Wine, Beef and Horses

The last 10 days of my trip have been all about wine, beef and horses...Our drive to Salta Rafting from Salta was luckily a short and beautiful one. We arrived at the river mid-afternoon and took much needed naps in our tents after our big night in Salta the night before. The cooking group for the day prepared a wonderful camp meal and we all enjoyed it with a glass (or two) of Sangria.

The next day we had another relaxing morning and then spent the afternoon rafting the fast flowing Class III river right outside our camp. The raft guides hosted an Argentinian "asado" that evening and we giggled at the photos taken of all of us on the river earlier in the day (I´m still hoping to get them from one of the other folks in my raft so I can add them to the blog...).

Everyone hated leaving such a beautiful place the very next morning, but we were on our way to Cafayate and wine tasting. Cafayate was truly hot when we arrived at the campsite and everyone felt a bit wilted during our winery tours at two of the local wineries. The wine we tasted was marvelous though and "lifted our spirits" quite a bit. The local grape varietals were Torrontes, a white varietal, and Terrat, a red varietal. We learned about using egg whites to "clean" white wine and bone marrow for organic reds (veggies watch out!). Each tour took us through the entire wine-making process step by step, from vine separation to the special cellars set aside for the most expensive wines on the property. It was a fascinating tour and much more complete than any tour I have been on in the U.S. or Australia.

Early the next morning we packed up our tents and my cooking group and I fumbled through preparing breakfast before jumping back on "Amber" for hot, dusty and sweaty ride to Estancia, a cattle and horse ranch near Rio Ceballos, Argentina.

The Estancia ranch really was an amazing oasis. Some of us camped in the fields in front of our host Kevin´s house and others stayed in the dorm attached to the main house. Kevin´s family has owned the ranch since the late 1500s and he has been hosting Dragoman groups for almost 30 years. He has 120 horses on the ranch. They were the most beautiful horses I´ve ever seen! We spent the first evening drinking Kevin´s special "Estancia Reserve" wine and the next two days riding horses on the property. It was truly relaxing.

It was a very short drive into Cordoba, Argentina from Rio Ceballos and I spent most of the day shopping for clothes to wear in Buenos Aires and trying to cool off in cafes with Fiona and Julie. After 7 days of camping, I was happy to have a bed in the Aldea Hostel even though it was probably one of the warmest nights I have ever experienced. Cordoba was hot, hot, hot! Despite the heat, Cordoba was a charming city (Argentina´s second largest) and after finding out that a few folks from Summit County, Colorado were either living or visiting Cordoba at the same time, I was really disappointed that we left at 5am the next morning for Buenos Aires....I also couldn´t believe that I was nearing the conclusion of my month-long travels with the Dragoman group and my two new amigas, Fiona and Julie!