Kelsey and Matt Visit

Kelsey and Matt inside the cave at the start of the waterfall hike

Climbing up to an off-trail viewpoint at the start of the Quebrada de las Conchas

Quilmes as seen from near the top of the mountain

Matt, Kelsey, Jeff, and Edgardo preparing for the asado

When we were in Patagonia, we met a lot of other travelers.  Many were young backpackers and wanderers who had never really had jobs yet.  Most of the Americans were post-college grads, sleeping all day and drinking all night.  Others were relatively old people (in their 40’s to 60’s).  So we were surprised when we met another couple in their late 20s/early 30s who had put their careers on hold to travel.  We got to talking with them in Bariloche, at the top of the Cerro Catedral hike.  Matt is a civil engineer and Kelsey is an occupational therapist.  They’re from Seattle, they were in their first month of a year-long world trip mostly hiking and climbing, they were engaged, and planning to get married during their year off.  Just like us, but 8 months earlier!  We gave them our contact info and told them to give us a call if they happened to come through Salta on the way to Bolivia.  And they did.

In all, they stayed with us for 4 days:

Day 1 – after Kelsey and Matt arrived in the early afternoon, we took them on the hike to the cross above town.  We also took Puebla, a german shepard owned by our friends John and Lindsay, with us on the hike.  The ride to the trailhead is a little bumpy, and Puebla threw up her lunch in the back of the car.  Yuck.  We spent the next few days dealing with that one.  Despite that, we had a very nice hike.  Even Puebla seemed to be enjoying herself.  She’s a great trail dog.

Day 2 – The next day, the 4 of us did the waterfall hike.  Lindsay had shown us the way a week before (the trail is not obvious, and first-timers typically need to hire a guide).  It’s a really great hike – fantastic canyon scenery, and totally different than anything else locally.  That night, Kelsey and Matt cooked for us.  They made great pizzas from scratch using their own beer dough recipe, which was a treat after avoiding the awful local ‘pizza Salteño’ for the past few months. 

Day 3 – The third day, our friend Gabi came along.  We drove out into the Quebrada to see all the local sites.  We did some extended versions of the usual hikes, including one improvised walk that ended up on a high overlook over the quebrada.  On the way back, we stopped at a roadside stand selling ‘pan casero’ (homemade flatbread similar to naan), and ‘vino patero’ (homemade wine).  We had always wanted to stop at that place, but usually when we’re in the Quebrada, we’re in a rush, or just want to get home.  As it turns out, the bread was delicious, and Kelsey and Matt bought a couple of bottles of the homemade wine, which was also very good.  We’ll be going back to that stand for sure.

Day 4 – When Kelsey and Matt arrived, they told us they had never had authentic Argentine asado.  So obviously we had to have one.  On their last day in town, we decided to go to Quilmes in the morning, and set up the asado in the afternoon.  I had never been to the Quilmes ruins, which are quite famous across Argentina (and is the namesake of the most popular beer in the country).  We hiked to the top (actually I turned around most of the way up after I started thinking about the exposure of the rock scramble we were doing) and got great views of the valley.

That afternoon, we set up the asado.  Our Spanish teacher Edgardo and his fianceé Daniela came as well, and Edgardo showed me the authentic Argentine method for making the asado, which involved using a hair dryer to fan the flames of the fire (I was laughing really hard at this).  Nevertheless, the meat came out perfectly, and Kelsey and Matt couldn’t believe how delicious the meat was using just salt and a hardwood fire.

Kelsey and Matt left the next morning for Bolivia, and we were sad to see them go.  We have a lot in common, and hope the rest of their trip is as great as ours has been.