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Published: March 15th 2009
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So now I am in Salta, way up in the northwest of the country, a 20-hour bus journey north west from Buenos Aires. My journey to Salta got off to a bit of a bad start. I almost missed the bus: when the hostel booked my ticket, they phoned the bus company to find out what platform I should wait at. Well, the platform they had given me was at the opposite end from where my bus actually was waiting! I had a sneaking suspicion that something of the kind had happened (I guess I´m getting to know what Argentina can be like) so I started quickly walking up and down the platform, with both my backpacks on, looking for any signs of my bus. At this point, it was already 6:32pm , two minutes after my departure time, and unlike many other things in Argentina, long-distance buses tend to leave in time.
It´s a good thing I did, because there was my bus, almost ready to depart. I had to show my ticket to the driver who was already in his seat and had rolled up his window. I guess they had been waiting for me, because when he
got out to collect my luggage, he asked, slightly annoyed, "Where were you?" But then he introduced himself as Bruno, and it seemed like all was forgiven. Still, I felt pretty shaky thinking that I´d almost missed my trip!
There are always 2 drivers on a long-distance bus so that they can each take a 5-hour driving shift and then nap. Oddly, this bus was almost completely empty. This was my first time in a long-distance bus in South America which was not packed. I was sitting in the very first row of the top floor of the bus (a good view, with windows all around) and Bruno, the alternate driver, came up and sat beside me and started chatting. I didn´t mind: I always like to practice my Spanish whenever possible. But, after a while he started getting flirtatious in a sneaky kind of way, "innocently" asking me to translate certain phrases into English. So, after a moment of awkwardness I just turned to him and said (in Spanish,) "I´m not a dictionnary," and then tried my best to ignore him for the rest of the 20-hour journey, whenever he appeared. Egad!
I had a good feeling about Salta as soon as I arrived. It is a good small size, easy to walk around; the people here are exceptionally friendly, and also seem happy, healthy, attractive; the kids seem to be the cutest kids in the world! There are rolling green mountains surrounding the city in every direction. It´s far from any major urban centers, so you get the feeling that it is somehow cut off from the Big, Bad World.
Unfortunately the day after I got here I came down with a stomach bug: my first so far in 8 weeks (I´ve been lucky!) I was worried that it would drag on but today I am feeling pretty much back to normal. I am a little more weary of what to eat now, though.
Last night, when I was still feeling pretty crummy, I decided that I would feel better with an escapist trip to the movies! I walked over to the shopping centre, which was surprisingly new, clean and flashy. It was Saturday night, and the mall was just getting into full swing. There were tonnes of families there, hanging out, eating dinner at the food court, and going to the movies. It was actually a really good way to get the pulse of the town. Although Salta is not a sophisticated place in a cosmopolitan way, it was obvious from walking around the mall that the people of Salta are into looking good, going out and having fun. Everyone (including the kids) seemed to be in a particularly good mood, more so than anywhere else I´ve been in Argentina. Maybe it´s something in the air? There is also a restaurant and bar district here, which has a few martini bars, a sushi lounge, and many other very urban-looking bars. It is a confusing contrast: the flashy bars and the shopping centre full of imported American clothes, set against the classic, colonial architecture and clay houses everywhere. There is an absolutely gorgeous pink church here (yes, pink!) in the old Spanish style in the main square, and at night they light it up from underneath so it just glows pink.
I´ve been hanging out with 3 British people I´ve met at my hostel. Today we went to the most famous museum in town where you can see one of the 3 mummified Inca children that were found during an excavation in 1999. It was pretty eerie! And fascinating to learn about the Inca culture.
I think tomorrow I´m going on a 2-day excursion with these same British folks, to see the sights in this region: mountains, deserts...
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