El Norte (part 2)... still can´t get used to how pretty it is here

Okay folks so I was told that blogs should be brief. I seem to be losing that battle but honestly there has just been so much beauty lately that I feel compelled to have a part two of the north. Please skip past this post if you feel you´ve had enough. I will understand and more importantly I´ll never know :) Win Win.

After a quick one night stay (for the second time) in Salta I have now traveled 4 hours south west to a town called Cafayate. Another wine town though with the lack of any tours to the vineyards you might not know it.

To the left is the pink cathedral in the central square of Salta. Martha keeps making fun of me for saying I have ¨Loved Salta¨ because honestly I haven´t really seen Salta. I have used it as a hub to get to towns around the area. Fine. Adjustment made. ¨I have Loved the area around Salta.¨ They have graffiti too. Maybe that´s what I will do when I get home. Become a graffiti artist. Nah, probably won´t put a kid through college. Ugh. Oh well.

So the journey to Cafayate was epic. Once again we had the first row seats at the top of the bus so I could really capture the ride.
Points of note. 1. They adore a good arrow. If I had thought to count them I would have quit because there were just WAY too many and they all showed up a millisecond before the driver would have to turn anyways so not sure why they use them. PS as you can see in photo and subsequent POINT number 2 the road is constantly being washed away by the river so ¨detours¨are rampant. As Martha so perfectly coined it. ¨I don´t think these roads were built for bus journeys¨ because at times we were basically as wide as the hirpin turn.  Good thing they had workers, ahem I mean metal shaped workers to warn us of oncoming road work.

Below is a sample of the views we experienced for the 4 hour journey. As some of you know  I tend to get a case of narcolepsy when I travel in motorized vehicles. Not the case for this journey. Now if the journey from Toronto to Montreal was this pretty I wouldn´t have such an issue traveling it more. 

Our prize for arriving in this quaint little town was, for one, a great hostel where we booked a private room to take a break while we can from dorms with complete strangers (since Martha and I now joke that we are good friends who can say anything to eachother and not be offended) as well as a mission to complete. Joe from my office mentioned a vineyard in Northern Argentina that, he told me, is one of the best vineyards in the world. He didn´t seem confident that I could locate it but obliged me by sharing the name. Bodega San Pedro de Yacochuya. Well my friends after biking uphill (rising 400 meters to 2500meters above sea level) in the baking sun with no shade and even less water... take a wild stab at what Martha and I found.  Yep... to the left is a photo of the vineyard and below is my girl Martha displaying our wines of choice from said vineyard to be enjoyed with our home made risotto last evening.   Yes I love me a mission. :) 

We bought a 2007 Malbec that cost about $50USD so you can imagine what it would cost in YOUR local restaurant if they even exported to Canada and a bottle of white Torrontes for about $13USD. I agree the range is vast but both went down a dream last night. 

Our plan is to try out some more wines tonight and get some ¨take away goat¨ to pair with our left over risotto for tonight´s meal. Our last dinner together before Martha heads south to Mendoza and I take a hard left back into Chile to a town called San Pedro de Atacama which is said to have some killer star gazing, volcanoes and some active geisers that are worth checking out before I book my tour to Uyuni, Bolivia to see the largest salt flats in the general area.

Because I think you all must enjoy a little humour in each day I will close with some photos of the local animals we have come across. The first claims to be a pigeon that was hanging around the bus terminal in Tilcara. Have you ever seen a more oil soaked, thread bear feathered ¨bird? Thing couldn´t even fly so when buses came into the station they almost ran over him but he was a fast runner? Weird.

Then there was this buck toothed dog at the lunch place we stopped in at yesterday. How does a dog get buck teeth? I swear the dogs in this town are the most mixed race I have ever encountered. Martha doing her best impersonation. 

We also found a random donkey wandering around town yesterday afternoon. Just saying.

Good Times. Lots of Laughs. xox Stacey