Tafi del Valle and Cordoba

Tafi Del Valle

This was a super small tourist town for the affluent Argentinians of the neighboring city of Tucuman, where they come in droves on the weekend to cool off and enjoy the amazing local cheese, salami, restaurants, artwork, and charm. A bit of a downer though, the travel agencies insisted tour-guided everything, so it was very difficult to get to any trails to the surrounding mountains, but after asking a handful of locals (very hard to find one who wasn't friend or family of the covetous tour agencies!), we found a great hike up a ridgeline outside of town. Dominic, a fellow tourist we met in Cafayate, joined us for the hike, and later that day we went out for some local wine with him.

Lovin' the Quartz

The views from the mountain tops were fantastic, and we had a great vantage point of the entire valley (very dry, but finally got some rain the day we left--wish we could see it all green now!). Along the hike we were able to see some goats, sheep, and horses munching on the pampa grass that dotted the side of the mountain. Kristin was thrilled about the different rock formations, but especially the intact quartz veins that criss-crossed the mountain side (in the States people tend to pick them apart for souvenirs). Ivan was visualizing, or more like a form of self-torment, all of the amazing obstacles he could attempt on his bike, if only it were here 7,000 miles away from home.... All in all though, it was really great to finally get a solid hike in, especially after so many days of sheer gluttony: empanadas, steak, etc...

Fire!!

Walking off the empanadas

The city itself was super small, but a really great walk. We loved having a strong cup of espresso and media lunas (small croissants covered in a yummy egg-wash and sugar), while reading the local paper or chatting with Dominic. After breakfast we would usually walk the town (invariably find some empanadas, or 12, to eat) and talk to the friendly artists that displayed their work on every corner. During the hot afternoon we would siesta with our books and some fresh fruit, and then venture out later for another walk. After a few nights in this sleepy town we hopped on the bus and drove along Argentina's windiest road towards Tucuman (Ivan pulled through!!). A quick connection and we were in Cordoba -student utopia- by late evening.

Cordoba

The Argentinian version of San Francisco: a ton of students, bustling streets, insane taxi drivers, tall buildings, museums/galleries, and some really interesting local exercise routines in beautiful parks. Our first night was pretty rough since we were convinced our taxi driver was going to careen us into a store window or another vehicle - he must have taken Fast and Furious too heart.... we actually remained incredibly composed, since near-death taxi rides were all too common in Peru and Bolivia... At first, the city was very overwhelming, with exuberant students, incredible heat, and noisy bars (it was Sunday, so partying was only till 3:00 am-- a relatively short night) right at our hostel doorstep.


There was rain throughout our first day, but we put our rain gear on and tromped through the empty city. Fortunately an all-you-can-eat chinese buffet was open! After, we snuggled up to some books and then cooked a great homemade pizza with a much-needed gigantic salad (don't worry there were many hours in between gorging). The next day we were ready to do some exploring, so we met up with Laura and Mark (who had just come up from Mendoza) and explored an archeology museum and city centers. Later that day we got some fancy new haircuts. Kristin (finally!) cut off her distasteful split ends :) and Ivan almost ended up with a mullet... Kristin asked for a small 3cm trim with small layering, but instead got close to 6 inches taken off and layers up to her chin (possibly a girl version of the mullet! YUK!)... Fortunately her long and luscious locks could handle the chopping, and she still looks like an angel shaped by the gods themselves (according to Ivan, at least {but that's all that matters, right?!}). Ivan's hair, on the other hand, was verifiably hacked to bits. His super hip hippie-do was reduced to an overly thinned out business cut--with a rat tail. Ivan was in disbelief, but was noticeably upset when the hysterically uncontrollable laughing Kristin told him to turn in the mirror to see the back of his head... Instead of keeping the dangling party-in-the-back extension (to blend in with the other hideous heads in town), he decided to cut it and look like a 14 year old man. Later, we met-up with our British pals for some of Mark's home-cookin' (polenta, and marinara cod, followed by Laura's hand-selected fruit salad. Yum!). They were polite about the haircuts... A super plus that night was the great bottle of Malbec wine they shared. Don Arturo is only sold in Argentina, unfortunately, but the small family winery will be sought out by us later in our travels!!

