Gaucho country - yee haa!

San Pedro is a tiny little village in the Atacama Desert which is surrounded by some spectacular scenery. It was a cool experience just being here in the driest desert in the world. We had a couple of days to recoup from Bolivia and then were off again heading to Salta in Northern Argentina. We were relieved to get seats for the next bus, only 3 leave a week, and so we endured a 14 hour bus ride to Gaucho country. It wasn´t that bad really. The only annoying thing was that Chris left his head phones on the bus and we have´t been able to find the right adaptor since - so he is without music (all of you know what this means for me!:)

Riding amongst the tabacco plantation

Salta is a beautiful colonial city with gorgeous weather and buildings. We spent a few days looking around, chilling out having coffee on the main plaza and eating copious amounts of the glorious icecream and not to mention the steaks and Argentinian wines! Yep, we were in heaven!! We thought, yes, we can justify eating continously for 2 days as we had lost a bit of weight travelling through Peru and Bolivia. We did pull ourselves away from the cafes to go on the gondola to get a good view of the city.

Giddy up

So, as we were in Gaucho country we thought it was only right to go horse riding. Chris did try and convince me that he needed another cowboy hat as he had done in Vegas but I convinced him otherwise! However, that hat has come in handy for a few dress up parties.

Our guide

We spent a day and night on a ranch owned by a lovely Argentinian man who was very hospitable and fed us so much barbecued meat and red wine for lunch that it was hard work getting on the horses in the afternoon. Surprisingly, or not, we had a new found confidence and were galloping around everywhere! It was great fun. After a very peaceful nights sleep we met up in the local village with an organised tour company to go to Cafayate and explore the surrounding mountains and canyons. As you all know Chris and I are not too keen on organised tours and this reminded us why! The scenery was fantastic, however, being shuttled around with 20 other middle aged tourists is not our idea of a good time. He he.

Road side views

The wineries we visited were fab. We tasted some very nice malbecs and of course could not leave without purchasing a few bottles.

Devils Throat

Overall, our time in Northern Argentina was thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. We look forward to our return later in November for some more steak, wine and mountains of a different kind.

Cafayate winery

Gaucho country - yee haa!

Salta, Argentina