Day 33 - We finally broke 100km!!!

La Viña to Cafayate (105km) Monday 19th September


Wow what a day! And it started with an awesome second breakfast of hamburgesers and fries at the service station down the road from our hostal (unfortunately dancing towel man still clung onto the stale bread and marmalade tradition... He did smile and say "orange" when he put down the jam though... The pride!).
We climbed over 700m, but it really didn't feel like it. The road from Viña was long and sweeping following a river up the valley, which meant rolling ups and downs that we took in our stride, and with the beautiful scenery we hadn't really noticed there were more ups than downs!
The first 20km took us into the valley and towards what I like to refer to as the 'toppled cake' mountains. Such beautiful multicoloured layering it was stunning. Another 10km and it looked like someone had put a red filter over the mountains, still layered but now with a 'Mars-like' hue and we were ready for a quick feed of jamon crudo crisps (almost bacon!) and apple juice on a clearly hand made stone and wood bench (stacks of stones with a plank of wood balanced on top) - we were grateful for the seat. It was only really when we stopped or looked behind that we realised we'd gone up quite a way.
Another 20km and the river got wider and the mountains changed colour again - first a blue- green filter, then a yellow sandy filter; but don't panic, there was still an abundance of tall green elegant trees to keep us happy.
After a quick half way cereal bar we started to see tourist signs indicating we were getting ever closer to the 'garganta de Diablo'. This led to several conversations about which part of the devil we were about to be graced with: his 'seat', his 'bottom', (according to Ant's experiences in Latin America the devil has chairs and bottoms in several places!), my guess was we were about to see a 'giant devil'... We turned the corner to see a towering red mountain with a huge crevasse running up its side stretching a few hundred metres above us and clearly showing layers of rock up the thin passage... 'the devils' throat' ahhh that makes sense.
Ant had a quick peek in his throat and I was guard Em for the bikes (surprisingly for me more interested in getting back on the road and making progress). A few 100m after the devils' body parts we came across something that we'd only heard of in legends, but we first heard it mentioned by the cycle tourist in Bolivia... A touring tandem, containing a French couple... And a trailer for their baby! Wow! Now that's how it's done hey! We couldn't resist another quick stop to chat, talk kit and routes (quietly... Baby asleep!), and once we'd passed this left Ant and I pondering so many questions over the next 10km, that we'd either forgotten to ask or deemed too personal: "how fast can you corner on a tandem with a trailer?", "how does it handle on rippio", "how much weight do you have to carry for food and water", "can you get nappies everywhere", "how do you manage feeding", "where do you all sleep", "do you get enough sleep"... The list went on and with every question we conjured up, our admiration grew more and more.
Before we knew it we were heading out of the valley at the top and were ready for a late lunch of bread, avocado and blue cheese that we picked up in Salta yesterday, before contemplating what these rocky lumps would do to the wind. It was a valley, it was 3pm, that meant there would be wind, it was just a question of direction.
As we set off on the last 30km into a strong head wind we groaned a little but soon became resigned to our fate. And no sooner had we accepted our destiny than the wind became a cross, then a tail... What! An actual tail wind for the last 20km? And a strong one, pushing us along the flat? This is amazing!
We were still puzzled as to how this is a wine region, only a few signs of vines just outside town. We decided to head in to the centre rather than try to stay at a vineyard - fancied the variety of being able to wonder and explore and get supplies, plus would probably save a few pennies!
We found a lovely hostal (kappa) run by a very friendly family for $50 USD a night and despite the abundance of restaurants, struggled to find a decent one (the joys of a slightly pompous wine town that thinks its amazing but is actually mediocre). My watery creamy bacon pasta and Ant's plate with nothing but a large tortilla slapped in the centre were nothing more than fuel, but we were so hungry, that was ok. It was mire the terrible house wine that we were surprised with?! Isn't this supposed to be the wine capital of Salta?!!
Oh well time for a good night's sleep then we can work out where we go tomorrow at breakfast.