Insanity in Salta

10th March

We’ve had two very civilized days in a hostel in Salta and the luxury of a private bathroom and shower. What little things in life bring us joy!!!! I’m starting to take on a bit of a Marj Simpson look...hair’s a bit wild and woolly, days in flipflops are doing nothing for the toenails etc, but who cares.........

Salta is a wonderful colonial city, very Spanish in its architecture and its mood, very conservative. The Cathedral and churches are huge, OTT and even a bit kitch, but very well patronized. St Ignacio and St Francis are big stars here.

Colonial buildings with wrought iron balconies line the plazas. Sat alfresco and had a coffee, people watching. they're the same the world over.... little kids chasing pigeons, jumping in puddles; old men sitting and chatting on park benches.....

For some insane reason, I allowed myself to be talked into mountain biking yesterday. We were supposed to be driven up the road where the "Train to the Clouds" should go, and bike down - the inclement weather the day before put paid to that (landslides), and we were taken into the countryside for a hideous couple of hours uphill, and then the "fun" part down - through stinking mud a foot deep, redolent with cow and horse manure; rocky, bumpy slippery downhill “goat tracks”... the only fun part was the fact that I managed to stay upright, but not necessarily on the bike!!

The last few k’s down on the road were huge fun though, with hardly a single push of the pedals required.

The evening brought more fun.....managed to get my exhausted self to a tango class with the group. We were all left footed and clumsy to start with...all pretty hilarious. After 2 hours I was getting the hang of it and did a shimmy around the room with the instructor; awesome fun... will definitely take tango lessons when I get home.

Walked up 1021 steps (past the Stations of the Cross) to a hill overlooking the city today....by the 6th station I was cursing rather than praying, ruing not taking the cable car,....all good practice for Machu Pichu I hope.

Off to San Pedro and the Atacama desert tomorrow.... weather is looking good!

(My apologies to all and sundry who got a spam email about viagra - not sure how it happened, but hope it doesn’t continue to plague you!)

Estancia life and lots of Torrontes

Tuesday 8th March

We’ve been a week on the road again, heading north through Argentina, the Andes never too far away, the vistas constantly varied....everyone was hanging out for a bit of wifi...

A 5.30 start, a stop to view a magnificent sunrise from a sand dune, then a long 14 hr day took us over a seemingly endless flat plain, first fertile with acres of corn fields, then arid cattle country.....towards Cordoba, a university town established by the Jesuits in the 16th century. They raised stock and grew grapes to support there establishments.....rock wall fences built by indigenous slaves are everywhere...

A winding rough road takes us up to the Estancia Los Potreros, a 6000 acre Angus and horse property, owned by Kevin, our Anglo Argentine polo playing host and his English wife. The main homestead costs USD 400 a night, and includes polo lessons and riding on the range. We are in another part of the of the estancia, very old colonial Spanish; tourism is necessary to supplement their income.... it’s poor rocky country, but the views are wonderful.

Our guides/hosts are Heidi an American flight attendant,and Mel, an English lass who left the world of finance for a bit of adventure....

We are greeted by Kevin with a very generous wine “tasting” in is dining room, supping on Torrontes and Malbec bottled especially for the Estancia....

The next morning we ll saddle up for a ride to “Top of the World”, the horses well trained and surefooted over the rocky terrain, rock walls and pampas grass abound. We wend our way down to some picturesque cattle yards full of weaners....we have a go at lassoing and then are shown how it’s really done by the gauchos, Daniel and Augustine are our guides...

An aperatif on the grounds, watching the sunset, then a wonderful assado of beef, and more estancia wine...a few sore heads the next morning when we headed off for another ride to a waterfall and a picnic lunch...

The evening was filled with wonderful folk songs from a local. Loyola and Gerry, the Canadians brought out the cigars and the 15yr old scotch .... more sore heads as we set off in Gus for another long day on the road, headed for Cafayate....

