More amazing travels!

Hi! How are you?
Hola! Cómo estás?
Ciao! Come sta é?
Ni hâo! Ni hâo ma?
Bonjour! Se va?
Shalom! Ma nishma?

I've been accumulating how to say "Hi! How are you?" in different languages... So far I can correctly say this in English, Español, Italiano, Chino, Francés, y Hebrew.

Last week I took one of the bigger trips of the semester. It's crazy the amount of traveling we have been able to do; I would compare it to traveling to every major city in the United States within 5 months. But hey, how often do I get to be in South American?

The trip was to northern Argentina. The plan was to explore and get a feel for "the real Argentina." I had no idea how different the rest of Argentina was from Buenos Aires. So I left Buenos Aires on Tuesday and arrived in the northern city of Salta after a 20 hour bus ride. In the bus terminal, Susan and I were immediately greeted by a young girl. She asked us if we wanted to come to a grill-out and party that evening! This simple action is evident of the difference between Buenos Aires and the other provincias. It's not that Porteños are mean (people from Buenos Aires are called porteños) but they are slightly less open to people. Everyone in Salta welcomed the two little American girls with open arms.

We settled into our hostel, Hostel Quara, and then sat down with Gonzalo. Gonzalo is a friend of Javier's and we were able to save a TON of money. Gonzalo told us about all of the amazing things to see in northern Argentina and the tours he had to offer. Tours are really the way to go when you want to explore the north. The guides know everything about the history, the people and the culture. It makes the experience 100% better. Gonzalo gave us a huge list of options but Susan and I had to be at least somewhat responsible with our money, so we chose two excursions; one to Iruya, a little city surrounded by the Andes mountains, and one to Las Salinas Grandes, a huge desert of pure, white salt.

The first night we spent in Salta. Susan and I just decided to walk around and get a feel for the city. It was dusk and the night was beginning to kick off and as we walked around Plaza 9 de Julio we noticed how much more relaxed people were. There were so many people around, it was like a carnival. We even bought some cotton candy from a street vendor. The huge puff of pink sugar only cost 2 pesos (60 cents) and tasted like raspberry. It definitely beats the 6 dollar cotton candy that you buy at the state fair!!! After inquiring with a few Salteños, Susan and I made our way over to a local favorite called Yovi. We had fresh-squeezed lemonade and homemade Arroz Chileño. It's a chilean style rice dish with ham, peas, and an amazing spiced sauce. To top it off, we shared a serving of homemade dulce de leche ice cream before making our way back to the hostel!

I woke up at 6 am the next morning to start the first excursion: Iruya. Our guide, Francisco, picked us up and we hoped in the car. It was Susan and I with another couple, Carlos and Cecilia. Carlos and Cecilia are two of the nicest people ever. They are just like my own parents and Cecilia took care of us as if we were her own daughters. The two-day trip took us north of Salta through the province of Jujuy and up to a few different little towns. On the way there we passed some of the prettiest landscapes I've ever seen. We drove alongside the Andes, which are made up of layers of different minerals. One particular "mountain" is called "El Cerro de Siete Colores" The 7-colored hill. (I'm not sure why they call them hills, because they are definitely mountains!)

It's hard to describe the drive up there. We were in a little buggy car with our guide, Francisco, who is incredibly knowledgeable about his country. He was also very poetic and told us some of the best stories about northern Argentina. He even sung to us, along with Carlos, who is fluent in Argentine folk music. Carlos and Cecilia are from Buenos Aires, about my parents age and have children about the same ages as Susan and I. Cecilia was a teacher...so she loved helping us with our Spanish. We chatted the whole way there while Carlos and Francisco serenaded us from the front seat. We stopped in Purmamarca first. This is where we saw El Cerro de Siete Colores. They also had a really great market with handmade crafts. I did a little Christmas shopping! Second we visited Tilcara; where we got to see the ancient ruins of the Incas. Finally, at about 2 in the afternoon, we stopped in Humahuaca for lunch. I loved Humahuaca, it was such a cool little pueblo. The buildings are all made of adobe and stone. (There is actually a law against building more modern buildings!!!) As a result of the construction laws, the culture and lifestyle of Humahuaca remain very simple and cultural. We had lunch in a local diner. Francisco told us that the owner/waiter was nicknamed "Cigüeña" or "Stork" because of his belly. (They joke about him having a baby, in essence) Cecilia, Carlos and Francisco ordered for Susan and I. We ate some of the best empanadas ever, followed by Locro. Locro is a tipical Argentine soup made with a pumpkin base and chorizo sausage. It was soo tasty!

