Argentina - Proper roads, hot water, a distinctly European cafe culture and glorious wine - we had reached civilisation!

The border crossing from Bolivia to Argentina is only worth mentioning due to another horrendously cold and bumpy bus ride, an interminable wait in a mind-numbingly cold office that had neither coffee nor toilet, a frustrating language barrier, and the feeling that we had been ripped off for the next leg of the journey. My frustration at this situation was further compounded by my inability to pronounce the name of our next destination. Jujuy, it transpires is not pronounced "Jew-Joy" but "oo-ho-i". I practised this over and over in my head by pretending that I was about to discuss Lieutenant Uhura from the Starship Enterprise.

After all of this, the relatively balmy climate of Cafayate was a welcome treat. We spent 3 days there soaking up the charming laid back atmosphere, eating the traditional Parilla (mixed grill), sampling local artisan beers, biking around wineries and trying out the local wine flavoured ice cream!

The Cafayate region is famous for the Torrontes grape which has a wonderful fruity aroma but is actually very dry to taste. (There is also a late harvest version which tastes as sweet as it smells.) We visited 2 very different wineries: Bodega Etchart is one of the largest producers in the region who export all over the world and produce one of my favourite Malbec's that we used to sell at Strongroom. They very kindly took the time to provide a separate tour in English just for the pair of us. Bodega Nanni is a small boutique winery who produce fantastic organic wines using the little known Tannat and Bonarde grape varieties. As it is relatively small scale they still use more traditional methods to produce their wines than their large scale neighbour. I wanted to buy one of each wine that we saw that day, but sadly common sense prevailed....

After the laid back charm of Cafayate, Salta was a crashing disappointment. It looks like a forgotten European city, with faded glamour and grey, dirty streets. Dusty neon signs adorn gaudily painted buildings and even the historical buildings look like chintzy cake decorations.
The only redeeming features were the cafe that let us abuse their WiFi after we had been bluntly ignored in the first place we tried, and the pleasant day trip to the small village of Cachi, and the stunning scenery along the way.

Dean 15/08/11