Our final trip across the Andes brought us down into Salta in northern Argentina. We had heard that the steak and wine were good in Argentina but that hadn’t prepared us for what we ate at Viejo Jack´s grill in Salta. The restaurant was recommended in the Lonely Planet so, being boring, we thought we’d give it a try. We each ordered the bife de chorizo, mostly because the waiter lied to about how big it was. When the steaks arrived, we each had in front of us what in New York they call a double eagle – 2 New York strips! The meat was beautifully cooked (they only cook steak juicy or medium here) and we ate until we could eat no more. What a welcome to Argentina!
The rest of our time in Salta we explored the city, went to watch a rugby game (Salta vs. Belgium – oh dear, Belgians can’t play rugby), climbed the steps to the local saint’s cross on the hilltop overlooking the city and ate more steak. We left Salta on a bus headed south to Cafayate, one of the local wine producing regions.
In the small town of Cafayate they take their wine seriously… there is even an ice-cream parlour selling wine-flavoured sorbets. Unfortunately, the wine they are most famous for (the local torrontes) was not to our taste. It is a demi-sec sweet white wine that to be honest tasted best frozen in sorbet. That was about the right temperature to serve it! We were more impressed with some of the malbecs and cabernet sauvignons that we tasted in the bodegas around town.
Cafayate lies in a rocky desert area that has some beautiful rock formations and fantastic colours in its landscapes. We heard that there were waterfalls worth visiting outside the town so one morning we set off with some wine and a picnic to try and find them. It was much more difficult than we expected! Our walk took us along the dusty road to the river and then up goat paths along the river banks. We crossed the river back and forth using the rocks as stepping stones, always looking upstream to see where we might be best able to make progress towards the waterfalls. Meanwhile the river banks were getting steeper and steeper as the river twisted and turned through what was now basically a canyon! We walked, climbed and scrambled for over 3 hours before we decided that the walk had been long enough and the “path” to the waterfalls might be beyond my climbing abilities. Stu already had wet feet from slipping into the river once and so we stopped on a rock by the river to drink our wine, enjoy our picnic and dry boots in the sun before starting the return journey. It was one of my favourite days so far on this trip.
