottle in the cobble stone courtyard. Lunch time had finally arrived by the time we were at vineyard number two. As stunning as the brand new vineyard was, it was owned by an American not a local so money was not kept locally. The extremely informative vineyard tour took us into the vines and to the production area. We may have peaked too early with the champagne, I’ll speak for my self when I say concentration levels were dragging during the tour and food and more wine was on the brain. The Cafayate wine region produces Torrontés, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Tannat and Merlot. We continued the evening in the campsite, with a ridiculously excessive dinner. At a roadside deli we all contributed $5 and bought a few kilos of speciality cheeses, buckets of olives and spreads and other bits and pieces to accompany the ‘flowerpot’ 3 litre wine. Of course when trying to be flash and have wine and cheese in a campsite, it ended with wine pong and karaoke until the early hours of the morning. The stray dogs had a party of their own in following hours. I became less of a dog person after the few days there. Not one of us had heard dogs fighting, screeching and yelping with pain metres from our tents like that before. Thankfully after the very long night, we had a sleep in with no planned itinerary. All the boys went off to watch a football game in a local pub. One of the guys, Cornish Alex, passionately supports Manchester United so it’s always a good laugh going along to watch him in action. Us girls had the perfect afternoon in another vineyard, the best vineyard so far. The winery surrounded a square shaped courtyard. Picnic tables sat on the grass underneath the willow trees. Each glass of wine worked out to be .50c. The scenery, the price, the hospitality and romantic Spanish language made Cafayate a wine region that stole our hearts. Another 6am departure to get to the rafting by 10:30am. Our empty wallets left us waiting on the sidelines and just enjoying the Argentine BBQ.
It was only a few hours drive to Salta, the 8th largest town in Argentina. After 6 days of ****** sleep on the ground in tents, we enjoyed the privacy and comfort of our own hotel room. Three whole nights of good sleep, sleep ins and an ensuite. Two girls celebrated their birthday in Salta so it was only fair we celebrated with them. Firstly we started with an extremely, ridiculously, huge, monstrous steak dinner. Alex, Jaco and Steve each ate enough steak for a family of 6. Steak the size of a dinner plate, 2 inches thick. Dave and I had one between us – and still struggled. It was the best steak in Argentina. Argentines work on a siesta lifestyle, so dinner is normally at around 10pm. We finished dinner by then and had hours to kill before the nightclubs opened. We headed home for card drinking games in the hotel kitchen before being extradited to the boy’s room. It was a cheap evening as we had bottles of $3 wine to drink up before heading over the Chile -Argentine border. It was 1:30am by the time we arrived at the ‘first’ club, yet they opened at 2am. Back in the taxi and off to find another booty shaking venue. With ridiculous opening hours like that it wasn’t surprising that we arrived back home again at 4:30am – and only spent $7! Yes, I stayed awake past midnight on a school night.
The 13 hour drive out of Argentina and into Chile was another stunning drive. Deep canyons, snow capped mountain ranges, mustard coloured bushes and white salt flats added to Argentinas diversity. Similar to Namibia one photo shot captured a variety of landscapes. Later on in the trip we will be visiting the ‘impressive’ Bolivian salt flats but these Argentine salt flats gave us the opportunity to practice the mandatory “perspective shots”. A few hours either side of the Argentine / Chile border we kept climbing higher and higher. It’s amazing the difference from the first stop, at 4170 to the second at 4800 metres above sea level. It started with a weird feeling, slightly light headed. The higher we went up the harder it was. Particularly when we all went for a pee behind the mounds of dirt or the back of the truck. Normally we would run back to the truck, but running for a few metres felt like a heart attack followed by a splitting headache and then very tired. Neither Dave or I were actually sick so that was a relief.

We’ve learnt so much about the country, from locals in small villages like Cafayate, to the Estancia and large cities like Bunous Aires. After 12 days in Argentina, we have fallen in love with the place. It is one of the few places that got under our skin. The landscape is completely diverse, the people are beautiful on the inside. They produce beautiful babies too but once they grow up – just so so. They are the world leaders when it comes to steak and wine. At a few dollars a bottle, I felt like we really tried and tested the local drop. Argentina has a law against importation of products. The average income is $12,000 per year so it’s a great feeling knowing that, generally, our money stays locally. After 12 days of decreasing the countries cattle population and liquidising the grapes off the vines we are ready to move on to Chile, and it actually IS CHILLY!

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