Mas Carne

We set out early in the morning from Cafayete in hopes to make it to some
ruins nearby. Luke and Paulina (two people we didn´t know at the
time) overheard us struggling to communicate this with the bus attendant and
helped us out. Turns out, the two of them met in Mexico volunteering - Luke
is from Colorado and Paulina is from Argentina so they were fluent in both
English and Spanish. Long story short, we ended up hanging out with them
all day because they were on the same path we were.

From Cafayete we took a bus to the small town of Santa Maria where we ate
some Lomitos (aka really big sandwiches with a full slab of steak) for lunch
right in the butcher shop surrounded by machines used to cut the meat.
After this, we took another bus to Amaicha - another very small town which
is apparently goverened by the indigenous people and not the Argentine
government (according to Paulina). Then, the four of us took a taxi to
ruins of indigenous people who resisted the Incas. It was very interesting
because the whole time we have been in South America we have been in Inca
territory. As we have been through quite a bit, obviously the Incas were
very powerful so for these ancient indigenous people to resist the Incas and
draw the boundary line of Inca territory was very impressive. After the
ruins we tried to get some dinner but were denied until about 8pm - in
Argentina the sun rises at 8:15am and thus they don´t normally eat dinner
until 9 or 10pm (WAY past our bedtime!).

The next morning we took the first bus to Tafi de Valle where we planned to
meet up with Sergio and his family - the man that drove us over the border.

On the chilly drive in we came over a mountain to look down on the town


below covered in clouds. We descended into the very cold but beautiful Tafi
in its offseason. After waiting around for a couple of hours, Sergio and
his son, picked us up and took us back to their cabin vacation home to meet
his wife, daughter and daughter´s friend. After lots of preparation and
Mike and Sergio´s son sharing stories of traveling in Europe (Sergio´s son
had just returned from a trip) we sat down and ate a traditional Argentine
barbeque. It consisted of meat, meat, and more meat as well as a little bit
of onion-tomato salad and plain bread. Mike was in heaven. We were all
given many helpings and once I thought I was finished eating I was given
even more. Then, when everyone was finished eating Mike had 3 more servings
which were happily offered to him because it was ¨a compliment that he likes
it so much.¨ Although it was delicious, unfortunately it backfired on him a
bit and I don´t think he will be eating an Argentine black sausage anytime
soon.

After the barbeque, we walked a bit outside in some fields where there was
ancient pottery pieces (we each have one now). Then, we had a cup of tea to
get warm and got ready to leave. Sergio insisted that he could take us to
his home town since that was the direction we were heading in. With our big
packs, we squeezed into the back fold-up seat of his smaller SUV and then
everyone else got in. It was a site to see with us all piled in to Sergio´s
car but it was a very nice gesture and very much appreciated. So, we headed
down to Tucuman about 2 hrs away. Here, Sergio and his family went home and
we went to the bus station to get an overnight ticket to San Juan,
Argentina.