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Long hours across more of agricultural Argentina, paralleling Ruta 40 and bouncing around in the back of Gus... a left turn takes us straight up the mountains again, with an incredible change of vistas.....1500m of incredibly steep switchbacks though a lush subtropical rainforest, in the rain unfortunately so we were denied apparently spectacular views (and photos).... cleared pasture on top for a k or 2.... clouds nestling in valleys...then another rain shadow, cactus again, gleaming after a rain shower in the late afternoon light.... a wet and dirty campsite, an early start and on to Cafayate, the Torrontes wine capital. 

A quick stop at Quilmes ruins, a people who managed to keep the Inca and the Spanish at bay in this settlement on the side of the hill, but eventually succumbed; the 2000 people remaining were walked to Buenos Aires, only 400 survived the March...

Cafayate is a town with a great ambience, at the foothills of the Andes; a dry hot climate by day, cold at night....it’s heart is a beautiful little plaza; it’s ringed by organic wineries....more Torrontes, our new favourite drop...

We piled onto Gus again after camping in unseasonal rain and drove through the most amazing landscape, sculptured by a raging muddy red river....hues of reds and pinks.... carved shapes standing like sentinels in the ancient landscape...

The same unseasonal rain has lead to a few washouts on the road - Gus lapped it all up, plodding slowly but surely here to Salta....lets hope the rain stops

Over the Andes to vino paradise

March 3rd; Happy birthday Paulo! And Annie tomorrow xxx

Having a chill day in Mendoza, the wine capital of Argentina...indulging ourselves just a little.....

Some really sad news yesterday - my tenant Svein in unit 9, collapsed and died suddenly after a run, only early 30’s...a really nice guy with  Master’s in IT...remembered fondly flying his model spy plane around the garden controlled by his laptop....

I wasn’t sad to leave Santiago behind (just another big city), but for future visits it would be a great base for beaches, boats and boards of all sorts. When are you getting that job Chooey?

We pushed Gus across an intersection to jolt her back to life, then headed west, past our first glimpses of cactii, towards the mountains,.....climbing slowly to 3200m over a pass that kept curling back on itself like a ribbon. The landscape took on a lunar quality.....barren, rocky, desolate.

TJ stopped Gus near number 24 of 29 curves for a roadside lunchbreak.... on a slope for a slightly hairy reverse clutch start. We jumped out for a scamper up a little and a view of Aconcagua, SA’s highest peak at 7000m... all were short of breath and weak in the legs after only a couple of minutes...the altitude is going to take some getting used to.

10kms in no man’s land across the Chile/ Argentina border before we were held up for 4 hrs in border crossing while the guys searched for some obscure document re Gus they’ed not been asked for before. We caused quite a stir pushing Gus through the customs area....

Finally arrived in Mendoza, a really pretty town in a huge dry valley at the foot of the Andes, patchworks of vineyards everywhere, laden with grapes.... they are flood irrigated by Andean snow melt collected in a dam an hour out of town....malbec is the most renowned grape here, but we are introduced to new varieties, and the Chardonnay is superb.... 

4 of us indulged ourselves with a winery tour and enormous gourmet picnic lunch at the vineyard where Sarah Tomlinson worked for a few months. All the grapes are hand picked...it’s  sensual feast with the smells of ripe grapes, fermenting  juice, lush vineyards... It would be awesome to see this place in the Autumn and in winter... the seasons are so extreme... (hence the great wine)

We headed out last night for a degustation dinner at another old vineyard on the edge of town....clay oven baked lamb with pea risotto a standout..

The guys finally found help for Gus...it’s the alternator, not the starter motor, and we’re given an extra day here in Mendoza while she undergoes some running repairs; the guys also managed to find a compressor for the fridge on board, so our diet may improve somewhat......

The downside is now a 16 hour day straight to an estancia where we’ll camp for 3 nights ....we were to have 2 days en route with a bush camp in between....