Today I had a trip south of Salta to another winery region and town called Cafayate. we first had to get there and as i’ve now worked out the scenery in this part of the world is simply stunning. Today was no different. The trip today included a few familiar people from the day before plus a few new faces, that didn’t realise how much fun they were going to have today. Fernando was the guide again along with Miguel, a Rugby front row forward drive the bus.
Our first stop for the day was at the old ghost town of Aleman. Aleman in spanish directly translates to German. The irony here is that the Germans moved out and the Hebrews moved in. Apparently a few people still live there, but it looked quite old and neglected.
We moved on to travel further into the Quebrada de Cafayate. The scenery here was simply stunning, wherever you looked it was magic. Shame i couldn’t stop where and when i wanted to take photos, although the light wasn’t the best either.
Quebrada de Cafayate
We then stopped at a llamery (I don’t know what a llama place is called, but llamery sounds right). Being Australian with a masculine image to uphold for my country, I grabbed some corn kernels from the feeding bowl, went up to llama #1 who we will call Juan. Juan loved his kernels and i patted him and he was very friendly, yet people were still a bit hesitant. I questioned one americans manliness and he stepped up to the plate. meanwhile I went off to pat llamas #2 and #3 (Jorge and Jose). They were friendly enough to pat without the use of corn kernels to coerce them. Have i mentioned how cool llamas are yet? The llamery also had a few roosters, a siamese cat and a dog or two.
Feeding a friendly llama
Unfortunately i had to trade the llamas for wine tasting. Its a shame the wine here still hasn’t convinced me to buy a bottle yet. They seem to let you taste the worst wine and hope you want to buy the best wine. At least at this winery you could try and get into a big wine barrel through the little hole. For the record my bulging pec muscles wouldn’t allow me to fit.
We then had lunch, nothing as exciting as the exotic meal I ate the day before, but still a nice lunch followed by wandering around Cafayate. A bit more modern than the town of Humahuaca the day before but no more or less exciting. Only so many churches and craft shops I can look at.
Another winery on the way home, with slightly better wine, but no better at tempting me to buy a bottle. as we drove back we stopped at numerous places on the road through the Quebrada de Cafayate. One was an acoustic canyon, with a musician inside. Have to admit it did sound good, but i steered well clear of the guy, because he wasn’t doing it for free, that was obvious.
So tomorrow I have a free day. not sure what i will do though except sleep in which will be greatly appreciated.
Spanish phrase of the day is apt if you ask me, after all they do call me Justin the Llama whisperer or in spanish “Me llaman, Justin el hombre que susurraba llama”.
Fake rock climbing