Cafayate, Argentina - Day 1

Thursday, April 6, 2023

We left our airbnb in San Lorenzo, Argentina this morning. Aden and Tory were sad to say good-bye to the neighbor kids next door to our airbnb, so the kids swapped contact information with each other before we left. As we drove away, Tory and Aden both commented how friendly those kids were to them. We talked about how important it is to make people feel welcome wherever we are in the world — even if we barely speak the same language. Simple acts of kindness go a long way in making an experience special for someone.

Navigating Route 68 south from the Salta suburb of San Lorenzo toward Cafayate was easy enough. Urban sprawl quickly changed to small Argentine villages and then into rural countryside. The landscape also transitioned from green, leafy trees to dry, desert canyons and unique rock formations. The area between Salta and Cafayate on Route 68 is known as the Quebrada de Las Conchas, and it was absolutely breathtaking to see. In fact, this drive is known as one of the most beautiful road trips in all of Argentina. We took our time as we drove along the highway, stopping at several pull-offs to admire the views.

The first attraction we came across was called Garganta del Diablo, or Devil’s Throat. Argentines sure like giving this devilish moniker to its natural landscapes! The biggest waterfall at Iguazu Falls is called Garganta del Diablo and so is the canyon hike we did in Tilcara, Argentina last week. Devil’s Throat in this case refers to a narrow canyon created by millions of years of wind and water erosion. Visitors are allowed to walk into the canyon to climb on the rocks or take pictures. A few vendors were set up at the entrance selling street foods and trinkets like bracelets, keychains, and figurines.

There were too many people inside the Devils’ Throat canyon to take very good pictures, so we didn’t hang around long. Northern Argentina is the most religious region of the country, and this week is Semana Santa (or, Holy Week, leading up to Easter) so the crowds are heavy around here. Before we left Devil’s Throat, we stopped at one of the stands selling tortillas de queso (cheese tortillas) and empanadas and bought one of each to eat on our way to the next scenic stop on our drive.

Our second stop on the Quebrada de Las Conchas scenic drive was El Anfiteatro, or “The Amphitheater.” Erosion of this canyon formed the perfect carved amphitheater with walls reaching 65 feet high. The shape of the red rock provides great acoustics for musicians to play music inside its walls. While we visited, a man was singing and playing his guitar for money while people danced around, took pictures, or sat on a nearby rock and listened to the music. It was a cool place.

Not far down the highway was the third stop along the Quebradas called Tres Cruses (Three Crosses). There was a small parking lot here to pull over and admire the view of the Calchaqui Valley below, or people could hike up a small hill to get a better vantage point. The chalky, red rock mixed in with the greenery of shrubs and trees really is a stunning sight. Photos just don’t do it justice.

Aden’s tennis shoes were still wet from playing in the rain with the Salta neighbor kids two days ago, so he was forced to scramble through the red dirt and rocks in his slide sandals. They were not the best footwear choice to bring on this trip considering they barely stay on his feet. He looked like a baby bird slipping and tripping as he climbed to the top of this lookout.

There were still several more sights to see along the Quebrada de Las Conchas scenic drive, but the four of us were starting to get hungry. We cruised by El Sapo (The Toad) and El Obelisco (The Obelisk) lookouts without stopping, and decided to save the short hike at La Yesera for another day this week. We did see El Fraile (The Friar), a rock formation that looks like a friar dressed in his robes. See him standing there on a hill toward the bottom of this photo?

The final 20 minutes of our drive into the city of Cafayate opened up to views of fields of desert and vineyards. This northwestern Argentine province is home to some of the world’s highest altitude wineries at 1,683 meters (or, 5,521 feet) elevation.

On our way into town, we checked into our airbnb located right off Highway 68. This airbnb is a 3-bedroom, 3-bathroom house in a gated community called El Bosque. Lodging was super hard to come by this week due to the Easter holiday, so fortunately Andi booked this place a few weeks ago. We plan to stay in this house for a little longer than we normal do so that we have a place to celebrate Easter this weekend, and have reliable internet for Andi to work on Tuesday and Wednesday. The windows are nice and bright in this house with a great view of the Calchaquíes Valley.

After we dropped our bags, the four of us drove into the town of Cafayate to have lunch. It was 3:00pm by this point, and we weren’t sure we’d find much open given Argentina’s “siesta time” — so many businesses close between the hours of 2:00pm - 6:00pm. Although the town was pretty quiet, we did find a restaurant called Baco still serving customers. We sat at a table inside and ordered two plates of grilled chicken, shrimp skewers, and homemade pasta. Andi also ordered three empanadas for himself (two shrimp, one duck) and he said they were some of the best empanadas he’s eaten in all of Argentina.

After lunch, we walked around downtown Cafayate. It’s an adorable town of about 11,000 people and has a gorgeous plaza square in the center of downtown. A few vendors were set up there selling cactus plants, homemade jewelry, and knitted stuffed animals.

As is typically the case in most Latin American towns, the cathedral sits across from the plaza. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Cafayate is a beautiful church. The doors were open, so the four of us walked inside to see it.

Next, we stopped into an ice cream shop across from the square. Tory, Aden, and Andi ordered cones — two scoops for $800 Argentine pesos ($3.75 USD; half that price using the Blue Dollar exchange rate). We decided the two-scoop cones are adorable, but not very functional. The ice cream doesn’t get pushed into the cone very well leaving the scoops very vulnerable to melting and falling.

That said, ice cream is still our favorite Argentinian food. The empanadas are tasty, the homemade pastas are pretty good too… but the country does its helado best of all. Our go-to flavors are usually menta granizada (granizada means “chocolate chips” so this flavor is mint chocolate chip), dulce de leche (they have several types of dulce de leche with nuts, chocolate chips, crunchy, etc.) and classic vanilla (called Crema Americana). Today, Aden picked durazno (peach) which was really delicious.

Our next to-do was to buy some groceries, but all the supermercados were still closed for siesta. Andi and I decided we’d have to come back into town later tonight to buy some food for our airbnb. We returned to the airbnb and vegged out on the wifi for a while. It’d been a long day of driving and exploring. Once the kids connected with their friends on FaceTime, they didn’t want to leave again so Andi and I ran into town later to get a few food items. The supermarket in Cafayate was small and didn’t have many offerings, but we were able to pick up eggs, milk, yogurt, water, and snacks. We also stopped by the fruits & veggies stand to buy bananas, pears, apples, carrots, and green beans. The produce wasn’t nearly as good here as it was in San Lorenzo — now knowing this, I wish we would have stocked up before we came to Cafayate.

Tomorrow is Good Friday and we’re excited to see what celebrations and festivities the city of Cafayate has planned for the Easter holiday. We also plan to check out a few of the many wineries they have in this area.