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Well it´s officially our second week in Argentina and I hope it keeps getting better! What an awesome time we had yesterday...
So we had to get up at 620am to leave for our 14 hour tour. The sun doesn´t rise around here until about 8 or 830 and then the mountains block it out until nearly 10 so we had a chance to get a nice nap in before it got too bright. But once we got out of the city and up into the mountians we didn´t want to nap anymore. I can´t do it justice in words but we have about ten thousand pictures so they should be better once we can get them up.
Speaking of pictures what dummies we are. we get on the bus in the morning only to discover my batteries are nearly dead and so is jacquelines. so we had to ration the pictures until lunchtime so we could get some more juice. but most of the morning was just driving so we managed to gfet some pics of the important stuff. crisis averted!
First we drove up through the mountains and saw our first ´natural´cactuses (cacti?) ever. They grow everywher and they aer so cool. Then we stopped at a town (i use the word loosely - about 3 houses and 20 people on the side of a dirt road)... very cute though, and the people here are much different than in Buenos Aires. Not european at all, much more native like. so there were some ancient inca ruins just above the town which were pretty cool. but of course me being the klutz that i am i managed to slip on some rocks and tumbled down a little path and tore half the skin off one of my legs. hurts like a sonofabitch still but at least there was a first aid kit so i got it all cleaned up right nice. nothing deep just lots of scratches so i´m not too worried about it now and its packed with polysporin...
All morning we kept steadily climbing up into the mountains and it kept getting colder and colder. In the middle of the day with the sun blaring and we were very close to the tropic of capricorn but it was only 6 or 7 degrees and all the rivers were frozen solid unless they were out in the sun. very strange country indeed. after a while there weren´t even any cactuses growing. just some srubby little trees. there was even snow on top of some of the mountians.
for lunch we stopped in a little town called San Antonio de los Cobras.... no scary snakes anyways.. not much of anything except llamas and donkeys and asses.. Oh speaking of llamas I ATE SOME yesterday... yes I ate llama. and i must say it was pretty delicious too. tasted almost something like caribou, kinda gamey... for lunch in san antonio we got a half chicken and potatoes or salad for 3 bucks. not too bad.
so with some juice in jacqs camera we headed off to the salt flats. I knew these things existed but to actually see them is mental. It´s a huge HUGE flat plain in among the mountains and its all white. and hard. and SALT. nothing growing, no hills, no nothing. just salt salt and more salt. not grainy like table salt but hard packed like rocks. there are some families that sell it for the huge price of 14 pesos per TONNE. (about 5 Canadian dollars)... obviously these people are pretty poor. and they live in the middle of nowhere. i can´t understand how they do it but somehow it works..
after the salt flats we headed back up even further into the mountains and at the highest pass we got out to take a picture at the sign - 4170m above sea level. we walked a little ways down the road and then kinda hurried back up to get a pic at the sign and we got all dizzy and nauseous... first time experiencing high altitude. you gotta be careful its so hard to catch your breath. but very exciting. lots of good views of the mountains from up there but VERY cold. everyone on the tour with us couldn´t believe i only had shorts on. but then i told them i was from canada and they figured it was nice and cold at home so i was used to it. hahah
so finally we headed down out of the mountains oin a crazy winding road and made it down to a town a little lower down where even trees would grow and got to look at some crafts, and then on back to salta to pass out after a super long and excellent day.
this morning we had a nice sleep in and checked out of the hostel. now we´re just killing a few hours until our bus leaves at 3 for mendoza. only 17 hours this time - not too bad. and we have the good cama seats so sleeping should be a breeze. hopefully they´ll show some good movies again this time - we saw x-men3 on the way here and thats still showing in the theatres at home!
better get going, this is getting way out of hand in length. see you all in mendoza!
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Carol
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Goodbye Salta
Glad you guys are having such a good time. I guess it is less tiring when the weather is cooler. Take care. Mom