We Can See the Andes!

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After another long and mostly sleepless night on a bus, we are now in Salta. Bill has named the zombi-like feeling we have "bus-lag". We arrived here this morning at 6:30, in a well-organized bus station...big clean bathrooms (but no toilet paper..the norm) and a great cafe with the best coffee I´ve had yet here.

We found a room at the first hotel we checked, and walked around town til it was ready. There are really beautiful buildings here...the town is sophisticated and friendly, but has a calm feeling to it. The weather this morning was cool and the air fresh and dry....a relief after the soggy heat of the past days. It is hotter this pm...supposed to be around 32 (about 86 or so).

We took a nap and then headed out for lunch, and touring more of the city and deciding what to do tomorrow.

We looked into some tours and took the cable car up a nearby hill. Once safely back down (it was very windy...!) We booked a 12 hour tour to a neaby mountain town (Cachi) for tomorrow...we leave at 7:00am, so I´m off to bed!

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Photos

Iglesia San Francisco
This the next most beautiful we´ve seen...only Taxco´s was better....This is 2 blocks from our hotel (Hotel Antigua del Convento). http://www.hoteldelconvento.com.ar/index.asp

Free range horses along the road
Accidents involving drivers hitting free ranging horses, dogs and cattle are numerous and the paper today has an article on this problem. Our bus had to veer around a horse yesterday...they were all over the place!

Shrine to "Gaucho Gill"
He was the local Robin Hood and is now considered a saint. At first we couldn´t figure out what the these shrines with red flags were....they looked Buddhist!

Details of the Iglesia
The "draperies" over the doorways are carved stone.

Part of the front of the main cathedral
It is a beautiful rose color...and there is a lovely park in the square in front.

Looking down as we go up the funicular
I was fine on the way up.....

On the terrace, having a beer
We sat with a young woman, Aurora, from Belgium, who is traveling for 7 months and will end up in Mexico City. We had a great conversation....and took the funicular down together.

Going down
We didn´t realize how much wind had come up...the car was really swaying....Bill stayed calm, of course!

Restaurant where we ate tonight
Another great meal for under $30....andf the wine is just right on the shelves by our table...no worries about stealing...