Tafi del Valle

Oh hi! It took four hours to get from Cafayete to Tafi del Valle. The desert-like scenery continued as per our previous journey. In a break with tradition I snoozed my way through the trip...






and Wiji managed to stay awake to snap these Llamas...


Big Llama boom's!




God yeah! When we finally reached the small and immaculate bus terminal at Tafi del Valle, we detected a distinct nip in the air, this was a bonus really what with no actual map of the town we knew that we would be hoofing our stuff around for a bit. And that is exactly what we did, up and down until we found the tourist office, who pointed us in the direction of the campsite that was of course at the top of a long hill out of the village.

We decided to have breakfast first in a street cafe. It was there that we attracted several stray dogs who then proceeded to follow us around the town, and in the end they actually led us up the hill to the campsite! They seemed to know the routeen! We were greeted in the campsite office of 'Autocamping del Sauce' by the Argentinian version of Les Dawson and a much skinnier companion who showed us some photo's of the campsite when it was lush and green in summer, and when it was totally covered in snow! It looked good in all seasons! There were about three other tents so we had plenty of room. It was ideal really.

We picked a spot and got set up...importantly remembering to get the red wine out from the vineyard visits! Some nice clean knickers in the tree too, Lol. Now that is camping!


After the necessary fannying around that camping demands we decided to go back into town for some supplies, (the dogs came with us). The sun was really out now and were super excited about how lovely Tafi del Valle looked and felt!

In the centre of 'town' a mahooosive cactus!


Looking up.


We found some lovely independant shops for cheese and dried fruit. We also had a hilarious time buying stuff at the local supermarket. We decided to get some glass tumblers to enjoy our wine from, rather than our tin mugs...mmm, splashing out! Just as we were at the till a woman whipped out some fresh empanadas from the oven, naturally Wiji had to have some. Empanada's being like tiny meat pasty...oh, how convenient!

Back at home we took advantage of the concrete tables. No effort had been made in the slightest to make the tables straight on the slopes...lol. Here's Wiji starting on the idea of dinner with a glass of wine. The shower block in the distance, that really did have lovely hot water all the time, bonus!


The campsite was surrounded by some amazing mountains.


One bottle of wine down and one to go, with dinner well and truly on the go...oh yes, pasta and stir fried veggies. Ideal. We cranked up some tunes mixed by Capel...love youx.


Later that evening some mobile camping vans turned up with some older couples that were very friendly. They immediately got some maté on the go and got some washing hung up too! As soon as the sun went down we put on more layers.

One of several doggie friends, this one was very shy and just stared at us blankly. I am trying to give it a meat empanada...he was making it very difficult...


'Oh god, now you're stroking me!' The whole process was painful! Sorry!


Even though he didn't have much to say he hung around with his half a missing ear and the other floppy ear, he was very cute though!


The next morning after a windy night, funny how the wind picks up late at night but isn't actually cold, it sounded like it was blowing a gale outside...but luckily we were very snug in our sleeping bags. Here's Wiji makes breakfast in the sunshine...fried egg sarnies and tomato...and we still have some organic Clipper tea from home, Lol. The sun was very bright, but there was a nip in the air too.


The guide book suggested some very good parilla's to visit in Tafi del Valle, we we chose one that did salads too (for me, ha ha). Here's the lovely window display of Don Pepino's, to entice you in. Apparently this is what you want to see if you are Argentinian. This is on the English menu as 'young animal'...aaah. Its a couple of kid goats.


Wiji went for a cheaper option, a massive steak...maybe the size of his own liver...nice. He loved it, and was totally chuffed. Luckily my salad did come without meat, they must have really had to have held themselves back in the kitchen!

Eiii! Parillla stylin'!


We really loved chilling here and taking in the scenery of the Sierra del Aconquija. You could do several trips, but we were fully camping it up and loving it...so didn't!


A lot of people were riding around the town on horses or on quad bikes.


Wiji loved this swiss stylee house, it wasn't typical of the town though.


Catching the full moon. Ideal for camping as we stayed up late into the night listening to tunes.


Retro stylin' we only bloody found some savoury rice, a throw back to both our childhoods. Lol. It was exactly the same, smell, texture, small diced dehydrated carrot bits and solid peas. It cooked up a treat though on the trusty coleman stove. This is Wiji's Jamie Oliver face. Lol, he really loved using the stove!


Here's our doggie that practically took us to the campsite from the bus station and stayed with us most of the time, sleeping in the dry grass of the campsite like the other doggies. We think he really knew the routine and recognised our backpacks. He even waited for us as we hoofed them up the hill. He was soo lovely and friendly. He didn't look thin and was probably someone's actual pet once. He went off and did his own thing, but basically wanted a stroke. He missed most of our meal times, but was happy to see us...grisly old face.


When we packed up to catch our bus out on the third morning, we got up at 5am. It was well windy while we made some breakfast. When we left the doggie happily followed us all the way down the hill to the bus station and it made me cry. I had to try to catch Wiji up going down the hill to tell him I was crying, which was quite funny as I had to do a 'mum run' with my wonky backpack whilst in tears. Wiji found my over sentimentality quite funny, and so did I really. We were sure that he would meet the next backpackers from the following bus and be perfectly fine just as he was when he found us. As our bus pulled away it was really sad to see him still waiting by the door to the bus terminal cafe, where we finally left him.