Salta La Linda

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I spent the last 5 days in Salta and just got back at 8am this morning with class at 1030. the trip though was awesome!

Tuesday: 20 hour bus ride from BA to salta. It was actually a lot more bearable than i thought. buses in argentina are expensive but super nice. they bring you wine and food and the chairs recline with blankets and pillows. i watched a movie, ate and passed out until the next morning.

wednesday. we got in around 330pm and found a guy who was supposed to take us to our hostel. i expected there to be a bus or van of some sort but he just put us in a taxi and told the driver the address. we went to Backpacker´s hostal salta...but we couldn´t stay there. Susana and i didn´t bring our passports because we were told that you could just have a copy on you. i started to freak out, and susana too, because the guy told us that we woulnt be able to stay anywhere in salta or go anywhere. he wanted us to call someone back in BA and have them send a color copy of our passport with an authorized police signature. after calling everyone i could think of and not getting a hold of anyone, i called another girl in our program who i knew was staying at another hostal. thankfully she said that they only needed to know the number and that they had space. susana and i hopped in a cab and made it to the hostal (but not without getting lost along the way). we finally checked into the hostal and were so happy to be there. the hostal was awesome, everyone was really chill, and i took a much needed shower. then we walked around the plaza, found some food, and headed back to our hostal where we just hung out and got to know everyone in the hostal.

thursday: the next day we booked a day tour for 270 pesos ($64US). we left at 7 am and got into trucks and set out for all the sights of the area. it was amazing. we went to salt flats, and tiny villages. words can´t even express how amazing things were so i´ll upload pictures soon. oh and i ate llama, yep llama. one downside was that the trip was so long...lots of driving. we went up to really high altitudes which was awesome, but made me really sick. it didnt help that the whole ride back to salta was super long and winding and i was sitting in the middle. we got back, showered and headed out to get empandas. i thought i was doing ok until we got to the restaurant. i ran into the bathroom to yak. uggh it was aweful. i also threw up on the walk back home. but after that i felt so much better. everyone at the hostal was partying and hanging out which i wished i could do but i just passed out instead.

Friday: we left at 8am for cafayate. our driver from the day before agreed to drive us to and from salta for 210 (50 us). he was awesome too. his name was Mario and kept calling me and another girl Chica Sexy because we were wearing shorts. the drive to cafayate was so beautiful. it was like driving through all of the canyons and mountains of utah and colorado. we also stopped at some wineries and tasted some wine. oh and i bought a bottle to bring home with me. i loved cafayate when we got there. it was amazing. the town felt super safe and everything was concentrated around the plaza area. we had lunch checked into our super cute hostal and rented bikes. the bike ride was way cooler than i thought it would be. we rode through the wineries with the mountains in the background and it was beautiful. then we got back and had dinner, empandas...again. empanadas are so cheap here and delicious so its hard not to want to eat them all the time. there wasnt much nightlife going on at the hostel so we just hung out on the roof and went to bed early.

saturday: we woke up and packed up all of our things to check out of the hostal. some people went on another bike ride but i decided to just hang out on the roof. after so much traveling it was nice to just hang out in the hammock and listen to music. we ate some more empanadas in la casa de empandas and headed back to salta. we stopped along the way to hike and it was gorgeous. then we arrived back in salta and were happy to check back into the same hostal that didn´t need a passport. saturday night we went out. i always forget how late the nightlife is here. we hung out drinking and talking until 2am and finally left for a boliche called wasabi. it was fun and we stayed until 430ish. i lost susana and suze but we couldn´t find them and wanted to go home so i took a cab with 3 other people. suze somehow made it back but susana came home at 830 the next morning with a police officer. she was crying hysterically and the officer asked me to identify her. i was so glad to have her back. apparently she had been hanging out with some people at a house they weren´t supposed to be at and the owner called the police. everyone split and she was left alone. she said she tried to make it back but no one believed that she was staying at la linda.

sunday: we packed everything up and made our way to the bus station to head back to Buenos Aires. i pretty much slept the whole way home and we got in this morning.

monday: its great to be back in the city. the weather is wonderful and people are breaking out tshirts and hanging out in the park. its weird to be back but also really comforting. i missed everyone. but now...i cant wait to travel to other places. you meet so many people, i practiced a lot of spanish, and it made me happy that i was able to successfully get myself to places. chau!

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