We got to Cafayate at 12:00 and lurked around the Mercado Artesanal for an hour.  We wrote some postcards and put them in the mail before lunch. Then we had a great meal on the sidewalk café of La Carreta de Don Olegarrio where my GSA group ate twice last year. 

After lunch we headed up the Quebrada de Cafayate.  We stopped at El Anfiteátro and El Balcón.  A guy was playing classical guitar in El Anfiteátro; it sounded great. We pulled into La Garganta Del Diablo but time was short so we skipped it since it takes 10-15 minutes to get in to the cool part. It is very similar to El Anfiteátro.

We stopped at Abra El Sunchal to collect a basinite sample from the river float.  Viramonte had recommended this place to get a sample fresh enough for Ar/Ar dating.  We took a 3-kg piece. I had not entered this stream before. It seemed like the others but there were many more volcanic clasts in the river bed.

From there, we blew into Salta with all but Pedro nodding off.  We went right to the University to get the books we wanted to buy but it was late Friday so no one was there.  We got lost trying to find Berta’s place.  A local woman gave us rather theatrical directions which we laughed about for the rest of trip. When we finally did locate it, it appeared no one was there so we went to Viramonte’s.  Marita was there and arranged for us to pick up the books the next day.  She also made us a reservation at the Residential Elena where I had stayed with Rick Allmendinger and Terry Jordan in 1987.  We drove through moderate traffic to Buenos Aires 256 and found it without problem.  I brag that I know this city better than any other city in the world. 

The attendant at the parking garage started flirting with me as soon as she heard me speak in Spanish. I hung out for about 10 minutes during which she proposed and suggested I take her to the U.S. with me... Some things never change. After a shower, we set out to look for an Internet café.  We tried the Peatonal first, without luck, but a guy told us about one on Vincente Lopez.  As we walked, we encountered a large crowd awaiting some sort of winter festival parade.

It appears that enough people in Argentina now have their own computers so that the Internet Cafe business is not as profitable as it is in Bolivia. The place we found was great  and actually did serve coffee. We spent about an hMay 8, 2007for our best meal to date.  My Surubí was excellent.

We returned to the hotel after midnight.  I really like the place. It is less than three blocks from the center of the city but has a very relaxed ambiance.