After Humahuaca we started the "tough" part of the trip. To get to Iruya, we literally had to drive OVER the mountains. We followed a winding dirt road up the side of the mountains until we got to the very tip of the "hill." It was amazing...we were INSIDE a cloud. It was SO cold!!! On our way up to Iruya (3 hour ride up in total) we were stopped by groups of children. They ran up to our car and our guide, Francisco, stopped and asked them what we could bring them. We chatted for a while with one particular group of 7 brothers and sisters. They were precious. They asked for school supplies and a soccer ball...it was so adorable. I saw their house; a little TINY adobe house, about 10 ft x 10 ft. It was hard to fathom them all living there. Francisco told them we'd meet them the next day on our way down the mountains.

When we finally got to Iruya, I was in a state of constant awe. The mountains all around us, the simplicity, the people....everything. It was incredible. We arrived at about 6 pm and found a hostel in the "Plaza." The town of Iruya is situated on a hill. At the top of the hill is a super nice, pink hotel. At the bottom is the Plaza and the church. Susan and I took a walk up to the top of the city...It was simply beautiful. For dinner we went to a local place with Francisco, Cecilia and Carlos. The plate I had was a variety of Iruyan potatoes, homemade cheese and a budín de Quinoa. I'm not sure how to describe the last part in English, to be honest. It's kind of like a tart made of rice?...but way better! We sat and chatted about school, food, family and fútbol of course! Carlos and Francisco are inchas de Boca. (HUGE fans of the Boca Juniors!) It was freezing in Iruya because of the altitude, so after dinner we just crawled under our blankets and went to sleep!

When we woke up, we ate homemade bread and marmalade before packing up the car. As we began our journey back down the mountains, Francisco spit out a few jokes and sung a few songs. It was a merry little ride. About half way down the mountains, the family of kids met us. We brought clothes, school supplies, candy and food for them. We ended up getting out of the car for a bit because our guide had to help another vehicle change their tire. I sat and chatted with one of the youngest little girls, Milly. She´s 2 and I have a picture with her...she's the cutest thing ever. It was sad though, they have no running water... the driest skin. Like I said, all of them live in a house the size of my bedroom at home! Milly could barely whisper because her mouth was so parched. I was so touched, but she is the most beautiful little girl. I met her mom too...she had her youngest son strapped to her back, he's not even 1 yet. When we got back in the car I was in tears. These kids are stranded and live a life I could never imagine. Our guide told us that the groups who claim to help the impoverished never actually come out to Iruya because it is such a far and complicated drive. It was so humbling.

We went through Humahuaca again and then Jujuy. It is so rich in culture in the north. When we stopped in the plaza in Jujuy there was a group of young kids walking around the plaza playing music. And the countryside is just incredible. Francisco told us all about his life in Argentina and why he became a guide. It was so touching, really. He just loves showing others his part of the country.

When we got back to Salta, Susan and I both took long, hot showers. It felt good to be back in the city even though it had been amazing to see raw Argentine culture. We made plans the evening to go to a peña with Francisco, Carlos and Cecilia. A peña is like a local restaurant where they have huge quantities of impeccably-grilled Argentine meat and local music. We ordered empanadas and tamales to start with a bottle of wine. The main course was a "grill for two" which came with every variation of meat possible. We tried morcilla (blood sausage), chorizo (my favorite!) and different cuts of steak. It was the most meat I've ever eaten in my life...my father would have been proud. We topped the meal off by sharing a slice of Milhoja. It's a really typical Argentine cake that is made with a million little layers of thin crunchy pastry and dulce de leche and then covered with a layer of meringue. In Salta, they add nuts and honey too! Delicious.

