Cafayate, Argentina

​22nd September – 24th September 2017

After we left Cabra Corral, we had another short drive ahead of us. The roads were long and windy though so I felt quite sick and Lars did not take it easy so that didn’t help. Along the way to Cafayate, we stopped at some rock formations; it was nice to be able to jump out to get some fresh air.

The first formation we saw was one called the Devil’s throat; it didn’t look like a throat but the way the rock had formed was pretty cool. Next we went to an amphitheatre which was very tall and echoey. There was a man playing an instrument in the amphitheatre so that created a nice atmosphere. The third stop, in a very short space of time, was to a view point. We could walk a little distance up a little hill to look out into the valley of the mountains which was very pretty. Our final stop of the morning was to see a rock formed as a toad ‘El Sapo’. I was the only one brave enough to get out and face the toad, even if it was just a big piece of rock.

We arrived at the campsite in Cafayate at around 12.30; we set up our tents and did back locker before getting our lunch. It was nice to know that the tents were staying up for a couple of nights and we didn’t have to take it down the next morning – that can be very frustrating.

For lunch, most people went into the town and found a restaurant. Because me and Sabrina had bought so many snacks in Salta a few days earlier, we decided to stay at the campsite and eat those to save ourselves some money. We still went and met everyone afterwards though and it was nice to have some downtime without everyone being around.

At 2.45, we had arranged to meet the rest of the group on the corner of the square. We didn’t have any idea where we were going, but we found them just fine. Once we had all met back up, Lars told us that he had booked us into a free wine tour of a local winery, so we walked there for 3 o’clock.

When we got to the winery, the man that was there didn’t know anything about us or our booking so I don’t know who Lars had spoken to but they didn’t pass the message on. We had to wait a little longer for someone to show us around but that was okay because it was a sunny day and a very pretty place.

The lady arrived at about 3.15 to show us around and give us a little tour of the place; she was Spanish so most of us didn’t understand her but luckily Sara could translate. She told us about how the white and red wine are made in different ways: red wine is fermented with the seeds and stalk originally when white wine isn’t. She showed us the different fermentation tanks and then showed us where they stored the wine.

After the tour, there was time to do some wine tasted if we wanted too; this had to be paid for though, obviously. I decided not to do this today but some of the others did. Once they started their tasting session, I was glad I didn’t join in because they had to drink it so quickly, she was not giving them time to take their time and enjoy it, plus they were all stood up around a small table. Everyone that tasted wine, seemed to enjoy it and were ready for some more.

After we left the winery, we walked back towards the main square. We had picked up a new friend along the way (apparently she had walked with the others from the campsite) and we called her Suzy; she was a golden dog and was very happy to accompany us wherever we went. The lady in the vineyard told us that she sees that dog a few times a day with different groups of tourists, but she never goes with Argentineans – how funny.

Back in the main square, the others were looking for a bar to have another drink. The restaurant where some of them ate lunch was closed by the time we got back and they wanted to go there, so instead we all opted for ice cream instead. We had wine flavoured ice cream; unfortunately, it was red because they had run out of white, but it still tasted quite nice and it was a very accurate flavouring! To go with my red wine ice cream, I had a scoop of Ferrero Rocher ice cream too which was also a very accurate flavouring.

While we were eating ice cream, I realised that my ankle had started to swell from an insect bite again, although it was the opposite ankle this time. My ankle felt really tight and it was very sore. After the ice cream, we went for a walk around the square to look at the different market stalls but I couldn’t put weight on my ankle properly and it hurt, so we ended up making our way back to the campsite. We passed the others on the way, who had found themselves some cheese and wine, but we carried on to the campsite.

Back at the campsite, it was nice and peaceful because only the four of us (me, Sabrina, Katie and Jack) had come back. I enjoyed the peace and quiet and took the time to shower and get myself sorted before it was time to cook dinner.

For dinner it was my group’s turn to cook; we were making fajitas. I was worried at first that there wouldn’t be enough for everyone but there was more than enough, we even had leftovers. We managed to eat outside for the first time in ages because it wasn’t too cold or windy. I ate standing up though, by the food, because I didn’t want any flies in it or any dogs to knock the table. To go with dinner, Joe had bought some wine. He was worried about us because we weren’t drinking – I’m not sure why because I have been on the truck with Joe since the beginning and he hasn’t seen me drink much at all, so I’m not sure where he got that from. It was a nice thought though and people definitely took advantage.

