The Birth of the Puma

One of the great miracles of the Luna de Miel was the immediate healing of Stuart's herniated disc as soon as he laid eyes on some very tempting rock climbing. He earned the name of Puma before we even found this grafitti. But the spying of his new name ignited him into even more Spidey climbing. He somehow staying in this precarious position for a full 3 minutes of photographing, and then he continued upward until we couldn't see him anymore. Please take note that he's climbing in dress shoes and perfectly pressed pants.

Neysa attribute Stuart's miracle to this roadside temple we found. It's dedicated to a saint for truck drivers who risk their lives daily driving through the steep mountains and winding roads back and forth to Chile and Bolivia. The scrap metal below the altar is from trucks that have crashed in the area. The Puma owes Neysa big since she stopped to honor the altar and take pictures, otherwise the Puma's risky mountain-climbing behavior would have resulted in 17 more herniations, and the scrap metal would have been covered with random pieces from Stuart's spine.

We caught a pic of the legendary gauchos, or cowboys, that lend much romantic lore to the area. They didn't flinch a bot when Neysa jumped out of the car to snap a pic- they're apparently used to the paparazzi treatment. Then they literally road off into the sunset- maybe it was all a show for us?

We also went to Cafayate that day to visit some vineyards and sample goat cheese. It's a gorgeous area with tiny mom-and-pop vineyards and huge international ventures. A highlight was visiting a local ice cream shop that has made internationally renowned flavors based on the local grapes (Neysa had a scoop of espresso mixed with the white wine flavor, Torrontes and the Puma had plum mixed with the red wine flavor Malbec.) Neysa polished hers off before anyone else had even completed their order.