Tarija

---

When we left for Tarija, my cousin joked that his brother would head to the airport when he saw the plane flying over the town...well it was no joke..he did wait to see the plane before heading over to pick us up.
Tarija is a small town..with two plazas and a handful of restaurants that served good Argentinean beef. It was small but in a nice, safe way.
The first couple of days there, we had great weather. Sunny, warm days that we spend driving around the little towns around Tarija and enjoying the beautiful landscapes.
Everything changed when the southern winds picked up. The icy, cold Patagonia winds arrived and continued for the days to come.
We tried to continue with our plans, which were to spend a whole week there but the winds were really making our visit there unappealing. Restaurants and homes are not build for protection from these cold winds but instead to remain cool during the summer heats. So, more than once, we ate at restaurants that had permanent openings to the weather.
The kids did enjoy the visits to the plaza, where we rented little motorbikes for them to ride. Thomas did get a chocolate birthday cake that he enjoyed taking bites of, and he really enjoyed all the Argentinean steaks!!
Angelica's favorite were the little crabs at San Jacinto, which you had to eat whole. If it had been up to her, we would have returned there everyday.
Half-way through our week there, the weather reports started mentioning the possibility of snow. Although it had not snowed there in over 15 years, we didn't take any chances and payed the small fee to change our flights to return to La Paz earlier. Turns out we left just in time because it did snow there the day after we left. It got as cold as -9°C or 16°F...

---