Pretty medicore quality... ;)

On our third day we woke up early and caught a bus out to La Quebrada de los Condoritos, one of the country's smallest national parks. On our way to the park we stopped off at a small rest-stop that had a condor museum, churros, and most surprising of all - a man dangling a 1.5 kg raw steak at the end of a pole. We got there just in time for front row seats of a condor swooping down from a mountain top and grabbing the steak from the outstretched pole. The force that came off of the grab was incredible, and the large guy holding the stick almost lost his balance. Unfortunately, we were so stoked on our churros, we missed our bus, which drove the remaining 7 km up the mountain without us. After imploring a couple other bus drivers to take us up the hill, we gave up and started walking. Fortunately, a meat-schlepping deity swooped in with his refrigerated truck and brought us up the hill (Ivan was hoping there was only room for Kristin up front, so he would be 'forced' to sit in back with the mountains of salami and queso--his version of paradiso!).

Juvenile Condor - but still so big!

La Quebrada de los Condoritos

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The 11km walk through the park was breathtaking. The wind caressed the swaying pampa grass, but stunning rock formations held their ground (the large igneous rocks, contained lots of quartz, feldspar, and orthoclase -- so cool!). Walking along the paths, we made our way to the condor look-out. Unlike Colca Canyon, where the giant condors seemed to elude us, here they were flying everywhere! The young condors (still with their juvenile, white, plumage) were rocketing through the canyon in search of food. The view from the Norte Balcon (see SPOT check-in) had a view of their many nesting sites, as well as their circling flight patterns. It was really amazing when they swooped close, a loud swishing sound could be heard from their giant wingspan ('small' compared to the full-grown adults!).

Swaying like the Pampa

Feeling small, but in the best way!

Look, Argentine ants!!

Condor look-out

Ivan found the only bee, on the only flower in the park!!

After picnicking and hiking for many hours, we waited by the road for our bus, which zoomed by us with the driver giving us a half-hearted apologetic shrug... We tried our thumbs at hitch-hiking (We blame it on our luckless-ness on the haircuts), but fortunately another bus came within an hour--another driver who had fashioned himself as Vin Diesel: evading police and burning some nitrous and oversized dually tire-rubber... What a day!

Hitch-hiking is lame...

Today we bought 2 bus tickets for an overnight ride to the city of Rosario. For lunch today, we celebrated Thanksgiving, and a goodbye, with our friends Mark and Laura. Like previous dinners, Ivan and Mark shared a large parilla platter with all the typical cuts: tripa, corazon, blood sausage, pork sausage, ribs, liver, and a platter of fries. Kristin enjoyed a bife de chorizo (not a sausage, but more like a gigantic rib-eye), which was super juicy and still moo-ing in the center. After some ice-cream and heart-felt goodbyes we parted our ways-- Hasta California!

Parilla Pals!

The Aftermath...

Time for some new adventures in Rosario!
On another exciting note:: We made our Christmas plans! On December 19th we cross into Uruguay to La Paloma and spend a few days sunbathing, surfing and fishing on the white sand beach. Then we will head to Colonial de Sacramento for a few days of wine tasting and riding mopeds! Looking forward to our Holiday aboard.

Wine and Mate in Cafayate

Salta can be summarized by lots of fresh, delicious, abundant, and relatively inexpensive food. Our days consisted of waking up between 9 am and noon, enjoying some amazing coffee, bizcochos with jam and dulce de leche, as well as our books. We would usually chat with the great variety of people at our colorful hostal (from friendly global travelers of France Israel USA Germany Belgium Brazil, Zionists, over-zealous and often enraged hippies, and monarchial aged Argentinean tourists, and the local flavor). At about 2 pm we were ready to start our day, and headed out into the busy streets of Salta. Usually we would venture out to explore the city for a bit, but then peruse different cafes or panederias for a cheap snack. However, by far our favorite part of Salta was cooking our own food: lots of fresh fruit and veggies, as well as an abundance of bread (Ivan was so excited for Mediterranean cuisine that he burnt his gums with the exorbitant amounts of balsamic vinegar he poured liberally on everything…).

On our second night, we cooked Caldo de Res for our hostal friends and staff. Fortunately with compromises on the ingredients everything still turned out great, and we even had people scraping the huge cook-pot clean. It was a bit comical how ‘spicy’ they found the recipe, even though we cut back on the heat quite a bit (but we are half Mexican after all…).

Caldo de Rez (and $3.00 magnums)

An even greater treat was Veronica’s empenadas. The hostal owner brought in enormous bags of meat, flour, onions, eggs, potatoes, and spices that were all kneaded, diced, and stirred by the energetic hostal guests. The dough was made by mixing flour water and salt, and then pressed through a spaghetti roller to be cut out into circles. From there the chunks of lomo, onion, egg, paprika, and potato were placed in small spoonfuls into the circular empanada cut-outs. There we folded and crimped into delicious pillows. (Kristin was far better at making the angelic pillows, while Ivan’s were… functional…). They were put into the boiler for a short period of time, and then gobbled up by the slobbering hostal guests. Ivan only ate 12+… Definitely going to be making these state-side!