After dinner, we got onto the truck because it had got a bit chillier and the bugs had come out. We played a few rounds of UNO again and tried to teach Joe to play but teaching a drunk 70-year-old how to play a very simple game was much harder than I thought it would be. It was funny to watch him at first but when it was the twentieth time he had seen the card and he was still asking what it meant, even though it was pretty obvious, it then became a little annoying. After about two rounds, we started to give up and head to bed – it was easier this way.

I was in my own tent again and I was much warmer this time – I had taken a blanket from the truck to wrap around me and it was nice and cosy.

I still woke up pretty earlier the next day though, but this was okay because my group was on breakfast duty and we needed to get organised. I asked the team to meet me at 8.15 and because I thought we were leaving the campsite earlier than we were in the morning, I got myself dressed and ready for the day first. As I emerged from my tent at 8.15, I saw Joe heading towards the shower block with his things, even though he was in my cook group and knew what time we were meeting – this was a little annoying. Katie and William were on time though and we got the kitchen set up, with breakfast prepared for 8.30 – I felt a little bad at this point because we weren’t serving until 9 and William had a little moan about this. By the time we had boiled the kettle and everyone had a hot drink, most people were up so we started cooking the food.

For breakfast, we were having banana pancakes. I had a lot of moans and groans about this suggestion because apparently you can’t make pancakes with just eggs and banana but I ignored everyone anyway and made them and I really enjoyed them, even if others didn’t! At the end of breakfast, we still had loads of mix left over, so I made up as many pancakes as I could with the mix and we kept them for snacks.

As soon as people had eaten, they all seemed to slowly disappear and I ended up cleaning up pretty much on my own. This was a little annoying because clean-up is everyone’s job but some people from the other cook group sat and watched me and my cook group seemed to vanish, apart from Joe who was now out of the shower. To make up for turning up half an hour late, he did then help me to tidy up and put all the equipment away, so I started to forgive him.

Once everyone was ready, we left the campsite at about 11.30. We were eventually heading for a vineyard for lunch, but on the way, we had to stop off at the supermarket to do some cook group shopping. My group were only buying one lunch so it was fairly straight forward, but the budget was tight and tuna for the sandwiches was expensive; we managed to stay under budget in the end though.

We arrived at Piattelli vineyard at 1 for our lunch reservation. The vineyard was the poshest place I have seen in South America, by far! It was that posh, we even dressed up for it, to an extent! We all walked in together, after taking photos to try and show how pretty it was and were seated on a long table.

For lunch, most people had chosen the set menu which came with unlimited wine supposedly; although they didn’t seem to get that much for their money. I chose to just chose a meal from the menu and I wasn’t bothered about drinking wine with lunch because I knew I would be doing the tour later. I chose chicken stuffed with cheese and bacon, with sweet potato mash on the side – it wasn’t sweet potato as I knew it from home but it still tasted good. With my meal, I even got some sneaky free wine from the waiter – I’m not sure if he felt sorry for me or he made a mistake but I just stuck to one glass because I didn’t want to push my luck.

After lunch, we went outside to have a chill and take some photos before the wine tour started at 3.

When it was time for the tour to start, the guide came outside with some sunhats for us to wear – this was ideal for me because it was very hot and sunny and my head was starting to burn. The guide had to do the tour in both Spanish and English because we weren’t the only ones there and the others didn’t understand English.

The tour started with a little history about the place. We were told that an American couple from Minnesota bought the vineyard from an Argentinean couple quite recently and because of this it was a young vineyard in comparison. The doors to the Piattelli vineyard that we visited only opened in 2013 and they didn’t open until they knew everything was perfect and they had good quality wine inside.

Our first stop on the tour was to see the vineyard itself. We went to the part where they grow the red grapes. The guide told us that the grapes for the red wine are grown differently than the grapes for the white wine. This is because the white wine grapes grow on branches that are much wider and heavier than the branches for the red grapes. The guide also told us about the water system that is installed in because the grapes need 700mm of water a year and Cafayate only gets 200mm of rainfall in a year, so they need to water the grapes themselves. He also explained that the grapes need protecting from the sun, so the leaves do this job.

