Salta and Cafayate - Goodbye Argentina

We left behind the fantastic Buenos Aires to head to Salta which is in the north of Argentina. We arrived at the Hostal in time for Todd to watch Arsenal play the first leg of the champions league semi v Liverpool.

Salta is a pretty relaxed town, we walked around, ate some fantasic steak and empanadas, caught the cable car up to the top of a mountain to get some pretty good views of the city and the surrounding Andes.

After 1 1/2 days we headed to Cafayate which is the Northern wine region of Argentina. The bus ride was awful, it was a stinking hot day, the bus had no air con and the windows didn't open. We felt pretty rough arriving in Cafayate and probably half the size. The town is pretty compact and there is cheap good wine to buy everywhere. We sat on the roof terrace enjoying a nice bottle of Torrontes (white) and cooling down.

We hired bikes the next day to ride around to a few of the Bodegas (wineries) which will give you a tour of the wine making process when you turn up then let you try the wines. On the way back to the town 3kms out my bike got a puncture and we ended up having to push/carry it all the way back.

We bumped into a couple from Montreal that night who we meet earlier at a Bodega and ended up sampling a lot of the local wine.

Maybe it was the dodgy pizza we ate that night or something else but Todd was very sick for the next 2 days. We had booked into stay at one of the Bodegas as a bit of luxury (thanks for the tip Sam) so I guess it was good and bad timing, nice bathroom but unable to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.

We managed to fit in a couple of more wine tastings, the favourite Torrontes being the El Transito closely followed by the Quara. Sam, Todd and I agreed that the girls serving at El Transito beat the girls at Nanni.

The bus back to Salta was less eventful if not a little squashed and uncomfortable. We left early the next morning for San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.

Goodbye Argentina we will miss you.