Pork and Apple: Salta and Cafayate

Salta

Apparently we didn't take many photos in Salta. We didn't do a lot here, it was a pretty relaxed three days. We went on one free walking tour where Alex was very popular with some local kids on their own tour (at one point we was surrounded by 20 of them listening to him talk - some of them were filming him.) We walked up the local look-out, slightly hungover, where we didn't even bother taking any photos - this is when you know you've been on holiday a long time. We visited a local museum to see some frozen mummies (Human Inca sacrifices found in the Andes) and a not so good modern art museum.

This pretty much sums up our Salta experience.

There are orange trees along a lot of the streets but no one eats them because they are really bitter. People used to use them to make marmalade but I don't think anyone could be bothered anymore.

This is a convent full of nuns who come out once a year for a particular celebration. No one knows exactly how many nuns are in there. They make jams, sweets etc which you can order inside through a hole in the wall. There is something like a lazy susan in the wall where you place your money on one side and they place the goods on the other side and it's swung around so you never see the nuns.

Cafayate

Cafayate is a lesser known wine region of Argentina. They are known for Torrontes - a white grape, apparently the only grape that is actually Argentinian. It usually makes a nice refreshing fruity wine.

We stayed here for two days. While we never visited a bodega (winery) we didn't let that stop us enjoying some local cheap wine. Instead we indulged in visiting a local cheese factory, specializing in goat's cheese. We also accidentally ended up on a private tour of the Quebrada de las Conchas (Ravine of Shells) which was a good chance to practice our Spanish with our guide away from other native speakers.

Our first night in Cafayate we somehow still hadn't eaten a steak in Argentina so I thought it was about time I gave it a go. I ordered at a local restaurant and was very surprised when they brought me out half a pizza. This was a bit of a blow to my confidence. I still don't really understand what happened. At least the pizza was decent.

Dried up grapes on the vine in our hostel

The goats who made the delicious cheese

We tried to go on a tour but for some reason couldn't (the lady spoke very fast Spanish and refused to slow down) so we ended up just ordering what turned out to be a huge cheese platter (complete with both goat's and cow's cheese)

We also met this extremely friendly cat at the Cheese Factory who would not leave us alone

In town we enjoyed some wine flavoured ice-cream. This one is Malbec and is surprisingly good, the Torrontes flavoured one was better though.

The Quebrada de las Conchas is basically a really nice drive with lots of cool places to stop off and have a look at. Half way through this tour Alex's camera decided to give up and completely stop working, leaving us with only my phone for photos. The next day it fixed itself but it's on it's last legs. Everything is starting to fall apart just at the end. So many of our clothes are full of holes.