Cafayate – wine country at last

It’s what Amy has been waiting for her whole life: Argentina wine country. Yesterday we rolled into the small town of Cafayate, or “Cafashate” to the Argentines. They have a crazy accent here in Argentina, where among other things, they insert the sound “sh” wherever and whenever they can. So pollo (chicken), which is pronounced “poyo” (to us rhymes with toyo) everywhere else in the Spanish world, here, is pronounced “posho”. As far as we can tell, the equivalent situation in English might be Newfoundlanders and their accent. Like Newfoundlanders, they also make up different words. For example, aqui (here) is acá. Makes it interesting for us gringos trying to learn Spanish, and now have to learn a whole new dialect. Some people are just incomprehensible to us. Keeps it fun!

Anywho, wine country! Wow, what a beautiful place. We had no idea how stunning the landscapes are in this part of the world. The 3-day ride from Salta started with a tear-jerking send off by our lovely hosts Maria and Carlos in Salta, who treated us like family. The legendary Argentine hospitality is starting to kick in. The ride took us through mind-blowing desert-mountain terrain that could have been the best show pieces of the U.S. southwest. It was like riding through Grand Canyon country. Around every corner it was another “wow! look at that!”. Combined with the good roads, good weather, and vacationing Argentines out for Sunday drives, it was fantastic riding.

 

On the ride over, we did something we haven’t done yet: “wild camping” as it’s called among cycle tourists here. In other words, camping on the side of the road. For the first time since landing in South America we felt safe enough to randomly camp out in the open. Unlike Canada where camping anywhere is generally safe and accepted, it’s just not safe in the countries north of Argentina. Horror stories of cyclists getting beaten and robbed as they camp give you shivers. But now, civilization has arrived and it’s great to take advantage of things like that. We are regularly bumping into other cyclist now who are coming up from the south and telling us they camped the whole way. Unlike the Andean countries to the north, where we ran into only 2 other cyclists in 6 months, it seems like Argentina is indeed the land of milk and honey for cycletouring. Clean and safe!

Upon arriving in Cafayate and finding a place to stay, Amy wasted no time in herding us to the nearest winery. Within an hour of rolling into town we were tasting our first malbec reserve. Nice! Being pseudo wine enthusiasts, it’s really fun to be getting a taste for the Argentine varietals like torrontés (a fruity white), malbec (a cab-sav like red), and tannat (haven’t really gotten into it yet) that they are famous for. The whites here in “the north” (especially the torrontés) are very reminiscent of the Okanagan whites. Tastes like home...and brings tears to our eyes. Amy is in absolute heaven and may just never leave. “I love this place...isn’t it just so great!!” she says as we walk out of our second winery with bottles in hand. We’re definitely going to dig in and stay a while...at least until we have ticked off all the wineries in town. Since we buy a bottle or two at each winery, we have to get through our stash before we can leave! Our grape-vine shaded courtyard (with grapes ripe and bursting for the plucking) at our hostel makes for an easy place to get rid of wine – shouldn’t be a problem J

Cafayate is nice small town of about 12,000, which is perfect. Classic Argentina with a beautiful central plaza lined with espresso bars, but with a wine-touring spin. Great wine is everywhere from gas stations to corner stores. Like Nelson, it’s big enough to have the things you want, but everything is walkable, including the wineries. There are at least 6 wineries within walking distance of our hostel, and another bunch within biking distance. Oh, and cheap! Crazy cheap by our standards. That reserve malbec...5 bucks. Our patio-sipping torrentes last evening, 3 bucks. A top-shelf bottle at these wineries, the kind of thing that would be 40 or 50 bucks in the Okanagan, is 10 bucks. I love it...our pesos are working hard for us. Hopefully the black market exchange thing will just keep on keeping on. It’s up to 11.5 pesos to the dollar here at our hostel (don’t even have to walk the streets for it!).

Along with the wine, the food is fantastic.  Steak and pasta are staples, but also empanadas (baked turnovers stuffed with things like meat and veggies) are huge here. They sell them by the dozen and it comes with fresh salsa. ¡Muy rico! All in all, Argentina is living up to our expectations. Amy was so excited to get here I was thinking she might be in for a let-down. But nope, she’s flying high and can’t get enough of it. So far, it really is a cycle-touring paradise.

We’ll see if it lasts. From here (once we’re done with the local wineries) we go, as usual, south, along the infamous Ruta 40 – Argentina’s equivalent to Route 66. It’s just over 1000 kms to Mendoza, our ultimate Argentine destination. That should take us a month or so (we’ll milk it). More on that journey to come. Hasta luego.