Empenada professional

On November 15^th we took a short bus ride from Salta to the small wine town of Cafayate. Though windy and stomach turning, it was incredibly scenic. Kristin ogled at the rock formations and the dramatic folding and variegation of the rock structures. The river valley and the vegetation was also very unique. Of course at the 15 min rest stop we gorged on some steaming empanadas.

Scenic drive from Salta to Cafayate

Cafayate (pronounced cafa-jha-tay) has been a food-coma inducing pleasure ride. Our first evening here we enjoyed a dinner of salad, warm bread, barbequed lomo, and some unique drinking games with their abundant and cheap wine (1 liter for 15pesos = $3.50!!). After a short walk around the balmy beautiful town, we collapsed into comfy beds and slept like baby lambs. The following day we went to 4 different winery/bodegas to try some of the regional favorites.

Eschart was the first winery we ventured into. This winery definitely focused on some serious quantity (producing 4.5 million liters of wine from 375 hectacres per year!). The scale of the place was baffling, even if their young wines (2009-10…) did taste a bit like grape juice. Every part of the winery was absolutely vast. In their defense though, Mark and Laura purchased and shared the Torrontes Reserve, which was unbelievably good. Torrontes is the most common white wine grape in the region, which the town is famous for. It tastes a lot like an over sweetened French wine, but if done right it is Amazing on a hot afternoon (with some empanadas of course…). We feel as if we are somewhat wine snobs down here, enjoying the wines, but not raving about them. I guess our California palate is just accustomed to other varieties, tannins, etc...

Bodacious Bodegas

The Organic Press

After this winery we visited 3 more, all of which were fairly similar. Most memorable though was a small ‘artisan’ organic bodega called Nanni. We took a short tour of the operation and got a good belly-laugh at their serious assertion that organic wine won’t induce a hangover, irregardless of the quantity. We didn’t test their theory since the wine tasted a bit too young for us. However, another bodega called Domingo Molino had an amazing cabernet. We purchased the 2006 reserve (seriously, one of the ‘oldest’ wines we spotted… and for 60 pesos or 15$), and plan to drink it at a nice Peña (no corkage fee here!!). Afterwards we enjoyed some of the wine we purchased with local salami and goat-cheese. Truly, this is our interpretation of Eden!

Another great perk in the wine influenced town of Cafayate was the Helado de Vino (wine ice cream!) More of a wine sorbet. This small ice cream shop specialized in the vino blaco: Torrontes and vino tinto: Cabernet. A very nice treat for the hot afternoons in Cafayate.

Yesterday we went to a working cheese factory and farm. First we got walk with the frolicking goats (happy goats come from… Argentina!). We were fortunate also to see almost every part of their lifecycle: pregnant mommy goats absolutely bulging, timid kids, stinky males, and the chewing herds that moseyed in the alfalfa fields. They had just over 400 milk-producing goats that pumped out about 650 liters of delicious milk per day. They also had 20 giant milk cows. The process was very balanced and holistic, where a neighboring winery would give grape seeds and skins for protein/fiber, and the goats would give their nutrient rich poo-pellets in return. The process is almost organic, except Argentina requires the animals to be inoculated with antibiotics twice a year for T.B and Pneumonia. Other than that it was incredibly clean (especially the utter-sucking room! – they can milk 400 cows in 2-3 hours!). Probably good Ed and Nadia weren’t on the tour, otherwise they would sell all there assets in CA and start their own cheesy farm here!! After the tour we left with several pounds of cheese which we have been enjoying with our friends here for the last 2 days with our different local wines.

Milk Sucking Station

Unsurprisingly we haven’t done any of the hiking we initially intended to (except to bodegas…). Our next stop though we will be in Tafi del Valle, where we will burn off our opulent empanada/queso/bread/vino bellies. We will really miss the Casa de Empanadas though, or what Ivan fondly called the Casa de EmpaTodos! We tried everything on the menu, and visited almost every day for lunch….

12 different empanadas to choose from...

