It's a dogs life in Cafayate, Argentina

Charlie calls it the S's sister tag team, but life in Cafayate, Argentina for most dogs is pretty good. Our two huskies seem to like to gang up on little unsuspecting street dogs and play. This is just another fun, walk in the park, everyday life for us!  Notice how one gets the head while the other gets the feet!!  

Architecture - Baldosas (Terra Cotta Tiles)

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If you are a fan of Spanish colonial architecture you will love what you see in Cafayate. The town is full of beautiful red tile roofs and floors that would be the envy of anyone who appreciates the building styles of Andalucia, Spain, Southern California, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Here in Cafayate, we are fortunate to have ready access to some of the most beautiful terracotta tiles made anywhere on the planet. Called “baldosas”  these hand made earth tiles are part of the very soul of our small town. Baldosas don the floors, roofs, and shade galleries of churches, restaurants, offices, hotels and private homes, indeed, they are everywhere ! 

Terra cotta tiles - baldosas - are made in the nearby town of San Carlos, a 15 minute drive to the north They are a labor of love and artistry, an homage to the history of the Calchaqui Valley.

 

These beautiful tiles are made from rich red clay deposits that are dug out of the ground, mixed with the assistance of horses, molded by hand by local artisans, baked on the ground in the high desert sun, and then fired in huge wood fueled outdoor brick kilns at high temperature. Once fired, baldosas are transported by truck to Cafayate where they are carefully installed by craftsmen.  It is the tradition to then heavily wax and polish the baldosas to protect the tiles and achieve a highly burnished finish.

 

Next time you are in Cafayate, be sure and visit the baldosa-makers in San Carlos!

Archaeology Day Trip

Okay, let me clarify and explain beforehand that I went to school for anthropology/archaeology, although I decided after graduating college to not work in this industry, it is a passion of mine. My Mom seems to tell everyone in the States that her daughter lives in Argentina and she went to school for archaeology and it somehow explains the strangeness of how I have chosen to live.   My curiosity of other cultures is no doubt what fascinates me about this area and some of my favorite activities here reflect that.  It is a virtual playground for an archaeologist when you walk in the cerros (hills) and see so much evidence of pre-existing communities that has been untouched other than by raiders and passerby's.  What I could study here!  Charlie tells me that is his goal for me for us to get to a point where we can spend the days exploring the everlasting chain of mountains searching for clues to previous civilizations and continue the work of the museums here.  I think that’s a pretty amazing goal. My goal for him is to get him a dirt bike to explore the endless desert - I think we can work together on this! 

 My favorite day trip to take visitors is to head out in the morning straight to Amaicha de Valle and visit Museo Pachamama, after visiting the museum, on the way back to Cafayate we stop at the  Ruinas de Quilmes, and finish up with lunch at Alta La Luna hotel in Tolombon.   

Museo Pachamama is the most amazing museum I have seen - anywhere!  More so in how it was constructed as opposed to the content on the inside.  This museum is an architectural dream!  Every wall is made of stones and rocks so placed that formations of frogs, suris, serpents, and other various designs are detailed.  It is something to be seen that I can’t otherwise explain.  They have a geological room, an archaeology room, and the various art forms that the museum creator, Hector Cruz, creates such as: tapestries, paintings, and ceramics.  If it isn’t genius enough to build this museum, Hector is also an artist of many forms.   After thoroughly enjoying the tour of Museo Pachamama (note, if you take this on your own, they only do Spanish speaking tours.  If you want it in English, you must take an English speaking guide.  It is worth the tour because it’s amazing how much you learn about the designs and their significance, if you don’t, it’s great to see but has that much more meaning when you understand what it’s all about), we head back towards Cafayate and stop about 10K from Museo Pachamama at Ruinas de Quilmes.  

Ruinas de Quilmes is also an amazing area to explore.  With or without guided tours, you can crawl up to the mountain top and see the vastness of the valley and imagine what life must have been like so many years ago for this seemingly large community.  This partially re-built ruins also has spanish speaking tours and an opportunity to hike.  Once we spend time roaming around the ruins looking at all the rooms, thinking about previous runnings of life up and down the mountain and lookouts where they can see enemies coming from miles and miles away, we head to Tolombon.

Tolombon is only about 15k south of Cafayate.  There is a new hotel that opened less than a year ago called Alta La Luna.  Tolombon is a very small community with only this new hotel and an old Bodega (that doesn’t have tours right now), and of course a small community of people.  I love going to Alta La Luna (http://www.altalaluna.com/) for lunch because you can sit out back on the patio looking at the mountains in this beautiful hotel and feel like nothing else is around you.  A perfect end to a perfect morning!!  

If you are interested in more information on this circuit - send me an email (cafayate@staycafayate.com).

