Trip to Cafayate

Tuesday January 11

I am back in Tucumàn after an amazing weekend in the countryside north of the city. Complete with empanadas (small pastries filled with veggies and meat, like pasties), mùsica chacarera y samba (local folk music), cacti, vineyards, horses, llamas (half of goal #5) bicycles, asado (barbeque), spectacular mountains, and many close, noisy, interesting neighbors in the campground.

(Above: Ivanna, Doug, Dave, and Beth at the campsite)

Beth and Dave Roberts rented a car for the trip. It was a compact manual which meant Beth had to do most of the driving. I sat in the back with Doug Dave’s brother), Ivanna, and Zane (Beth and Dave’s 2 year old son). Yes, that totals 3 adults and 1 child, though we made do just fine. Zane was on one of our laps the whole time but was quite content to be in the car for long periods. The Roberts have been here 10 months studying castellano. After 1 year they will decrease the amount of classes and start working more with the church. Zane has started using quite a bit of castellano. He uses si for “yes,” mio for “mine,” and eso for “that.” He also seems to understand quite a bit when adults switch back and forth between the languages in a single conversation. What I’d give to have learned castellano at that age!

We camped in Cafayate in Salta, the province to the north. It was a large campground but had no reserved spaces. We ended up sharing a grill and table with 3 other groups, one of which could be heard all night talking, playing music, singing, etc. Thankfully I had really good earplugs! Zane was really drawn to the noisy neighbors in the evenings. He would go over and just sit down next to them. A little later he got his camping chair and put it in their camp. He also showed them his stuffed teddy “bear.” The guys heard “beer” and thought that was the bear’s name. They laughed really hard about that one. I later told them what the real name was. We had to laugh, too, about how Zane was so easily drawn to them. He’s only shy when you want to take his picture.

Saturday we went on a tour at a vineyard and then tasted some of their wine (see photo on left). I’m sure it tasted good to most of the others but none of us really like wine so we grimaced through it just so we can say we tasted local wine. After that we drove through the mountains and ravines (quebrada) near Cafayate (the quebrada de las conchas). We stopped at 5 or 6 places that had distinct rock formations or outlooks. The color of the red rock was vibrant against the blue sky and green valleys. We sat and ate in the anfiteatro (natural amphitheater) and listened to mochileros (bakcpackers) play some folk music. That was my favorite moment of the trip because the mixture of music, nature, friends, and fellow travelers. We were all enjoying the same experinence together, making us feel connected to each other even though we were strangers. Our other stops included el sapo (toad, photo on right, Ivana hates them), Mirador Tres Cruces (below), sand dunes (further below) and la garganta del diablo (Devil’s throat) where we did some rock climbing. We found out Zane is a natural at climbing steep inclines, though he had to be passed down person to person on the way down at those steep spots.

Sunday was Ivanna’s birthday so I treated her to a horseback ride around town and out into the country ( below). It was very relaxing and peaceful (except for when dogs came to bark at us but thankfully the horses didn’t flinch).

We walked though the shops in town, saw a couple museums, went swimming in the pool, rode a “triple” (tandum bike for 3), ate delicious ravioli at an outdoor restaurant while listening to mùsica chacarera y samba (local types of folk music), and joined in as the musicians sang “Happy Birthday” to Ivanna.

Monday we stopped at the Quilmes Ruins (I went there last time, too.) and the Museo Pachamama (Museum of Mother Earth) on the way back to Tucumàn. Quilmes is a city now in ruins where only about 4-6 feet of the walls remain. The Museum shows the history of local people and places but also has incredible stone walls depicting local symbols of things in nature (lizard, snake, sun, fire, etc.).

Thankfully Zane slept 2 hours of the rest of the car ride. We got back just in time to unload and get the car back to the rental place. Ivanna's mom Liliana had made her a cake and her brother and his family came for dinner to celebrate.

Today (Tuesday) we are going to rest, watch a movie, buy me a pre-paid phone, and meet with Paulina, the tutor, to plan my lessons. I asked Ivana about hang gliding and she said her friend Daniel can help me with that. Another goal in the process!