Cafayate – the first two weeks

View of the Andes from the house

Cafayate, as seen from San Ysidro mountain

Our first couple weeks in Cafayate were a blur.  We learned a lot:

- Food:  the first night we arrived, we had no food, so our neighbors, the Kinghorns, lent us a couple frozen burger patties and some bread and condiments.  Additionally, since we have no car, our only mode of transportation to and from town are our bicycles.  We intended to buy two bikes in Salta, but only one was available.  So, we had to borrow a second (inferior) bike from the spa at La Estancia.  Next up was learning how to procure food in Cafayate.  There’s no supermarket where you can just buy whatever you want.  Shelf-stable goods and deli meats/cheeses are sold in small markets, of which there are many, with varying inventories.  Fruit/veggies and meats are sold in small stores at the central market, of which there are many, with varying quality.  And, oh yeah, everything closes down for siesta from 2-6pm.

- Bugs: when we arrived, the weather was gorgeous, so we propped the doors open for an hour or two at dusk.  BAD IDEA.  We spent the first night with tons of mosquitoes buzzing in our ears (I got bites on both eyelids one night, which swelled nearly shut).  For the first week, we had all manner of insects throughout the house – beetles, spiders (including a few massive huntsman specimens), flies, moths, ants, and a bunch of things I can’t even identify.  Needless to say, we were paranoid from then on, and kept all doors and windows shut at all times.

- House stuff: when we arrived, the only pot or pan in the house was a wok.  Additionally, the stove is spec’d for natural gas, but as the pipeline from Salta is still in construction, it currently uses propane, which has far greater energy density.  So, we scorched a lot of food before we got good at using it.  On our third or fourth evening, an extremely strong thunderstorm rolled through, and the house partially flooded.  Since this is a brand new house, there are some kinks to work out, including some improperly graded door and windowsills.  The house also does not yet have window coverings, so we had to buy some blankets to string up over the windows in our bedroom.  And on and on.

- Neighbors: we met lots of people in our first couple weeks – the Kinghorn family, Kent & Jane Russell, Carol & Mike Peters, the Galland family, Roan and Emily Marshall, and many others.  On our first Saturday, Gary Kinghorn and Kent Russell invited us to go on a hike up to the cross on San Ysidro mountain (which was fantastic).  And to top it all off, we got invited to a Christmas party for all the residents, where we got to mix and mingle with even more people!  Everyone has so far been extremely nice and helpful.

- The View: wow, this place is gorgeous!  It feels a little like Jackson Hole, with mountains on all sides.  Except the mountains are far more rugged, and there are red rocks like in the Southwest.  Kristen took the same picture of the same mountains every evening for the first week – it was just too pretty to stop.  And the town is picturesque as well.  There is a nice little square/plaza in the middle of town, with a colonial-style church at one end, and restaurants/bars lining the other sides.  And of course, great mountain views in every direction.

In all, the experience has been a whirlwind.  Since this place is quite new, there are no established systems, and everyone does things differently - where to change money, where to buy the best fruits and veggies, which restaurants are trustworthy, which stores sell X/Y/Z, what type of car is best and where to buy it, how to fix some common house problems, etc.  We solicited opinions from anyone and everyone who would talk to us, and our information changed daily.  It was mind-boggling.  But of course, as pioneers in this development, we expected it and did our best to sift through all the info.  And, as expected, we were rewarded after a week or two, when things started to settle down and we got a handle on living here. 

Buenos Aires + Salta

Kristen at Recoleta cemetery

Jeff in Plaza 9 de Julio in Salta

We landed in Buenos Aires on the morning of December 10 to 90 degree weather – a far cry from the New York winter.  After taking a cab to our hotel, we napped for a while and hit the streets.  The first day in a new country is always weird.  My Spanish was pretty rusty, and we didn’t really understand how things worked.  We were super thirsty, but couldn’t buy water because we had no pesos and there was no ATM at the airport.  So job 1 was to find a working ATM, which was no small feat.  It took 2 hours and tries at 4 different banks before we found one that both took our card, and had money to dispense.  Ugh.  Finally we were able to buy some water and a light lunch.

We spent most of the rest of the afternoon walking around our neighborhood (San Telmo-ish) in the heat.  It wasn’t very nice, to be honest.  There was a significant amount of trash in the streets, and things looked a little run-down.  At night, the place felt a little sketchy.  After dinner, we decided we were not fans of Buenos Aires.

The next day, we spent a solid 8 hours walking to various neighborhoods – Microcentro, Barrio Norte, Recoleta (including a visit to the cemetery), Retiro, and Palermo.  As it turns out, Buenos Aires is gorgeous and nice!  You just have to be in the right neighborhood (far from our hotel).

The next morning we were scheduled to fly to Salta, the capital city of Salta province, where Kristen’s parent’s house is located.  Salta felt WAY different from Buenos Aires.  It’s a colonial city, with and old layout and architecture, and a significant amount of native (ancestral Incan) influence.  It felt more . . . authentic.  It’s certainly not the international metropolis that Buenos Aires is, and the pace was a lot slower – in fact, they keep siesta hours there.  And wow were the people friendly - an old man stopped us on the street, asked us where we were from, and said ‘welcome to Salta!’.  Welcome, indeed.

Journey Across the US

Just after we were legally married in Detroit

Us & friends at Cathy & Jon’s wedding

We took our time heading to Argentina.  After spending a week cleaning, preparing, and packing for the trip, we sadly left Sacramento (and our cats) for Detroit, where we wanted to spend two weeks, including Thanksgiving.

I volunteered to make the turkey, mostly since I’d never done it before and wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  We brined it in buttermilk (don’t tell aunt Meg) and it turned out beautifully.  Mmm!  Cara couldn’t make it to Detroit for the holiday, but we got to spend lots of time with the Cicurels, Sterns, Alperts, and Grandpa and Betty.  Plus, Kristen found a latent passion in home jewelry making, so she spent multiple days and nights making jewelry for our wedding, as well as gifts.

Near the end of our time in Detroit, we got legally married.  Now, the plan is to get properly married with a ceremony involving both our families in Argentina.  But a not insignificant amount of internet research revealed that a wedding is not valid in Argentina unless at least one person is a resident, which neither of us will be.  So, our only choice was to get legally married in the states (that is, sign the documents) before heading to South America.  Luckily, one of my dad’s best friends (Paul Saginaw) is an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church (which isn’t really a church), and he agreed to act as our legal officiant.  After a two-sentence ceremony, in which we exchanged Ring-Pops (our wedding rings hadn’t been delivered yet), and which Paul ended by saying “by the mysterious power vested in me”, we signed the papers and we were technically married!

After Detroit, we flew to Baltimore to attend the wedding of our friends Cathy and Jon, which turned out to be a great reunion with many people we hadn’t seen in ages.  Afterward, we took a taxi to DC to stay with our friends Ben and Trisha for a couple nights, and then on to New York via Amtrak.

In NYC, we stayed with our good friends Rob and Nicole, who we hadn’t seen since we left NYC in June.  And what a great reunion!  We got to hang out with them a ton, and we were also able to see Cara and Keenan, our friends Corey and Sheila (who also just got engaged), our friends Ryan and Liz, and of course CJ.

Whew!  It was a whirlwind few weeks, involving lots of couch-crashing, but it was a blast.