Next stop, Tafi del Valle! (tah-fee del vah-jheh)

Salar de Uyuni and around

When we got to the bus terminal in Potosi, we knew the trip to Uyuni would be fantastic upon hearing a woman about a meter tall screeching out UYYUUUNIII!!!!. Her shrill call stuck with us for the remainder of our trip, and we would spontaneously shout it out to each other. As it turns out, Uyuni was a fantastic 4 day adventure with some surreal landscapes, geology and morphology, and the flora and fauna were all new to us (except the llamas!). After the night bus into the city, we crashed into our beds in the hostel, and were ready to go first thing when the alarm went off.

Day 1:

We arrived on time at the Andes Salt Expedition office only to find that it was still closed. Worried that we may have chosen the wrong tour company, our fears were assuaged when the troupe of employees arrived in a convoy of Toyota Land Cruisers (honestly, we think Uyuni has the absolute highest per-capita amount of these vehicles in the world…. Every other car is one of the 4-wheeling beasts). After meeting Lorenzo, our guide, we loaded up the car, piled in, and plugged the tunes. We immediately took a liking to Lorenzo for his driving and dancing skillz, easy laugh, and broad knowledge of the surroundings. We actually saved some money by getting a Spanish speaking guide, which turned out to be a great choice, and a fantastic way to practice our Spanish.

Our first stop was the train graveyard, which was a collection of British steam trains that fell out of use and are now rusting into the sands outside of the city. It was interesting climbing through all of the different rusted train skeletons. After this stop we loaded up with food and headed out to the salt flat. We all gawked at the endless white flat landscape that stretched farther than our eyes could strain. We arrived at a salt processing area, where salt was piled into mounds with shovels and hoes and left to drain. Once it is dry that press it into bricks and send it away. They also had bags of salt to buy and use for every single meal (things are quite over-salted here!). After this we saw the Ojos del Salar, which are pools of bubbling sulfur and other minerals that are pushed to the surface from a volcano that was over 12km away! After Kristin named the different minerals present, we hopped back into the Cruiser and headed to a Salt hotel (the entire building is made from salt bricks cut from the Salar!). Here we enjoyed an awesome meal of fried llama steaks, quinoa, and a fresh salad, yumm! We also took some of the typical perspective shots that many tourists love to do out on the flats.

Kristin riding in Ivan's Giant Shoe!!

Ivan squishing Kristin

Ivan, Kristin, Amy, Laura and Mark

Ivan taking a hit on the Salar

Salt blocks being cut from the Salar, used from construction aka: salt hotel

Kristin dropping an Ivan Bomb!!! PUUUU

Banana Boat hired us for the day for their next ad

After stuffing ourselves, we crossed the Salar to a tiny town at the base of the volcano Tunupa (our second SPOT was at the top of this volcano crater). Here we relaxed, played dice and cards, got chased by a very needy baby llama, enjoyed a great dinner (more fried llama!), and had some fun learning British Pub-Master rules and etiquette.

Day 2

We got up at 5 am before the sun peeked over the Salar, ate a quick breakfast, and piled into the Cruiser for a bumpy ride up to the volcano crater. The sunrise was absolutely breathtaking (unfortunately our pictures couldn’t capture the magic) and we enjoyed the sage scrub and interesting lichens that covered the mountainsides. We walked the last kilometer up the steep road (very difficult at 5200 meters!!), and were in awe as we crested the edge of the crater and looked at the array of reds, yellows, oranges, browns, and whites that were layered and folded inside the crater. The orangey sun-glow accentuated these colors even more (you can even see these colors from our SPOT satellite!).

A beautiful sunrise

Beautiful natives

Before we could descend back down the mountain, we got our first flat… Ivan had fun pulling off the wheel with Lorenzo, with the car teetering on the very rocky steep road. Nothing those two manly men couldn’t handle though! After replacing the wheel, we descended the rocky slope for a much anticipated lunch of fried pollo, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. Soon after lunch, we headed back onto the Salar to visit some flamingos, llamas, a museum, and a silly rock garden. We were anxious to get to fish island, which has the oldest cactus species in the world! The desert heat was really intense, and the island was shimmering when we drove up to it. It was surreal walking around a small island hillscape covered in cactus and was surrounded by a sea of white. After walking the island, we were happy to grab a cold Pasceña beer and take some more perspective shots on the salt flat. Driving over the salt flat, we crossed to another hotel made of salt. On the way we got our second flat, which Ivan, Mark, and Lorenzo efficiently fixed within 5 min (faster than a Bolivian NASCAR pit-stop). That night we enjoyed sitting around the table for 2 hours with stomachs gurgling like crazy. The soup and Pique Macho were inhaled! That night it got near 0 degree Celsius, but our sleeping bags were up to the challenge.

