After breakfast we rumbled down the hill to Cachi,then rumbled some more on route 40 - dirt, sand, gravel, mud, anything but tarmac. Locals sped past us and left us in a cloud of dust sometimes wondering where the road went. We managed around 19 miles in our first hour - only 81 miles left of this. Superb scenery once again but this time without the drops. Amazingly this unpaved road through the mountains is actually a 'wine route'. We passed several Bodegas (Vineyards) but didn't stop for any tasting. Hundreds of parrots swarmed overhead as we took a break for lunch. We had anticipated 100 miles of rough road but the last 18 turned out to tarmac - wey hey! We found our Cabana for the next 2 nights just outside Cafayate, we checked in and checked straight back out - it was not how it was presented on the internet. They seemed very understanding about it, no arguments. We found a nice place closer to town, we didn't have a kitchen but the room was clean, with air con and there was a pleasant garden to relax in. It's definitely off season now, there are loads of shops and places to eat in Cafayate but a serious shortage of customers. We searched out the supermarket for supplies for tomorrow. In Argentina most towns have a siesta time around 12 to 3pm and many restaurants don't open until 8pm but Cafayate has a time zone of its own, shops are open in the morning then close for siesta, re-opening 7pm and most of the restaurants don't open their doors until 9pm! The following day we headed up a dirt road to park up for a walk to several waterfalls. There is conflicting info about needing a guide and walking it independently. We enquired at the tourist office and was told we didn't need to have a guide and there was no fee for the walk. We were flagged down by some locals and told where to park and given a price for them to guide us. They were insistent that we had to have a guide but they weren't wearing the official guides red t-shirts (with logos). From the GPS track I had downloaded the track continued up a touch more then the trail started. The track was so rough though that we didn't want to drive any further. This is the first time we didn't feel safe, the guys didn't seem like official guides, were they cashing in on tourists, were they going to mug us up the trail or would they just guide us without a problem? We considered just walking past them but then would the car be safe if we pi##ed them off or would they follow and mug us. Neither of us had a good feeling about the situation, there was no one else around. We cut our losses and drove back out giving the walk a miss - pity. We stopped off at the ruins of Quilmes, an ancient Inca settlement which was disappointing as there was a good museum but nothing at all in English. We drove some more to the supposedly beautiful town of Amaicha de Valle - There wasn't a lot going on here and it wasn't anything special. We headed back to Cafayate. We have in the last 3 months in South America visited some amazing places including yesterday's drive but sooner or later we were bound to have a less than spectacular day out. Back to Cafayate for a browse around the souvenir shops and a beer. There are so many souvenir shops in Argentina it's amazing how they all survive. A lot of the merchandize is made from cactus - we thought cactus was just green and spiky with a soft centre but if you strip away the green outer you are left with a wooden perforated trunk! Back to Salta tomorrow, tarmac all the way.