Beer in the Middle of Wine Country

We LOVE the wine in Cafayate, so much so that I will dedicate a lot of time to explain my favorite wines, my favorite wineries to visit and so on, but in the middle of wine country, sometimes you just want a good beer! 

We took an afternoon off, the first in weeks, and traveled South of Cafayate to Santa Maria to a new Micro-Brewery (Ruta 40 Cerveceria). Of course the dogs joined us, thinking we were going for another long hike, but unfortunately, we only had a 30 minute walk up a dry river bed on the way, just to get some energy out of them and give me some energy.  We arrived at the sign that Charlie had passed on one of his trips back from Chile and followed it until we pulled up in front of someone’s house (the brewery) in the middle of a neighborhood.  The brewery has a little beer garden with a small brew room in the back and hopes to expand and serve food.  We are always excited to see and try new beer, as we have traveled up to Salta, Tafi del Valle, San Carlos,  and now to Santa Maria in a quest to find the best micro-brewed (cerveza artesenal) beer and offer them in our restaurant. As we were siting in the beer garden sharing the first trigo (wheat) beer we have had in Argentina, we realized how much time we spend in our restaurant!  The sun was shining bright as we were in t-shirts, flowers were still in bloom and it is the middle of winter, life is good!  Although, the beer didn’t really fit in our top five, we certainly enjoyed the drive, the beer garden, and the few hours away from the restaurant.  

Now, our absolute favorite trip and most fruitful in the last months in search of good beer was in our back yard, a town about 15k North from Cafayate, San Carlos.  The brewery, Me Echo La Burra, (I herd the burrow), is nestled in a cool little spot with a hostal, farm, and micro-brewery all in one - called Vaca Tranquilla (on a side note, a great place to stay the night - loved the rooms and the peacefulness of the place - and don’t forget a brewery is on the premises http://www.lavacatranquila.com.ar/ !!).   The picture below is all of us siting on the porch enjoying a nice cold one.  Me Echo La Burra has three types, a blond (rubia), red (roja), and dark (negra) beer.  The couple brewing are from Belgium and it is a true to form, strong Belgian beer of 8-9% alcohol with strong, rich flavors.  We have been carrying Me Echa La Burra for some months now and we have yet to have a disappointed customer, including ourselves.  The only warning we give, don’t let it sneak up on you!!  More than a few and you’ll be stumbling out of the restaurant!  Here’s to a cold one! 

The Local Wild Life

The local wild life!  In Cafayate, we get to enjoy a variety of animals most are somewhat domesticated others seem to roam town on their own mission.  Some of my favorite are the  “wild” burros.  Rarely do you see one at a time, like the photo below, usually there are 4 or 5 running around together, usually with a little one in tow.  I can’t help but smile when I see them grazing on the side streets, in the plaza, or being chased by street dogs (don’t worry, Burros usually don’t care about the dogs and simply ignore them).  No matter that Charlie and I have been here for over a year now, I can’t get used to the idea of seeing these little guys roaming the streets of Cafayate and I love it. 

Art - Stained Glass

I have wanted to tackle the topic of art in the area for some time but it seems to continue to grow and I just can’t fit it all in, so I’ve decided to take piece by piece and just begin!   An artist came in to our restaurant the other day and brought a wonderful piece for us to display and it has since re-inspired me to continue my search!  Cafayate and North West Argentina is very blessed with great artists in ceramics, weavings, basketry, silversmithing, and many others. For instance, I have seen amazing imagination and craftsmanship from a ceramic artist in San Carlos, named Mendoza.  The great thing is, you would never know if you weren’t “in the know” of how to find him, and that is my quest - to find as many of these hidden artists in Northwest Argentina!  Now, it’s much easier when an artist of great caliber walks in to your restaurant and finds you! So, for today I’ll showcase  Nadia, a stained glass artist that lives near Salta in Vaqueros.  Nadia, brought us a piece that follows traditional design with her own interpretation.  You can read all about her and her pieces on her web site: www.nadiakhangallery.com as she says it better than I!  Enjoy - I certainly do.  She’s even making us a custom piece for our restaurant shadowbox!  Can’t wait!   

Another Awesome Hike

Okay, it's been a while, but I have an excuse! We went back to the States and got married and I feel like we have finally recovered!!! Anyway - wonderful trip but we are happy to be in Cafayate. The days are glorious with sun with cool nights, perfect winter weather.
We found another wonderful hike through El Paso in the Quebrada de las Conchas (Canyon of Shells, between Cafayate and Salta), As usual, we headed up a dry river bed with the dogs and followed it until it ended in deep canyons except this time it didn't end, it opened up in to another valle that we have yet to explore!! Can't wait. This trail was well used though, as part of the rock was carved away with lots of travel. The change of scenery was so dramatic from very tight canyon, red sand dunes, to open beautiful valley. Enjoy the photos.