After a lovely morning doing nothing, we headed out of town to tackle the Rio Colorado walk. We arrived at the car park at the start of the walk and was met by a couple of guides offering their services. We had read that it cost 50 pesos ($1.80) for a guide so thought we would provide some employment. We asked how much only to be told 300 pesos. When we said no, they told us it was mandatory and they would call the police if we did not use a guide. Our response was direct.
We did wonder if we had made a mistake turning down the guide after losing the path for the 5th or 6th time. However we soon got into the swing of it and enjoyed the physical and mental challenge – a bit like orienteering. We could not really get lost given we were following the river to a waterfall. At one stage however Deryn headed up a steep cliff trying to find the path and I did start to get a bit worried about her making it back down again – needlessly of course.
We finally made it to the waterfall and was encouraged to have a swim by a fellow traveler. Deryn pushed the boundary further by heading under the waterfall. The water was freezing!! We encountered lots of goats on our journey back, they certainly weren’t too concerned about humans.
Deryn visited the Museum of the Vine and Wine of Cafayate and said it was really impressive. Well worth a visit.
We hired some bikes the next day to visit a few of the many vineyards in the area. Paid an extra 100 pesos (600 pesos – $20 for a day hire) for the better mountain bikes although they turned out to be pretty average. Most of the vineyards we visited were either closed or ambivalent to our presence – it would have been useless doing a tour as they were only conducted in Spanish. We found an open vineyard (100m from our hotel) and paid 50 pesos for a tasting session. The Puerto Marini Vineyard was founded by an Italian 4 generations ago. The wine was very good. We spent the afternoon playing cards and backgammon in a cafe in the town square before another early night.
We spent a leisurely 4 hours driving back to Salta, stopping at the many little geological sites on the way to marvel at the splendour of Mother Nature (and time). We stayed at a lovely little hotel close to airport (Poseda El Paso – with amazing gardens and pool) due to our need to be at the airport at 4.15am. It was meant to be tomorrow but we’ve just found out we’ve been pushed back 24 hours due to a strike. Looks like we are going to spend a day in Salta after all.
And finally for some more dog (and a grey fox) photos.
