¡Salta, la linda!

Salta, the beautiful...as it is known around these parts. When we first got to the city a couple of days ago, Pete and I were not convinced. Another noisy city with crazy traffic. The city parks could all use a facelift and the area where we stayed felt kinda sketchy.

And then, we gave it a chance. We settled in after our overnight jaunt to gorgeous, quaint Cafayate, and put our bias against cities aside. We took it all in, thanks in large part to the guidance of our friend Ruth who knows the city well.

We enjoyed a casual sidewalk dinner listening to Argentinian folk musicians. We rode a gondola to the top of Cerro San Bernardo to get a view of the vast city. We did a bit of shopping, marveling in the quality artisan products we could find - not all the shops were jammed with the typical tourist fare. I felt my eyes well up with tears during one museum visit. We sat at a plaza cafe, doing some serious people watching while the waiter free-poured the liquor. We toured through two jaw-dropping iglesias and marveled at the brilliant indulgences of the Catholic church. We even went up into the mountains of the city's outskirts and did some horseback riding.

We are now believers.

This city sums up what we love about Argentina. Even though the country is quite a bit more modern then, say, it's Bolivian neighbour, it has also retained much more of it's old world charm and culture then it's neighbour to the west, Chile. It is buzzing with energy, and set against a rustic, colonial backdrop. It has been a true highlight in our exploration of Argentina.

The one sad aspect of this stop (besides leaving it) is that we have also said goodbye to two good friends that we had the pleasure of meeting up with during our travels - Gill and Ruth. It is a true fin de una epoca, as we all head our separate ways with little chance of crossing paths again in our South American travels (unless of course, Gill starts stalking us again). It is hard to imagine the road ahead without them.

A few more details and pictures on this unforgettable city...

MAAM - Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montaña
We have done many museum tours in the past five months, but nothing has been as gut wrenching as this one. MAAM houses an understandably controversial exhibit.

In 1999, the bodies of three children were found some 480km west of Salta, near the Chilean border and on the peak of a mountain. From their clothing, accessories and markings they bore, it was determined that they were high-ranking human sacrifices of an Inca tribe. Given the high altitude at which they were placed, their features and everything they wore remained remarkably intact.

Only the boy, aged six, was on display during our visit as all three of them are rotated through on a six month basis in order to ensure preservation. He was displayed in the exact position in which they found him, his hair sprouting up and his skin perfectly preserved. Perhaps it is a good thing that we were not able to see all three as I immediately had tears come to my eyes and felt slightly nauseous on seeing him. It was a very chilling experience, to say the least. It is expected that there are many more such sacrifices yet to be found high on that mountain.

Churches, churches, and more churches!
Not that the pictures can give any indication of the jaw dropping sensation when viewing one of these magnificent buildings in person, but here they are anyways...


The Gaucho lifestyle
A very important icon of Argentinian culture is The Gaucho - that lonesome cowboy who tends to the open ranches with his incredible horsemanship. Who else do you think takes care of all this amazing beef that we love?

It is no surprise then that agrotourism is a huge deal here. People come from all over and pay good money in order to actually stay and WORK on a farm alongside the gauchos. Now, I am all about trying to experience different cultural aspects first hand, but I ain't paying to work nowhere! Also, what would my many farming relatives have to say about the fact that I was putting out my own money in order to work on a farm when they would let me do it for free?

We opted instead yesterday for an afternoon of riding horses alongside a gaucho in the mountains surrounding Salta, followed by a traditional asado (bbq) on the open grill.

I am NOT a horse person, and have only ridden twice in my life, with about 20 years spanning each time. In fact, horses have always scared me for the fact that they seem so uncontrollable. However, if I can jump off a mountain with only a piece of fabric protecting me from free-falling, then I surely can ride a damn horse for a couple of hours!

To be on the safe side, I asked for a horse that was muy tranquillo. I got what I asked for, that's for sure! I got the oldest, slowest and most stubborn horse possible. Up into the mountains we went, and I was always pulling up the rear, to the point that our gaucho had to come back and be sure that I was still with the group of seven. The horse would move only at one pace, and only when he felt like it. He also never liked to stick to the actual trail much, instead walking just far enough off of it to ensure that I was getting thoroughly scratched up by the thorns that lined the side. I'm pretty sure he hated me.


At one point, just after the peak of the trail, I caught up to the group only because they were all stopped. An English girl in our group had gotten off her horse and was crouched on the ground beside. She apparently wasn't feeling very good from something she ate a day ago, and with all the heat from the sun she had to stop as she thought she was going to be sick. Only a minute later she passed out completely for a good 20 seconds while her sister started freaking out trying to revive her. When she finally came to, she was completely delirious and was alternating between apologizing for the delay and asking for help. The gaucho took her on his horse and road her back down the hill for attention.

A scary few moments for all of us, but she was fine when we saw her later, just having been dehydrated and overexposed to the heat. We continued on our way down the hill, rather then waiting for the gaucho to return (as we probably should have). My arms show the reason why as I have a number of scratches from the thorns that overgrew the path on the right, when we obviously should have taken the path to the left!

Riding thru some thick brush

After we made it down, we had another quick ride on more open road where the horses could really move (mine trotted slightly, but that was all he would give), and then we stopped for lunch. The asado included all kinds of meat cooked up on the fire grill - ribs, steak, chorizo, etc. along with salad and potatoes. It was served on the beautiful patio of the ranch (which was at one time a convent - complete with a small chapel inside). All in all, a gorgeous day and we were pretty glad to spend it all outdoors before what we have coming up today...

A 23 hour bus ride for only a 2 day stop! Our longest trip yet, but the destination will be worth it. We are off to see the Iguazu Falls, which are taller and supposedly more magnificent then Niagara by a long shot.

