First Night in Cafayate

After leaving the friends and discos of Salta, I was unsure what to expect in Cafayate. The town is a town, not a big city like Salta. There are many bodegas, which, in Argentine spanish, means wine cellar and not mom-n-pop grocery.

It can be a bit difficult to arrive to a new town and a new hostel. While looking for a hostel, I passed two women, who I took to be Argentine, walking with a couple, the guy having a Oregon t-shirt on. I passed close by to them as I headed to what I thought was a hostel but I did not talk to them. I thought about asking them for hostel info but I had my tourist info map, so was fine.

The hostel I headed to did not exist, so I made my way to a hostel that I had already passed. Although the hostel looked interesting, I did not go there first because I got an odd vibe from a guy outside the info center who told me about it.

The hostel, El Balcon, was my 3rd or 4th choice. When I got there, the Argentine women I had seen on the road minutes earlier were there, too, as were the couple with whom they had been walking.

The couple, American, were finishing their check-in process. Their charge was 210 pesos. They had 250. Since no one in this country seems to have change (coins or small bills), there was a bit of an issue. The hostel did not have 40 pesos change and the Americans did not have a 10 peso ($3+) note. I fronted them the 10 pesos, thinking they were staying in the hostel (wrong, they stayed in a sister hostel 5 blocks away). They assured me that I would get my money back.

During my check-in or while waiting to check in, I was conversing with the Argentines. They told me they were going to tour a cheese factory and invited me along.

I dumped my bags on my bed and joined the two Argentines and an American women they met in the hostel for a 20 minute tour of a cheese factory.

Fun facts I remember from the goat cheese factory: One type of goat gives 2 liters of milk a day and another type gives 1 liter, this factory pipes in classical music during the milking process to calm the goats. That is it. I know they told us more (in Spanish) but it is not in my brain.









After the cheese factory tour, we went to the bodega Vasija Secreta to see about a tour. We arrived a bit after 7:00 pm. After doing a bit of poking around the closed bodega, the Argentines knocked in the ¨Administracion¨ door. A man, who turned out to be the manager, opened the door. As expected, he told us that the winery was closed for the day.



The Argentines, who are studying food science in university, pestered him with a few questions. He answered those questions and more after that. After 10 minutes or so, he gave in and said ´let´s do a tour.´

This is all in Spanish but it is what I believe happened.

We had a very extensive tour. I am sure we were taken places that the general public does get to go. After more than 1 hour, we were taken through the public testing area, down a flight of stairs to a wine cellar. There, lining the walls, were hundreds of unlabeled...doing whatever bottles of wine do prior to be shipped out to stores.

He gave us two bottles. I am sure the bottles are not part of the company tour.

After the cellar, we are shown a private courtyard area where the manager lives. It is after 8:15 and I think the manager is looking like he wants the tour to end and for us to be on our way.

The next thing I know, the 4 of us (2 Argentines, the gringa and me) are heading back to town to go to the supermarket to buy dinner that we will cook at the winery. (The American, whose spanish is much better than mine, told me later that, for the most part, the Argentines invited themselves + us to the winery for dinner.)

80-ish pesos of food later (less than $30), we are back at the winery preparing a fine-looking meal of steak, chicken (for me) and salad. We don´t hve to buy wine as the host we will use one of the bottles given to us and the host will provide two more.

This would have been a great time to have the Argentine steak that I told myself I would have. However, I had already made plans to have that steak in BA with a friend of a friend of mine.

I am not sure what time dinner started but I do know that the evening ended after 1:00 a.m.

Prior to the steaks being done, a kayak-guide friend of the manager came over. He sat down to dinner with us. While talking, it was discovered that the Argentines knew his sister. Before we finished eating, the guide`s cousin and sister show up (below).



And still later, a Frenchman shows up. I had no idea what he was saying but he was making everyone laugh.

All-in-all, it was a great evening - even if I only understood 10% (optimistic) of what was said.

If I had laft Salta earlier, as I had planned, I would not have had this experience as I would not have run into the Argentines.

Sometimes plans not made are the best plans of all.

bjm 03.29.08