We left the big smoke of Salta behind and headed off into the mountains to the second most important wine making region in Argentina. We intended to spend two nights in Cafayate, but loved it so much we stayed for four. Our accommodation was in a basic yet gorgeous hospedaje on the edge of the town called La Casona del Ser 
where we were hosted by the lovely Geronimo. We booked through Hostelbookers which usually works out cheaper! Geronimo was from Buenos Aires and came to Cafayate on a holiday a few years ago and never left.

“No pasar nada aqui, me encanto la tranquilidad!

( Nothing ever happens here, I love the tranquility!)

This was his response when we asked if it was safe to walk to and from hostal at night. Other locals also told us how they never locked their doors and how five year old children could cycle safely to and from school alone. There were bicycles everywhere on the streets without locks and we were trying to think of another location in the world where you could leave your bike, sometimes for the whole day and come back to find it where you left it.

Cafayate is locate close to Quebrada de Cafayate, an amazing valley. We took an afternoon tour with Leo and two other gringos to see the sights. WOW!

The devil’s throat

Growing it about 3 to 5 cm a year this cactus is an old one!

A road to nowhere! The road gets taken out often when the river floods. Our guide told us it was three times last year! Thankfully there is still room at the side to start a new one.

We have also been tasting a lot of the local vino Tinto. Given that we are in such an important wine region it would be rude not to!

Wine tasting at Chato’s wine bar where we were hosted by the beautiful Oscar Eduardo Cruz. Our favourite wines were………

An afternoon was spent at Cabras de Cafayate where we saw the goats and had a very informative tour of the property and cheese making factory. The owners just happened to own Domingo Hermanos winery and we felt it would be rude not to try the vino tinto on display! We had a picnic lunch of goats cheese and wine in the most beautiful location.

It was clear to us why Geronimo had decided to make his home here in Cafayate and part of us wished we could too!

Argentina is one of only two countries left in the world that has an airline run by its air force (Iran being the other country). The name of this airline is Lade. Apparently they have a terrible reputation for reliability. This was evident when we rang to book accomodation in the next place we stayed (Comodoro Rivadavia) and the person asked if we could call them after we checked onto our flight. We have flown on them twice now and have found them to be on time, safe and quite reliable.

Ushuaia from the sky on the way in…

On the Tarmac after our safe landing in Ushuaia.

We would definitely recommend flying with Lade. They only fly in Patagonia and have an ever changing schedule. We found them to be only a little bit more expensive than the bus, especially from El Calafate to Ushuaia.