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So we left Cordoba nearly a week ago and since then we've been in pretty remote places with little Internet access. I'm definitely getting into the swing of things now and have completely lost track of what day it is!
Our first stop was the ranch 'Estancia Los Porteros' where we spent 3 nights. It was a 5hr drive from Cordoba, in the middle of nowhere without phone reception. The initial plan was to camp but on arrival we were told there were enough dorm beds for everyone so most of us took the easy option and opted for a proper mattress.
The Estancia was in a stunning location with rolling green hills, horses grazing close to the house and we were fortunate to have amazing weather. We spent the days horse riding - one day riding out to the 'top of the world' before having lunch at a cattle station and having a go at lassoing young cows. The second day it was a 2hr hack to a waterfall where we again had lunch and the boys had a dip in the water.
The evenings were pretty busy too and the first night we had a wine tasting session trying out wines made at the Estancia - very generous servings meant we were all a little worse for wear when it came to having dinner afterwards and it ended up being a pretty messy evening (something that's becoming quite usual with this group!)....playing darts and table football in the games room afterwards until the early hours.
The second night we were treated to a performance by 'Jose' the local singer who had an amusing repertoire including the self penned song 'the drip' which consisted of a couple of opening chords followed by three taps on the body of the guitar which sounded a bit like a tap dripping (a future top 10 hit I'm sure!). On our final night at the Estancia we were treated to an Argentinian asado and filled with meat and more red wine - everyone has gained quite a taste for Malbec!
It was a great few days and we were very sad to leave. I'd highly recommend Estancia Los Potreros to anyone who's into horse riding and/or polo (they also have a 5* lodge and do fully inclusive and hosted breaks) - the owner Kevin looked after us very well and it's definitely been a highlight of the trip so far.
We left the Estancia early the next day with a long day ahead of us to Tafi de Valle. The drive took us through some pretty spectacular scenery and we stopped off in a small town to pick up supplies enroute.
We were delayed quite a bit after being stopped by police at a check point and ended up having to pay a bribe so that we could carry on our way. It's something that is very common travelling overland in South America apparently and Dragoman even build into the trip budget a contingency for paying bribes. This time the Police decided the problem was Dave driving in flip-flops and the bribe started at 1000 pesos (approx £130) but was eventually bargained down to 100, they even offered Dave a cigarette mid-negotiation and there was lots of laughing and joking even though they were ripping us off...all very bizarre!
By the time we got to the campsite it was dark and we pitched tents and had dinner in the dark before bedding down for an early night. When we arrived at the campsite we were initially told that it was closed for maintenance but they let us stay. When we emerged from our tents in daylight the next morning though it was quite clear that we were in the middle of a building site and we were surrounded by piles of dirt and bricks and the builders were very amused to see our tents pitched in the middle of it all. It meant that we had a free night of camping though!
We left early for another long drive to Cafayete after a quick stop in town to buy meat for the barbecue planned for that evening. We went to a very small local butchers and got some amazing Bife de Chorizo (rib eye steak if you remember from my earlier blogs) and Chorizo sausages.
There was quite a dramatic change in scenery during this drive as it became noticeably drier and more desert like with lots of Cacti and other desert Iike vegetation. Part of the drive was over a mountain pass at over 3000m, there were some pretty spectacular views.
We stopped enroute at the Quilmes ruins....the remains of a village that pre-dated the Incas and was excavated in the 1990's. It was built into the hill side and from below it just looked like terraces but from above it was quite amazing seeing the outlines of the stone walls that used to be the houses. The area that we saw was pretty impressive but apparently only 10% of the ruins have actually been revealed.
We arrived in Cafayete late afternoon. It's a town based around the wine industry and this was clear to see with all of the wine producers based along the main street. We stopped in the main square for a quick ice-cream and potter around the Artesian shops before heading to two of the wine producers for a tour of their facilities and a tasting of Torrontes, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tarantan wines.
After the tasting we headed back to the campsite where we proceeded to barbecue the meat we'd bought which was absolutely delicious. What started off as a chilled evening then descended into drinking games and a group of us headed into town to try and go dancing but unfortunately we were way to early for the Argentinian nightlife and ended up just having a couple of drinks in town before heading back to the campsite.
We left Cafayete early the next morning after a quick breakfast, headed to the Salta rafting centre about two hours outside of Salta. We had another stop enroute for supplies as we were camping in the middle of nowhere for the next two nights and had to buy everything we would need. This time it was my cook groups turn to prepare a breakfast and two lunches so we spent a busy half an hour going back and forth between the various shops and trying to find what we needed...ending up having to make a few changes to our plans as they didn't stock the necessary things.
The Salta Rafting centre is located in a valley beside a river and was a really nice camp spot....it would have been idillic if it hadn't been for the sand flies that we later discovered!!
After setting up our tents and some lunch we were scheduled to do the zip line course. This was a series of arial wires zigzagging back and forth across the valley over the river and campsite. It was a steep 15 minute walk to the start of the course in the searing heat and Barbara nearly passed out enroute but it was worth it when we got there and we spent the next hour happily zooming over and across the valley.
Once this was done we all went for a swim in the river which was very refreshing and we then started prepping dinner. It was whilst doing this that we became aware of the flies and we were soon all swapping shorts and vests for trousers and long sleeved tops. Unfortunately it was a little late for this as most of us had been bitten 50+ times by this stage and it was the start of a two day battle to protect ourselves from them and resist from scratching the bites - unfortunately the sandflies were the winners and as we sit on the bus on the way into Salta we all look a bit like we've got some kind of contagious skin disease!
Despite the flies we still had a great time at Salta Rafting. The first night ended up in us playing ring of fire, followed by rugby, tree climbing and general drunken antics. At one point we even found a tarantula and this was quickly dispatched of by AJ, who flattened it with a rugby ball (!).
There were a few sore heads the next morning but the white water rafting soon cleared these. Especially as our boat kept being hijacked by the boys from the other boat and we ended up spending more time in the water than out....this along with lots of splashing each other meant we were all absolutely soaked by the end of it. Lots of fun and although they were only Grade 3 rapids it was still quite an adrenalin buzz and the valley we were floating through provided quite a back drop.
On our last night at Salta Rafting we had a BBQ provided by the site owners and ate lots more delicious steak. After the previous nights activities though people were less keen to booze and wanting to avoid the flies as much as possible we all ended up having an early night!
We had a lazy start this morning to pack up the campsite and after a lunch of pasta salad we hit the road and are now on our way to Salta where we'll be spending the next two nights in a centrally located hotel. Camping was fun but I'm looking forward to a proper bed and even more importantly no sand flies!!!
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