MORE PICTURES!! A lot to catch up on...click here.

Worthy side trip

We arrived in Salta and enjoyed one day, only to leave again the next on a 4 hour bus trip to the small community of Cafayate. We were a little road weary at this point, having already spent a significant portion of the previous 48 hours on buses, but we couldn't pass up the opportunity to join our friends Gill and Ruth on this excursion to Argentina's second most significant wine region that is also the home of our new favourite little grape, the Torrontés.

The drive to and from Cafayate is one of the most unforgettable and breathtaking trips we have ever taken. The road splits the bright red mountains and winds around lush green valleys. I find the varying red mountains to be more spectacular then the snow covered peaks of southern Argentina and Chile, perhaps because they are so very different from what we have at home.


After dumping our bags and enjoying a quick lunch on the edge of the center plaza, we hopped in a cab for a short ride outside of the city to the first winery. By now, you would think we would have learned the lesson to follow through on our gut instinct of skip-tour-and-taste-only-please, but no...we suffered through another dry explanation of the process which only differs slightly from winery to winery. Would it hurt for them to hire tour guides that have even an ounce of enthusiasm for their job? Anyways...

We tasted four different wines with the majority of us favouring the white Torrontés, which is grown only in this region of the world. It has a very fruity aroma and carries through some sweetness to the otherwise dry, clear wine. It has replaced my previous favourite Pinot Grigio!

Winery entrance

The second and third wineries were without tour - taste only! More favouring of Torrontés, and a few bottles were purchased to enjoy later. After all of our wine touring thus far, we do now believe ourselves to be quite the experts. Except for maybe Gill, who on different occasions when inhaling the aroma of the wine, has claimed to smell hints of "tar", "seaweed", and my personal favourite: "rose hand cream on a tea cup". Hmmm. Perhaps she should keep her day job and give up her dream of becoming a sommelier (wine expert).

Next in order was a siesta before dinner! This was no normal siesta for me - apparently my body decided that a two hour nap was not enough, and I slept for 17 hours, straight through to the next morning. My road weariness caught up with me, and I missed out on the dinner of fine cheese, salami, grapes and of course, wine. Thankfully though I recovered in time for the next day and our next destination.

Another cab, this time for an hour out of Cafayate to see ruins from the Quilmes indians - an indigenous tribe that fiercely fought the Inca invasion of the 15th century before finally falling to the Spaniards in 1667. It was restored 30 years ago and is quite remarkable - it is one of the most important archeological sites in Argentina.

Pete atop the ruins

Back to Cafayate for ice cream and a bit of shopping, just enough time to soak in some of the quiet beauty of the town before getting back on the bus to the big city. We wished we had planned to stay a little longer as it is becoming clear to us that one of the greatest charms of Argentina is the many small, vibrant communities throughout, especially in the north west.

But, back we are in Salta for a few more nights, before a mammoth bus ride to see the Iguazu falls. We have a couple of these style bus trips coming up, which may result in a couple more mammoth siestas for us road weary travelers...

The Country Mice

From small town relaxin' to big city sweatin'...Monday afternoon we begrudgingly left Alta Gracia and rolled back into Cordoba.

And two nights in Argentina's second largest city was enough for us. The streets downtown are narrow and crowded, the traffic is frequent and loud. Our hostel was pleasant enough and remarkably clean (especially given it's immense size). But after only a few hours in the city, these country mice were ready to get on the next bus out.

We realize that we were being terribly unfair to Cordoba. There are many incredible sights to be seen - museums, immense churches, art galleries. In 2006 it was given the distinction of being the "cultural capital of the Americas" for good reason, and we didn't even give it much of a chance. However, we don't take all the blame.

Besides the crowding effect of the noise from the busy city - the extreme heat was completely intolerable - a muggy 43 degrees!! I realize that many of you will have no sympathy for us having to deal with extreme heat while it hovers around -30 back home, but SERIOUSLY, it was near impossible to take. All I wanted to do was strip down and lay flat out on the bed while the fan above me spun at full speed. And I did do that for much of the time!

Anytime we ventured out, we were sure to never be far from somewhere air-conditioned. We enjoyed a movie in a nice air-conditioned theater, walked through a mall just to cool down, and dipped into stores or coffee shops when necessary to escape the hot pavement. Pete actually said at one point: "Let's not walk down that street, it looks too sunny."

We did our best to take in some of the sights, with some failures (thanks to our dated version of Lonely Planet!) We went to see the restored Jesuit Crypts, but missed the opening hours due to some misinformation. We then wanted to take in the Museo de La Memoria - a museum dedicated to Argentina's military dictatorship - only to find the building torn down. We were pretty disappointed, especially given the sweaty effort it took to get to these locations.

We did, however, get to see some of the city's beautiful colonial architecture. We have heard from many people that Argentina has a very European flair, and we never really felt it before getting to Cordoba. It is a genuine mix of old and new, which is why it is a popular tourist destination. Another time...another temperature...and perhaps we will more thoroughly check it out.

Today we continued our trek north with another short bus ride to La Cumbre, a small town that is world renowned for it's paragliding. Aafke will be joining us once again tomorrow, and thus there is talk of more paragliding or perhaps even skydiving (I, however, choose life, and will sit this one out). Thankfully, there are plenty of other things to do in this little town to keep me occupied while they throw themselves out of a plane. Even if it means just sitting in our quaint, charming hostel and listening to the birds chirp outside our window, while the temperature hovers at a more tolerable 25 degrees. This country mouse is happy again.

A few pics of what we did see in Cordoba!

Iglesia Catedral

Inside Iglesia Catedral

Parroquia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus de los Capuchinos
Notice the missing steeple? It's omission was on purpose to symbolize human imperfection.