Salta

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Before coming to Argentina, we had never heard of Salta or Salta province before. However, many people we met while travelling recommended that we check out the chill atmosphere and the cacti. It was on our way North to Peru anyway, so we figured we’d spend a couple of days there. Unfortunately when we arrived, it was pouring rain so we did not get the best first impression. We spent our first day exploring the town and visited the Museum of High Altitude Shrines, which had some Inca child sacrificial mummies. I actually found this quite upsetting even though they showed no signs of having died in distress. There was a disclaimer before entering the chamber so they did give me the opportunity to opt out, but my curiosity got the better of me. Chuck was shat upon by a huge bird (or at least it had huge poops!) and we hoped that this meant we would have good luck in the rest of our stay in Salta! That night for dinner we went to a local barbecue place recommended by one of our hostelkeepers and I picked a random dish off the menu. It ended up being barbecued chicken smothered in cheese and mustard! It made me think of a pregnancy dish bac home, but I diligently washed it down with Sangria. What a sacrifice!
The next day, we arranged a day tour to Cachi which would take us through the Los Cordones National Park so we could see the infamous cacti. Our guide picked us up at 8am and we set out on the 3-hour drive through the lush mountain pass to the desert of the National Park. Our guide entertained us by giving little lectures on the local geology and flirting with the two Argentine girls that joined us on our tour. Cachi town itself was a little disappointing after the long drive, but we enjoyed a lunch of local meat stew and locally produced vegetables (at a tourist trap restaurant according to Chuck) and were awed by the huge hundred-year-old cordones. The clouds moved in as we drove back to Salta so we didn’t get to enjoy the views as much as we had hoped. I guess being pooped on by a bird is really only said to be good luck by those that get pooped on! That night we had a supermercado dinner at our hostel (soup and salad prepared by Chuck!) and enjoyed a bottle of wine that we’d brought from Mendoza. We had huge discussions in Salta about how to get through Bolivia to Peru and ultimately decided to go back into Chile and do a Salt Flats tour from San Pedro de Atacama rather than risk the unpredictable trains from the Bolivian border. Chuck still would rather have not taken the time to go to Atacama but I enjoyed it and I was able to relax and be confident that we would get to Cusco on time to do the Inca Trail on January 13th.

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Comments

[ML]

Hi from ML
What memories! I am off to Ottawa today with Lynn to get their affairs in order for them to be a away for the length of the trial Neil has been accepted into. It is REALLY cold here today and yesterday. Enjoy! Love, ML