Thursday 23rd January 2025: Belen to Cafayate via Quilmes

Today we headed back northwards for the last few days of our stay here in Argentina.   The place we have been staying in Belen (Spanish for Bethlehem) is quite odd.  From the pictures on Booking.com  it looked like a modern house.  When we finally found it, it was a semi constructed house with only half the ground floor complete.  There was a big kitchen diner that had an large island but the oven was not fitted and on a kind of improvised bench. Kevin cleaned the frige before we put anything in it and we gave up on tackling the oven.  The equipment was basic and all had to be washed before use.

Though the bathroom looked a grand affair, with his and hers sinks, one did not work.

Again the bedroom was spacious but had the thinnest bed sheets on the bed.   It was obvious that the photos were very selective.

The one thing that we were unhappy about was a beautiful dog that lived on the next floor.  It looked healthy but was left alone all day as the owners didn't live here.

This looks like an unfinished asado room for crucifying dead animals over a fire!

We filled up at the YPF petrol station and headed north through the Belen gorge where there were statues of local wildlife.

We saw some mountain goats running down a steep hiil.

Petrol stations have hot water dispensers so people can fill up their flasks for Mate.

Our first stop was the ancient city of Quilmes.  It lies on a hillside south of Cafayate.  There were many stone walls but no interpretation and thee information centre was shutting when we arrived so we weren't sure what we were looking at.

However there were some tame camelids to amuse us.  It was burning hot so we decided to move on.

Our lodging for the night was the Patios de Cafayate, a hotel set in a beautiful vineyard.   We arrived 7 minutes before a wine tour in English.  This was really interesting and our guide Yasmine explained that they grew high altitude vines and discussed how the terra affected the taste.  We were just annoyed by some British and Australian people who kept talking about their holidays whilst she spoke.  It was hard to hear and really rude.

Wine tasting.

The accommodation was really lush compared with the last two days.

We ate dinner outside and there were even vegan and veggie dishes.

A toad joined us for dinner!

We even had a Siamese cat join us - a lilac point like Freyja but a lot chunkier.