Cafayate
Have spent the last several days relaxing in Cafayate, a quite and picturesque town 3 hours south of Salta. It's known predominantly for its wines, including the sweet white wine torrontes, unique to Argentina. I've only had the chance to visit one bodega (winery), but I definitely liked what they had on offer! Now, I know it sounds like a recipe for disaster, but one of the ice cream parlours in town actually sells wine-flavoured ice cream. Two flavours to be exact: torrontes and cabernet sauvignon. I really think they're onto something; it was delicious stuff! Shame I can't take any home with me. Yesterday, Cat and I rented a bike and cycled around the outskirts of the town. It felt really nice to do something different, at our own pace. Saw plenty of vineyards on the way!
As I mentioned before, the transition from Bolivia to Argentina was noticeable when the bus was driving through Salta at night, but it's even more evident when exploring Salta on foot. Everything about the city resembles Europe, from the architecture to the city layout to the shops, etc. etc. Even the weather was alike! There was some sort of cold spell passing through Argentina a few days ago, and on one of the days the temperature plummeted as low as 3 degrees celcius. Add to that: wind and grey skies and you have a typical November day in Belgium or the U.K. In other words, depressing. However, the city has a very welcoming feel to it. It's funny that the closer things are to home, the more I miss home.
Our attempt to visit any museums failed miserably, as the day we wanted to go (Monday), they were all closed. We did go up to the San Bernardo Hill by cable-car to get a scenic view of the city. As I mentioned before, it was bloody freezing, so we didn't stay up there for very long. As soon as we got back down, we looked for the first empanada restaurant we could find and spent a good long while in there. Fortunately for us it had a fireplace! Empanadas are a regional dish of Salta. They're basically little pastries filled with meat, chicken or cheese and various vegetables and spices. Tasty stuff.
The BBQ the hostel organised on Saturday was manic: there was some 40kg of meat between 60 people and it was just incredible - the meat was so succulent and flavoursome. There was also a band that played traditional from Salta to liven things up. The bongo player must be a distant cousin of Che Guevara: such an uncanny resemblance! Afterwards I checked out what Salta nightlife was all about, and most of the clubs were packed. It was really good fun, although I saw a worrying number of mullet aficionados.
Tuesday was a special day of celebration, in honour of Pachamama (mother earth), which dates back to indigenous customs. Many of the ancient cultures in Bolivia and Peru also considered Pachamama to be the most important goddess/deity. There was a march on in the main square in Salta, but we missed it as we had to catch the bus to Cafayate. However, the night before the hostel organised a Pachamama party (any excuse, eh?) at which we were fed Locro, another typical dish of the Salta region. It's a thick soup with broad beans and various pieces of meat in it. Then at exactly midnight, a group of 4 men came to 'sanctify' the house by wafting a very strong-smelling smoke around the room (where it came from I don't know), followed by some traditional songs which involve banging a drum and making up lyrics on the spot (in couplets) about everyday-life situations. Very interesting.
Tomorrow: travelling to San Miguel de Tucuman.
As I mentioned before, the transition from Bolivia to Argentina was noticeable when the bus was driving through Salta at night, but it's even more evident when exploring Salta on foot. Everything about the city resembles Europe, from the architecture to the city layout to the shops, etc. etc. Even the weather was alike! There was some sort of cold spell passing through Argentina a few days ago, and on one of the days the temperature plummeted as low as 3 degrees celcius. Add to that: wind and grey skies and you have a typical November day in Belgium or the U.K. In other words, depressing. However, the city has a very welcoming feel to it. It's funny that the closer things are to home, the more I miss home.
Our attempt to visit any museums failed miserably, as the day we wanted to go (Monday), they were all closed. We did go up to the San Bernardo Hill by cable-car to get a scenic view of the city. As I mentioned before, it was bloody freezing, so we didn't stay up there for very long. As soon as we got back down, we looked for the first empanada restaurant we could find and spent a good long while in there. Fortunately for us it had a fireplace! Empanadas are a regional dish of Salta. They're basically little pastries filled with meat, chicken or cheese and various vegetables and spices. Tasty stuff.
The BBQ the hostel organised on Saturday was manic: there was some 40kg of meat between 60 people and it was just incredible - the meat was so succulent and flavoursome. There was also a band that played traditional from Salta to liven things up. The bongo player must be a distant cousin of Che Guevara: such an uncanny resemblance! Afterwards I checked out what Salta nightlife was all about, and most of the clubs were packed. It was really good fun, although I saw a worrying number of mullet aficionados.
Tuesday was a special day of celebration, in honour of Pachamama (mother earth), which dates back to indigenous customs. Many of the ancient cultures in Bolivia and Peru also considered Pachamama to be the most important goddess/deity. There was a march on in the main square in Salta, but we missed it as we had to catch the bus to Cafayate. However, the night before the hostel organised a Pachamama party (any excuse, eh?) at which we were fed Locro, another typical dish of the Salta region. It's a thick soup with broad beans and various pieces of meat in it. Then at exactly midnight, a group of 4 men came to 'sanctify' the house by wafting a very strong-smelling smoke around the room (where it came from I don't know), followed by some traditional songs which involve banging a drum and making up lyrics on the spot (in couplets) about everyday-life situations. Very interesting.
Tomorrow: travelling to San Miguel de Tucuman.
posted by Job @ 8/03/2006
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