On the road!

We woke up a bit tired (as usual), after our relatively late night hanging out with my friend Karina, but managed to be on the road by 9:30am.  Getting out of Salta tested Eddie’s driving skills and patience, as he maneuvered the car through unmarked intersections, which we decided gave the right of way to whomever had the strongest will.  But we got out of the city in one piece and headed towards Cafayate.  The first hour was a bit mundane in terms of scenery, but soon we turned the corner and we all exclaimed “wow” simultaneously.  Pretty soon we were getting Eddie to stop the car every five minutes to take photos and stare at the incredible rock formations.

Our helpful guide Rita had done the trip two years prior by bus, and kindly informed us that we needed to be on the lookout for the “titanic”, apparently a rock that looked like the fabled ship, but whether it was afloat or sinking, we may never know.  We did however spot a lovely parilla restaurant, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, where we entertained ourselves playing Sapo (a game I hadn’t seen since Colombia two years ago), and taking photos of the llamas outside.

Getting into the spirit!

We headed into Cafayate, found a decent hostal, had a nap, and Marieke and I headed out to a winery, as we had to try the famous “torrontes” varietal famous in the region.  We liked it so much we decided to pick up a bottle to enjoy later on.  Unfortunately, we had no way to keep it cold, as our accommodation didn’t have a kitchen.  Not ones to be deterred, we bought some ice, filled our bedet, and had our own personal fridge.  

Best fridge ever

Having had a late filling lunch, we decided to skip dinner for the most part, but we did find space to try wine ice cream.  We settled on the torrontes rather than the merlot.  It was delicious, and really tasted like wine!

Wine ice cream- Torrontes flavour!

We headed back to the hostal to enjoy our still cold bottle and swap travel stories and reminisce with Rita and Eddie.  Day one on our road trip was complete!