Friday was another travel day, the bus down to Cafayate, a big shot town in the Salta wine region. I slept most of the journey and so can't really comment on the landscape we passed through. I did wake up to see a few wineries as we approached Cafayate mid-afternoon. Good sign!

We checked into the hostel (very nice) and headed straight out for steak (also very nice!). The town consists primarily of single story white washed buildings and has a good atmosphere to it. We liked it.

The next morning we hired some bikes and headed out to visit the Etchart winery a couple of kilometres outside town. We were joined by one of the town's many stray dogs, but this one was in good physical condition and was good tempered. He was immediately nicknamed Timmy. We had the good fortune to be the only visitors when we arrived and so had a private tour and tasting in English. We learned a lot about wine making and tried some reasonable wines. Apparently their Torrentes is an international award winner. Timmy tried to join us on the tour but was shooed out of the door. However, he did wait and accompanied us on the ride back to town.

We went to another winery (Nanni) for lunch, which unfortunately was a little disappointing. Their wine seemed a little nicer though.

On the advice of the hostel staff, we tried a local speciality - wine ice cream. It was revolting.

The plan for the rest of the afternoon was a ride and then hike to some apparently impressive waterfalls. After cycling up a 5km incline in the heat we arrived at the national park to be told we wouldn't have enough time to hike to the waterfalls and back before they closed. All that wasted effort, pleasing news! We went for a short walk and then at least enjoyed the 5km freewheel back to Cafayate.

Homemade chicken meatball pasta and a nice bottle of wine for dinner. Happy days!