Day 3:

The day started off with another flat ten minutes into our journey. Exasperated with the tube-tires, we had to flag down another vehicle to lend us their spare so we could make it to San Juan (only 15min away…). Here, we good naturedly watched Bolivian efficiency, or men hacking at tires with pic-axes to remove the tire from the rim… Worried we would only last another ten minutes, we took bets as to how long the new set of tubes would last. Fortunately, we were all wrong since we didn’t get another flat for the remainder of the trip. This day we covered a lot of distance and saw a great deal. We saw five different Laguna’s with rare flamingos, llamas, and the shy vicuñas around them. Our favorite lagoon was the famed Laguna Colorada, which definitely lived up to its redness (we did our third SPOT check-in here). The redness of the lagoon was from the excess boron accumulated from a nearby source (It was currently being excavated and mined to another town) . When we stepped out of the Cruiser to witness this beautiful lagoon, the chilly wind nearly knocked us over (Hint: Kristin was able to proudly execute Michael Jackson’s famous lean). Later that evening we met 3 students from Oregon working on their PHD’s in geology and volcanism. Kristin thought this was very fascinating, however we did not get a chance to thoroughly chat due to their need to get to bed early. Bummer!!!

Vicunas

The famous MJ lean, no contraption needed...that's how good KK is

A true rare flamingo siting

Another great site we witnessed was the ACTIVE volcano, which was standing half in Bolivia and half in Chile. It was extremely thrilling to see steam and other volatile gases fuming from the summit of the volcano. From our vantage point, we stood on rounded volcanic rock formations called Ramaditas. We were also lucky enough to catch some surf while out on the rocks….hehe

The active volcano, the active side only in Chile

Surfs Up

Next, we crossed the desolate dessert plains, which were very cold and windy. We stopped at a famous rock formation called Arbol de Piedra, famous because it was once a giant rock that was thrown from an erupting volcano and through the years has been eroded and shaped by wind and sand fragments. Pretty incredible since the nearest volcano was over 7km away!!!

This last night we stopped at a nearby pueblo and were told the temperature would get around -20 degrees Celsius. YIKES!!! We truly put our sleeping bags to the test here. Luckily for us, we survived and had no complaints!!! We awoke at the early hour of 4 am to begin our drive to the geysers. These geysers were all natural and the steam reached temperatures of over 1000 degrees Celsius!! We continued our drive as the sun rose to see the mountains that the famous Salvador Dalhi (the famous explorer and painter) found. A stunning, large mountain range that combined and swirled natural colors into the morphology of the mountains. Maybe he used this mountain range as an inspiration for a painting?!!

After a bit of driving we came upon the beautiful thermal springs and rest stop for breakfast. We enjoyed a true Bolivian treat for breakfast, pancakes, yogurt, granola, and tea/coffee. YUM! Afterwards, we were encouraged to enjoy a dip in the extremely hot, natural, thermal springs. However, it became more of a human soup and the cold wind didn’t seem too inviting, so we decided to skip and explore the area. Once Lorenzo returned from the human soup “or thermal spring full of tourist chicas!” we continued down the road to the most southern tip of Bolivia to drop off our British friends as they departed into San Pedro, Chile.

As Lorenzo, Ivan and Kristin enjoyed the very long drive back to Uyuni, we talked about all sorts of different issues, culture comparisons and the surrounding terrain. We enjoyed another delicious lunch and witnessed some incredible rock formations. After the long, dusty, dirty, drive we were ready for some hot showers!! We said our good-byes to Lorenzo and parted our ways…

The Front Seat Perspective

Salar de Uyuni

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We are now in Salta, Argentina. Excited to taste some fresh beef and wash it down with some good vino!!!Last night we had an absolute blast with Danny, the young and vibrant owner of our cozy hostal. At 10:30 he asked us if we wanted to go on a short 'walk.' This turned into an amazing 3 hour excursion, where we were shown the night life of the city. We were treated in an amazing restaurant where the beer was cold, the live folkloric music was fantastic, and the dancers were very talented. Danny of course got the dancers attention and they dragged us up onstage to dance a number. Fortunately they were very patient and didn't expect to much from us! The singer also kept shouting out 'California!' as we 4 dancers spun circles in front of him. After the incredible fun in the restaurant, Danny insisted we have some Argentinian "munchie food," which was a milanesa sandwich. We all shared this hamburger-like treat in the park and talked about differences between Bolivia and Argentina, as well as life in California versus Salta. We slept in till 11:45 this morning, so I guess we've fallen into the Argentinian lifestyle fairly effortlessly!