Salta..Wine Country

Day Tour to Cafayate//Salta's Wine Country
I was one of 11 tourist taking a Van tour of the Calchaqui Valley.
Left the hotel at 07:00 and returned at 18:30 (6:30pm)

It was a long but beautiful day. It helped that we had a great tour guide named Claudio and an even better driver Osvaldo. A good driver in Argentina is worth his price in gold!

The group consisted of 6 Argentinos, a couple from Pamplona, Spain, a couple from Germany (only ones that need it the English version) and me. Claudio spoke a mixed of British and Miami English...it was fun to listen to him, first in Spanish and then the English Version.

My favorite expression from him was when he would say..."..10 minutes mas y we stop for toilet break"...;)...I was just glad they had such things out here in the wild north of Argentina.

The Calchaqui Valley is very similar to the Grand Canyon, with the exception that we are DRIVING thru it instead of just looking at it!

This area is famous for the TORRENTES GRAPES...which produces a white wine...I liked it and plan on drinking more even though Red continues to be my favorite. This area is good for wine production because it is hot and dry during the day but the nights are mild.

We made several picture opportunity stops along the way. My favorite was when we spotted an old man and his Llama alongside the road..selling his ceramic pots. His name is Don Facundo and the Llama...well..just call her Donia...He cooks all pots in a dirt oven until it reaches a temperature of 1000 degrees...(he uses wood )...then it's a matter of letting it cool down.

We had "3 toilet breaks" plus lunch in the town of Cafayate. For lunch I had LOCRO. This is a corn base stew with meat, sausage, bacon and garbanzo beans. Muy rico!

Believe it or not...
I DID NOT care for their specialty desserts. They are too sweet and they hardly use any chocolate. It mostly revolves around HONEY. A typical dessert is a slice of cheese with a ton of honey or a spaghetti squash...that has been boiled ,shredded and then cooked with honey before stuffing it into an empanada shell...and then as if that's not sweet enough..they cover the shell with a sugar coating...

BUT...I did find an ice cream place in town. Their specialty is WINE ICE CREAM! Yeap!!! I hit the jackpot...;)....tried both the Cabernet and Torrontes Ice Cream..and ended getting a scoop of Torrontes..and Grapefruit ice cream...they weren't creamy..more like a gelato.

Here are the pictures...
http://picasaweb.google.com/argentineyankee/CafayateTour#