ARGENTINA, Cafeyate (yes, still) Saturday 8th September

Goat dung has to be mellowed for one year before it can be put on the fields as a fertiliser. Before then it is too potent for the soil, kid goats are allowed to remain with their mummies for 45 days and the nannies are played classical music during milking in order to relax them.

It might be fair to say that Posy and I know more about goats than either of us ever deemed necessary, but it was worth it for the cheese. Whilst slurping away at surprisingly yummy (and potent) wine ice cream, we wandered off along a dirt track to a goat farm in hunt of, well, goats. We were greeted by a friendly woman who showed us round the maternity wards, nurseries and daunting-looking milking apparatus. No wonder the goats need to be soothed whilst plugged into those things! The whole farm was a-bleat with baby goats frolicking around. Very sweet, we both decided we ought to eat goat before we left. True carnivores we are. We bought far too much cheese and took it back to our balcony, opened a bottle of local wine and enjoyed another blissful sunset.

Yesterday, in a sudden spirit of activity, we set off to explore the local natural wonders. It is moments like this that adjectives desert me and I am left saying "wow" a lot. I am not a geologist and my Spanish wasn´t good enough to follow the explanations of our guide, other than what Posy was kind enough to translate for me, so I will stick to the aesthetics.
We walked through dusty valleys, waded through shallow rivers, traversed narrow, earthy peaks and climbed into gorges in a strange, rocky landscape of staggering size and colour. Bright reds, yellow and green, multicoloured stripes, the size of which made us feel like ants. Vast, earthy and deserted with only the odd cactus and shrubby trees for company. How am I doing? I took about 1000 photos so that might help, although I doubt my little camera could capture the scale. Suffice to say that it was wonderful. I was reminded of Texas and also those huge David Hockney landscapes but it was altogether different too. Our insignificance by sheer size was magnified by the age of this landscape. We are a tiny spec, both physically and with time-wise. Very humbling. An amazing afternoon.

We are still in Cafeyate at the moment. Poor Posy is feeling less than brilliant after suffering a nasty bout of food poisoning (she should have opted for grilled goat like me) and we´ve put off leaving until she feels better. We have a lovely big room and will doubtless have to down grade when we move on. Great for me though, I have been lulled into the lazy contentment that a small town, friendly (and by now familiar) locals, and all the goat´s cheese I can eat, can induce. I´m in no hurry. But we will have to head off at some point. Posy leaves me in just under a week and we are keen to get back to Buenos Aries for a few days R&R (and some serious partying) before we sadly part company.