On my way to Cafayate in Salta in the north of Argentina
After my more than good experience with my work-for-housing exchange in Catamarca, I was eager to continue my journey to the north of Argentina. I had used the first half of my year 2024 to wander around the south, so I was a bit homesick for the landscapes we have higher up on the map. A few days before the end of my voluntary work in Catamarca, I had arranged a new place where I could continue walking. I was open to go anywhere, and luckily I got a good opportunity in Cafayate, a famous town in Salta for being located on the famous Ruta 40 ?.
Getting from Catamarca to Cafayate in Salta took me most of the day: although it is only about 360 km to travel, there was no direct service to take me there. To get there I had to take a bus from San Fernando del Valle de Catamarca to San Miguel de Tucumán and then wait 4 hours for a second bus to Cafayate in Salta. All in all, all this took me more than 10 hours of the day and was quite exhausting, but I only paid about $50 for the whole transfer so it wasn't bad ?.
My original idea was to get an exchange in a town in the province of Jujuy, a little further north, but I had no luck in that province. As it was getting close to the time when I had to move from Catamarca, in the last few days I had to accept to go to any place that had the conditions I always expect from this kind of exchange: 5 hours of work per day for 5 days a week or its equivalent in working hours. The hostel in Cafayate fulfilled that scheme and the tasks were simple like serving breakfast and helping with cleaning tasks so I accepted ?.
Cafayate is a town that I had already visited for one day in 2022 when I had started travelling alone in those group tours, so I already knew it in general terms. This time, my plan was to stay for two weeks so I would have enough time to go and see a few more things. This town has just what I like: a not so big settlement but surrounded by beautiful mountains to visit. Although I would have preferred to go somewhere new, I was happy with this plan ?.
Besides the beautiful landscapes, the other main attraction of Cafayate in Salta are its numerous wineries and vineyards. Most of them offer guided tours with wine tasting for a small entrance fee. I already knew that during my stay in Cafayate I would surely invest a lot of time in wine tourism, and I think I deserved it because before that I had been leading a very healthy life. My country Argentina has a very good wine industry, so tasting them in the place of origin was something to take advantage of ❤️