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....
...................................
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
No comments:
Post a Comment