The restaurant was separated into 8 different rooms, like authentic peñas should be. People bring their own instruments; guitarras, drums, maracas (made of bones and shells!) and pipas (widdled wooden flutes). Everyone plays old folk songs and sings along. There are separate rooms so more than one group of people can play and sing at the same time. It was an "embole" (craziness) but I loved it! Carlos and Francisco knew every song and even took turns playing the different instruments; they are incredibly talented men! All in all, it was an amazing dinner and an even better show that followed. I was about to explode from the sheer amount of culture I was taking in...I have officially fallen in love with Argentina.

After dinner Francisco, Susan and I went to a local karaoke bar. We ordered a tall bottle of Quilmes to share and sang our brains out. Susan and I didn't know half the songs but it was still fun. A couple of our favorites came on including "Laura No Esta" and "Bendita Tu Luz" so we got up and grabbed the microphones. There was a crew of Argentine girls there that got a kick out of the two little American girls singing Latin songs. They even gave us a shout out! Afterward, we walked back to the hostel (at a decent hour) and tolerated an absurd amount of whistling on our way. I crashed into my bed and slept like a rock.

The next day I woke up late, at about 10, and had medialunas with cafe con leche for breakfast. It was a beautiful day and Susan and I had nothing planned. We walked around Salta for a couple hours before grabbing lunch at Doña Salta. This place in KNOWN for their empanadas and now I know why. They were the best. My favorite was the jerky empanadas. (Once again, I wish my dad would have been there to try one too.) Later that afternoon we took a little trip to Coronel Moldés, with two of our French friends for UCA in Buenos Aires too. (By coincidence, they were visiting Salta too!) It was about an hour ride to see "el dique" which translates to "dam" but it is actually a huge (artificial) lake. Everything was beautiful. I really can't say that enough! We walked over to the bridge where a big fishing tournament was going on. We were very out-of-place between all of the Argentinian fisherman. We ran into a Argentinian family on a day trip to el pueblo and the father politely asked us where we were from, knowing we were all foreign. We timidly revealed our patrias, USA and France. The man responded by saying "How important! Can my daughter take a picture with you?!" We were shocked! To be honest, I am usually fairly sad to have to reveal that I am, in fact, not a Latina. (At least not through blood because everyone knows I am in my heart!) We took the picture and talked to the family a little longer...they were so impressed with our language skills!

The next day I woke up at 6 am again for another excursion. We jumped in a van with 2 girls from Italy, an Argentine guy named Augustín and a quirky lady from BA named Lydia. This trip took us through the northwestern part of the country. We saw "El Tren de la Nubes" (Train in the Clouds), ruins from ancient Incas and Las Salinas Grandes. Las Salinas Grandes are an area of land like a desert. The only difference is that, instead of sand, the ground is all white salt! Millions and millions of years ago, there was a sea there and over time, the water evaporated and left huge quantities of salt behind. The people from the region manufacture salt from the Salinas. The workers are subjected to conditions that are really unhealthy and their skin and hands are so dry they look like clay.

Our last day in Salta, we woke up and went to the market. It was a huge warehouse where the local farmers bring their crops and indigenous women bring spices and handmade crafts. Susan and I bought fresh strawberries, mangos and cheese for lunch. The strawberries are in season right now and they are incredible. It reminded me of when I used to go strawberry picking with my family in Wisconsin...the tastiest little morsels of sweetness. Yummy! We spent the rest of the day at the hostel and chatted with our new friends from Isreal in the hostel. They played songs on their guitars and we sang along, most of the songs being American. Before jumping on the bus to head back to Buenos Aires we sadly said our goodbyes. Not for long though, because in two weeks we have plans to go to Oktoberfest in Córdoba and they decided to meet up with us there!

I live such a amazing life, here and when I'm in the states. This trip was just as amazing as Iguazú but in a completely different way. My trip to Salta taught me a lot:

Northern Argentina is completely different from Buenos Aires. The people in the north live a very different, distinctive lifestyle. Part of me wishes I would have studied abroad in a smaller city in Argentina, however, I would never trade the experience I have had.

Milly taught me not take for granted the opportunities and blessings I have been fortunate enough to have in my life.

Francisco and his passionate love for his own country showed me the beauty of the "real" Argentina.

The family from "el dique" made me proud of my accomplishments and proud to be from the United States, no matter how twisted "the American way" can be sometimes.

and so, so much more. It was a weekend that I find hard to describe, but I hope I did it justice.

Thanks for reading! I send my love!

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