I really don´t have much of a name for this Entry

Okay, so I am pretty sure I have convinced Ignacio to go into business with me and let me open a bar in his hostel - What will it be called? Room 6, of course.

This week a new cast of characters wandered onto the Salmanca set..
..and then - as is always the way - wandered off this morning...

Kris and Catherine! What an awesome pair of Canadians, it is shame they had to wander off so soon, back to Buenos Aires and ultimately back to Montreal next week - and yet, I have no doubt that when my wanderings find me in Quebec I will meet them there.
We had a good couple of nights and one amazing afternoon Asado before the Argentina/Holland World Cup match.

An Asado is, in a way, like a barbeque but at the same time completely different. It is a huge grill suspended by chains in an open metal type of oven. The grill can be raised or lowered so that one can either smoke their meat, or keep it warm. Unlike most barbeques, these are not gas powered, but rather heated by wood and coals... With different types of wood, and thus flavors of smoke, a person can then change the flavors of the meat they are cooking in subtle ways..

4kg of steaks and sausages, salad and wine and the ten of us (5 Argentinians, 3 Canadians, and 2 Americans) sat down around the table on the patio for an amazing afternoon feast and conversation before making for the TV room so as to cheer on Argentina.
I have become quite the Futball fan.. It is unbelieveable how crazy this city gets when Argentina plays.

Tonight a group of 48 Chileans arrive for two nights - trouble is, there is only barely enough beds in the hostel for them. This is big business for Ignacio and so he has invited me to stay the weekend at his house with he and his wife until the group leaves on Sunday.

That is really all the news I have to share right now... I feel like I have abandoned the whole backpacker notion (that is, busing it from place to place to place simply for the sake of it) and found a place I´d like to stay awhile...
All the amazing people here have made it hard for me to leave. And I think to myself... This is what it´s all about, isn´t it? My first two months in South America were spent doing the lightning travel backpacker thing, hitting up one tourist location after another... And this last two (it´s been four months yesterday) has been spent almost entirely in a handful of spots. This is what it is all about, knowing the people... knowing the place - not simply the landscapes.
One month in La Paz, Bolivia was nice, but in retrospect (after being here) - it really was too long and not nearly the local experience that I have been shown here, mainly because I had not been spending much time with local people.
Salta Salta Salta...

Kris and Cath - safe journey and enjoy the rest of your week in South America!!!

Joseph N Sieben

A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years but a photograph always remains the same... You see them as you remember them.(Albert Einstein)

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