Cafayate to La Viña

Yesterday, in the “Road Runner” hostel in Cafayate, some people again did a barbecue, and this time I managed to find some aubergines and maize to take part in the barbecue with some vegetarian stuff. In the afternoon, I had a walk through Cafayate, a laid back town of wine and tourism. I bought a few bottles of local wine for the night, and went back to the hostel.

At night, we talked, drank a lot of wine, and ate until quite late, and I went to bed after midnight. I got up again at 7am, to leave early – from Cafayate to La Viña it's about 103km. I had breakfast at the service station – the only option that early. I left at 7:50am, and shortly after Cafayate I took the RN68 through the Quebrada de la Concha in the direction to Salta.

At first, the road crossed the valley, and at the other side of the valley began the Quebrada de la Concha, with impressive rock formation that are the result of water/rain erosion. But also the general landscape was quite impressive.

I stopped a few times to take photos, but didn't take a longer break until I arrived to Alemanía, a small village where only eight families live. But in the past it was the end of the railway line from Salta, which never was completed up to Cafayate, Alemanía is at about 80km from Cafayate, and I entered the village and stopped, initially to drink a lemonade and rest a bit. I arrived at Alemania at about 12:30pm, so I did the 81km in about 4½ hours.

When I walked around a bit to the old railway bridge over the river, I met a man from the province of Catamarca, and we began to talk. He was on holidays with his family, and he invited me for an improvised lunch. Then we ate, and we talked about a lot of things, about the history and culture of this part of Argentina and lots of other things.

At about 2pm I left, to do the last 21km to La Viña. At that time it was very hot, but the wind made it a bit better. I arrived to La Viña at more or less 3:30pm, and looked for the accommodation, which is about 1km from the village at the RN68. When I arrived they didn't have a room, because some other people had changed their plan. But they gave me the room of a person living there – luckily, because I was quite tired and there were no other options nearby.

I took a shower and rested, and in the afternoon I fixed another puncture. But I didn't do much more – it was a long trip today.

For dinner, the person in charge of the place prepared me a nice salad, and I had a beer. Later, I sat outside to finish my writing and translating for the blog. I went to bed early.