FUENTE: María Josefina Lanzi /www.lanacion.com.ar/
Cafayate is a place that conquers any Argentine who visits it and also captivates citizens of the United States. Surrounded by multi-colored mountains, it is located in the heart of the Calchaquí Valleys, 192 kilometers from Salta.
In 2005, a real estate project began to take shape near this town. La Estancia de Cafayate is a gated community located on National Route 40, in a place that offers 360 days of sunshine a year, which attracted Argentines, but also foreign investors.
Juan Carlos Romero was governor of Salta for three consecutive terms and is currently a senator for the province. In addition to his work in politics, he had his own land in Cafayate, which he did not know would become one of the country estates that would form a community with international residents. More than 20 years ago he met Dough Casey, an American investor who had also bought land in this town. After a conversation, they realized that their plots were next to each other and decided to join forces to launch this development together.
“The ranch was nothing more than land, the man from Salta did not believe that what exists today would be built,” says Diane Klingesmit, Romero’s daughter-in-law, with her marked foreign tone, who was part of the promotion group that announced the project in the United States and who currently also lives in the neighborhood.
“For a long time there were no Argentines, only Americans,” says Candelaria Patrón, who was part of the team that marketed the project in Argentina at the beginning, and adds: “The foreigners who stayed fell in love with the place.” Today, the proposal has become better known in Argentina and the owners are made up of 50% foreigners and the other half Argentines.
The neighborhood currently has 140 houses built. Although the place is not used as a permanent residence, but rather as a weekend house, “there are 20 families who live there permanently, of which 15 are from other countries,” says Rodrigo Marcuzzi, developer of the neighborhood. 95% of the foreigners are Americans, but there are also some Australians, English and French residents. The Argentines who have houses there are mostly from Salta and Tucumán, although there are also some owners from Buenos Aires.
With an estimated investment of US$40 million over time, the neighborhood has a size of 550 hectares. Upon entering the place, you walk along a winding road, which has 150 lots that have not yet been worked. Once inside, the neighborhood offers another 400, between 2,000 m² and 4,000 m², which have the possibility of having a view of a vineyard in their garden. Of these already worked, “between 30 and 40 are still sold, for an average price of US$100,000,” says Marcuzzi. In addition, he adds that there are always resales.
The houses in the neighborhood are built in a similar style, with a rural Spanish colonial architecture, which gives the place a unique identity. The houses follow a specific regulation, with the possibility of variation, within a framework that establishes certain provisions.
The neighborhood also has a hotel from the international chain called Grace, “a group of luxury boutique hotels that has locations in different paradisiacal destinations around the world,” adds Patrón. La Estancia offers its own wine label, which is produced with grapes grown in the vineyards distributed throughout the neighborhood.
An American who fell in love with Argentina
Diane Klingesmit is from Ohio, United States, and for 20 years she has lived part of the year in Cafayate, Salta, in the La Estancia de Cafayate neighborhood. Diane describes the area as “an energizing valley with a monumental charm.” She considers it her place in the world, “which fills me with peace and allows me to interact with people from different places. I just stopped to talk to residents of Brazil, Buenos Aires, France and the United States.”
In 2005 she married an Argentinean, who was involved in the day-to-day running of this venture. She was working at a marketing magazine in the U.S., when her father-in-law, Juan Carlos Romero, joined forces with Dough Casey to launch this project. “Dough described it as a little paradise between two hills,” says Klingesmit.
The place has several amenities, such as a golf course, a polo and squash court, and a spa, “but people bought for other reasons; they saw it as a sheltered place with an impressive natural landscape.”
Married to Romero’s son and with marketing studies, she helped promote the neighborhood in her country, attracting foreign buyers. “I grew up in a place with snow and coming here, with sun almost every day of the year, is fabulous,” she confesses.
Life in the middle of the mountains, with a monumental natural landscape, can help you disconnect from the fast-paced days and establish a connection with nature and people. In Klingesmit’s case, there are three things that she says she loves and that she believes attract others: “the unique nature, the wild landscape, and the people, with their culture and customs.”
She says that Cafayate is a unique fusion of Argentine Europeanism, with its warm people and an area full of ancestral traditions, rooted long ago: “Something that is shown in the food: dishes that travel from Italy, but mixed with the local humita, which comes from ancient corn.”
Her affection for Argentina went so far that she recently wrote the book The Andean Table, where she details cultural customs from the Argentine northwest, with native northern recipes. “In these 20 years I met many people, with customs that are not written down. I took classes, we wrote down recipes and made a book,” says Diane.
If you would like more information on options to participate in living life in such a special place as Cafayate, please contact me. With confidentiality and confidence we can assist you to find the right fit for you to enjoy this wonderful place and invest in the bright future there.
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