After we had looked at the vineyards, we went back inside the buildings. We ditched the hats and went to look at where the grapes come into the vineyard and how they are made into wine.

We started off upstairs in the winery and looked at the area where the grapes arrive. For some reason we weren’t allowed to take any photos here, but he didn’t explain why. He told us that only the best grapes make it to the stage because they make the best wine. Any other grapes that don’t make the cut are sold to other wineries in the area, who make a wine of a poorer quality – his words, not mine.

To clean the grapes that make it through, they then put them in a big machine and vibrate them – this removes the dirt without losing any juices, which is apparently what water does. For red wine this process is done with the skins and stalks on but for white wine it isn’t. After this process, the grapes are then checked again and any that aren’t good enough will then be removed at this stage. The grapes are then mushed down into a liquid and sent through some more processes which I can’t remember any details about.

After we saw where the grapes come into the winery, we went back downstairs to see the fermentation tanks. The room was filled with huge metal tanks containing different types of wine. The tanks are only ever filled 80% of the way to leave 20% of air to help with the fermentation process. They are able to regulate the temperature of the wine during the fermentation process using the thermometer on the front.

We went downstairs further after seeing the fermentation tanks, to see the storage cellar; it looked so pretty with all the barrels stacked so neatly and lit up. The guide told us about how they make the different flavours of wine: it can come from the fruit used, the fermentation process or from the barrel process. Some wine is put into oak barrels which have tiny pores to allow air into the barrel; the pores help to create a smoother wine. He also explained that the perfect temperature for red wine is between 12 and 16 degrees; the perfect temperature for white wine is between 8 and 10 degrees.

For the final part of the tour, we went to sample some wines. We went and sat in the tasting room, which was sadly inside – the weather was so beautiful outside. With the ticket I bought, I got to sample seven different wines, some from the site in Cafayate and some from their Mendoza site. My favourite was the white wine which was disappointingly the first wine and only white of the whole tasting session – it was from the Cafayate site though. After the white, we got a rose and then five reds; none of the reds were particularly to my liking but the last one was most drinkable for me.

Once the tour had finished, at about 4.30, we sat out on the terrace for a bit before driving back towards the campsite.

On the way back, me and Katie got out in the square: we wanted to try the white wine flavoured ice cream if they had it. We had a quick walk through the markets again before heading to the ice cream shop. We went to a different ice cream shop then the day before because we were only interested in trying that one flavour and the first shop sold two scoops minimum. In my opinion, the white wine flavour was much nicer than the red wine flavour but that’s not very surprising because they were very accurate flavourings.

After we had tried the ice cream, we walked back to the campsite. We thought that everyone would be asleep when we got back but Jack, Aaron and Lars weren’t there and the others were just pottering about.

We sat at the outdoor tables until it got too cold and the bugs came out – we put extra layers on at this point. There weren’t any dinner plans because of the big lunch but Katie had found out that the other three were in the square at a bar so William and Sara went to meet them to have a drink and get a snack for dinner. Me, Sabrina and Katie stayed around the campsite and Joe and Char were in bed, so it was very quiet.

When the bugs became too much, at about 7, we went and sat on the truck. We ate the leftover fajitas from the previous night and ate some other snacks for dinner. We stayed on the truck for the rest of the night. Joe and Char came and joined us at one point because they had got up and the bugs were too much for them too.

We stayed and chatted and played cards for a little bit before I took myself to my tent, to bed.

My sleep the second night wasn’t as good as the first night; I was a little bit colder but I’m not sure why. It also didn’t help that there was lots of loud music being played all night long!

I woke up around 6.15 which wasn’t too bad to say that my alarm was set for 6.30. I lay in my sleeping bag for a little while trying to motivate myself to get up. I got up and ready and packed up for back locker at 7am.

The time in Cafayate was fab. It was nice to spend a couple of days in one place, it was good weather, the vineyards were interesting but the wine flavoured ice cream was the best! I would recommend a visit to anyone and would like to go back one day but I would definitely stay in a bed!

To travel is to live, Katie x