Blogs from Salta, Argentina, South America - page 63

Salta La Linda We arrived in Salta after a 28hr bus ride, stopping only for police searches and a change at Tucuman. We checked into the lovely Provincial Plaza hotel at 0100 and got some much needed shut eye. ´Salta La Linda´ (Salta the Pretty) truly lives up to its name! It is by far our favourite city to date. The people are very friendly and take true pride in the appearance of their city. All historic and religious buildings have been well maintained and by night come alive with colourful lights. Salta is the most happening centre of northern Argentina, filled with a passionate (Cupid definitely lives here!) youthful population, plenty of fine cafes, restaurants and shops. It is also a popular stop for travelers heading both north and south. It is also a handy ... read more

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 ... read more

This place dad went to for just one thing......Wine. He said they have some great wine there, including his favorite, San Pedro de Yacochuya. I cant believe he came all the way out here for that winery. There was some others wineries as well. The taxi ride from Salta to Cafayate was beautiful....we passed through awesome canyons. I even got to see some llamas. After the wine tasting, he finally let me go to a place where I could do some tasting....Goat cheese tasting...Yummy. We stayed at a wine resort and I really liked the big chef. It was the only place where we did not stay at a hostel. While I missed all the people coming in and out of hostels, this place was a nice change, and as always, I received a lot of ... read more

I shared in the renting of a car with two nice Italians that I met in the very sociable hostel in Salta (Terra Oculta-it was three days of barbeques, picnics, partying and ping pong with a bunch of about 8 of us). Giacomo is from Imola and Umberto is from Naples. Being conscientiously cautious about getting in a car with unknown drivers (that one´s for you Dad), the day before our departure I casually asked Umberto if he had driven in South America before. The answer was 'No. But I live in Napòli. It´s an urban JUNGLE.'(he said the word jungle very slowly and with great emphasis). HAppy with this I said 'Good, you can do all the driving then'. We drove from Salta to Cachi to CAfayate, a spectacular (but long) dusty day trip through ... read more

Hola, Sometimes things happen on this trip that I just need to put down. Yesterday I found a small bar just off the central plaza to watch the Argentina vs. Ivory Coast soccer (er, Football) game that had the town shutting down its stores and crowding its bars. Soon into the game, after I had drank quite a bit of beer, I gots to talkin' to the bar owner's son and his friends, all of which roughly my age and mostly all wearing Argentina's baby blue and white jersey. We drank quite a bit while talking about this and that (I was a bit surprised at how they didn't really watch the game all that intently, more an excuse to socialize and drink, just like in Canada). After the game, which Argentina won, the town - ... read more