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Published: November 20th 2009
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Yesterday morning in Salta was actually quite enjoyable. while we waited for our laundry we had time to visit 2 small museums, the museum of anthropology which was very interesting and the archaeology museum which houses 2 mummified inca children. fascinating stuff. it was my luck that it was free day at the museum so we saved about $15 entrance fee. we then hit the road north.
the road north to the province of jujuy is one lane. if you are picturing one lane going south and another going north then i have led you astray in thinking this. visualize one lane, winding up and down a mountain, sharp switchbacks, and one individual lane for 2 directions of traffick. sharing the road was a blast. i must say i am very happy not to be driving here and i am not what i would call a nervous driver. this place is nuts for driving. most intersections in town do not have stop lights or stop signs. when you get to an intersections it is every car for themselves. we never know whether to be aggresive and go for it or slow down and let the other guy pass. its a
challenge to say the least. we have only seen a handful of stop signs and no one stops at them. the police dont seem to care that no one stops at the signs .
the road north was another opportunity to take in the scenery. the route we took yesterday and today is so stunning that it has been designated a unesco world heritage sight.
our first stop was the town of jujuy (dont pronounce the j in spanish so it sounds like huahua) we again stopped at the square and found our very first english speaker working in a tourist information centre. he gave us some maps and suggestions on which towns to visit. since it was mid afternoon by the time we arrived in jujuy we were anxious to get going north and decided to leave visiting town for another day...if we had time.
on our route we first went through a picturesque valley of lush green trees and plants. i stopped and saw what i think you would call a geiser - it was water shooting up from the ground and smelling of sulfur. in no time at all the mountains again changed. we
saw moutains that looked like they had carvings in them and other mountains that were various different colours. it was so nice to see this. going up and down the moutain gave us an opportunity to see the views from up high and down low.
we stopped in a small village called purmamarca famous for the 7 colour moutain. the moutain in this ton is...you guessed it...7 different colours. the town itself has many small clay brick homes and even more hotels and tourists. on our way into town i heard this strange sound coming from the back seat of the car. you´ll never guess what it was? Malaya vomitting 3 times all over herself, all over her toys (nearly all of them were in her lap or next to her on the car seat). instantly the smell was foul. we pulled over and i put my hand in the vomit to undo the carseat and get her out. mark and i then spent the next 30 to 60 minutes doing the best job we could cleaning her up, cleaning up her toys, the car seat and the car. we had to take the car seat apart and remove
the car seat cover. she sat on the foam and we put a blanket underneath her. what a mess. it was utterly disgusting and the smell was foul. we had to turn off the a-c and roll down the windows for the rest of the day.
we then continued onward to salina grandes or the salt flats. that was cool to see. we drove offroad through fields of salt. we got out and walked around and malaya thought it was so much fun to run around there. she of course fell and scraped her knee causing it to bleed. the salt on the ground is very course and sharp.
on our way back to purmamarca through a windy mountain road, malaya got sick again. *sigh* another mess to clean up. this time she got sick on her blanket ,the foam for the car seat and on the outide of all the plastic bags we had on the floor that were full of vomit covered toys and clothes. so disgusting. i finally got a clue and thought to give her some gravol. that seems to have done the trick and she hasn´t been sick since.
we got a
hotel in purmamarca ' no air conditioning and no fan but a great room. my plan for the night was to put malaya to bed, soak the vomit covered crap, then give it a wash in the sink.
it didn´t go that way. after letting the shower run over everything for 30 minute and pouring soap on everything nothing came off. i had to literally take every single thing and scrub it with my bare hands in the sink. it was caked on there and let me just say the car seat cover is a honeycomb fabric and not easy to clean. what a nightmare. my back was killing me from leaning over the sink and scrubbing half the night.
after rinsing everything and scrubbing by hand i then had to wash it in laundry soap, rinse it, ring it out then hang it. malaya kept getting out of her bed during all this (mattress on the floor) and mark was gone to town to find us a very late dinner so i was on my own. i awoke in the morning to find all of our clothes dry....but still stinking of vomit. ahhhh i cannot believe i
washed all that for nothing. we had to return to town early today to find a laundrymat and i´m kicking myself for trying to wash it myself. never again.
today we awoke to have a yummy breakfast at the hotel including homeade bread. we continued our drive north to the town of humahuaca. there we had lunch and i went to every pharmacy in town looking for baby wipes. vomitfest 2009 left me dangerously low on wipes. nowhere in town had wipes but everywhere sold diapers. although there would have been some great trips to make today including seeing cave drawings and hot springs we just had to head south to town to find a laundry service and a store that carries baby wipes.
we are now in jujuy the large centre of the province. luckily we found laundry that can be finished in time for 9 a.m. tomorrow so we can catch our flight back to buenos aires in time and we got all the supplies we need. our hotel is even air conditioned and on a busy pedestrian street so i can go shopping.
this afternoon i visited a few colonial churches and did some
shopping. mark walked around looking for a laundry service.
tomorrow we drive back to salta ( 2 hour drive) then catch an afternoon flight to buenos aires. we have one night and one day in b.a. before we catch a light night flight back home. we fly sunday night at 10 p.m. and land in miami the next day at 4 a.m. we then hang out in miami until 1 p.m. when we fly to chicago and then we connect to ottawa. it will be a late night for me and then i have to go back to work the next day......do you feel sorry for me??????? i am very much looking forward to catching up on survivor and i´m hoping shambo is gone.
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Maureen
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Duh moi
Was just sitting have a glass of vino contemplating what's on the menu here tonight.........then I blindly open your travel story...........thanks Andrea - think it'll be dry crackers for me...........Elwood can order in for himself!! :)))) Do feel for Malaya, poor kid. Think you had your own 'Survivor' show!! Sad when holidays come to an end, but you really did make good use of your time and saw LOTS. Enjoy the rest of your time and hope your trip home, albeit it long, goes smoothly. Thanks a million for allowing me to join your vacation...........xoxo