| Dec 16, 2005 - Salta, Argentina
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 | Salta's wierd pink cathedral
| | Salta's beautiful and sunny and clean Plaza de Armas
| | Scott at the sidewalk cafe for our first breakfast
| | A fountain in a park in Salta
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 | Better lighting for the same shot, but the boat left
| | A children's traditional dance performance I stumbled upon one day
| | One of the dancers
| | View of Salta from the gondola
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 | View in another direction from the gondola
| | Katie, Tanner, Carmin and I, at the end of the gondola ride
| | Looking back at the gondola from the top
| | Another of the gondola
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 | Me and the gondola
| | Carmin and Ash, in the hostel kitchen
| | Katie sitting in the kitchen
| | Tanner cookin up a mean steak
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 | Top panorama of the San Francisco church
| | Bottom panorama of the SF church
| | A single shot of the upper part of the SF church
| | A single shot of the lower part of the SF church
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 | Another shot of that glorious plaza
| | The plaza from a different corner
| | Inside the plaza itself
| | Top panorama of pink cathedral
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 | | Bottom of pink cathedral panorama
| | A street in Salta and the gondola hill in the back
| | One of Salta's many awesome pedestrain walkways
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| After all that travel we finally arrived in Salta, on Wed the 14th, and the whole group of us from the bus down decided to check into a hostel together. That means the 6 travelling together, Scott from California, Yountae, the French girl Marine, as well as Griet, Ami and I. It was quite a crew, but we all fit.
Now some of you may have heard this from me already, and I mention it in another entry as well, but arriving in Salta from Bolivia made Argentina seem like an absolute paradise. We were down from the altitude (at least 10,000ft) I had been at since before Cusco, the weather was sunny and very hot, and we had left the 3rd world to a much more modernized, clean, quiet, and yet still cheap way of life. Suddenly I was wearing shorts and sandals and was in the middle of summer. We got into Salta in the late afternoon, and our hostel was having an all-you-can-eat Barbeque feast that night. I wasn't feeling all that hot, but had heard so much about the steak and wine in Argentina I couldn't pass it up. I gorged myself silly, since it was some of the only food I had eaten in 48 hours. I ate as much as I possibly could, which wasn't nearly as much as it would be on a normal day, and it was all simply unbelievable. It was sharp contrast- the sickness that I got in Bolivia now battling with the savory juices of Argentina sliding down my throat.
After a long dinner a bunch of us went out to see what Argentina had to offer, but I couldn't stay out quite as late as the rest since I was still pretty worn out (which just means I was back before sunrise). The next morning Scott and I walked out to the Plaza de Armas and had breakfast at an outdoor cafe. It was here that I realized how strongly I really loved Argentina, and that I would be staying in Salta longer than expected. At first we weren't sure just what it was, but then it hit us, the absence of annoyances. There was no noticeable air pollution, no cars honking, barely any trash on the street, and not a single person or restaurant worker trying to grab you or hock things as you walked by. You were actually able to just walk around as a tourist and not be bothered, something which had yet to happen on my entire trip up to that point. Originally I thought I'd pass through here and rest for a day or two, then head on to Cordoba to see another town before arriving in Mendoza, which I had also planned to do a day earlier than Harris to get things ready. Well, all that changed. I stayed in Salta for 5 nights and barely did anything during that time. By that I mean anything typically traveller-ish. Like I said, I was on vacation. I really liked this new group of people I had found, even more so becase Ami and Griet both left to return home soon after we got to Salta, and the group of 6 adopted me well into their crew. It was 2 Americans (Brian and Tanner), 2 Canadians (Carmin and Nate), a Canadian girl they had met up with (Katie), and an Australian guy (Ash). Along with others from the hostel as well, we explored a bit of what the city had, such as a gondola ride for a cool view, played a soccer game with some of the hostel workers that left me sore for days, and lots and lots of cheap delicious steak. There was a supermarket right down the street from the hostel, and you can cook yourself a big steak with sauteed onions and mushrooms, wash it down with a nice bottle of wine, and not pay more than 3 or 4 dollars. The heat was also made tolerable by amazingly fresh ice cream on almost every street corner, where a double scoop was less than a dollar. Yes, it was easy to get stuck here, and by the end of it I had made plans to meet back up with some of these people for New Year's and for the Patagonia leg of my trip. Oh, we also saw a lot of the nightlife, did I mention that? Turns out that first night was the only sunrise I missed.
I've got one more cool story to share, and its about soccer. While we were in Salta the Latin America cup finals were going on. As I understand it, its like a mini world cup with teams from all over Central and South America. The two finalists were Boca Juniors, a team from just ourside Buenos Aires in Argentina, and the Pumas, a team from Mexico. There was a 3 game final and so far they had split the frist 2 games 1-1. So Sunday night was the final and decisive third game, and we decided to watch it in a bar that had a giant TV screen and some local fans as well. Most of the locals were supporting their favorite national team, with only a few of them against Boca because in the national league they are rivals with the other top Argentina team, River Plate. Its sorta like the Mets-Yankees. Even if the Mets are out of the World Series, you will route for anyone to just beat the Yankees, and so a few people in town were for the Pumas, but not much, and they were a quiet bunch. The game was fantastic, but only as exciting as a 0-0 game can be. It was definitely an experience watching it in that bar though. So it came down to penalty shot to decide the title. Each team got 5 kicks, and the two teams matched each other exactly on every round. When one missed, the other missed, when one scored, the other scores. Damn the tension was mounting. So now it was sudden death penalty kicks, and the goalies were up. Pumas goalie went first, got the Boca goalie to dive the wrong way, but then shot wide left and coudn't convert on the large opening he had. So then the Boca goalie was up. He shoots, and he scores... and all hell breaks loose. The cheering and partying starts up in the bar, and then as we start walking back to our hostel it gets taken to the streets. The central plaza becomes the immediate meeting and celebrating point, and people are marching around the square chanting and dancing and jumping, lighting off fireworks and just making a scene. The riot police are there and ready, but they don't have to interfere. Caravans of cars are driving around with devoted fans leaning out the windows and yelling loyalties to their favorite team. This is centered around the plaza, but the ripples can be felt all over Salta. It was quite a spectactle to behold, and I'm so glad I witnessed it. I can only imgaine what Buenos Aires must have been like. |
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