For about the last week I´ve been saying "In a couple of days I will be in Bolivia." Those "couple of days" are stretching themselves out far past even a few days. From Cordoba I was planning on going straight to Salta but changed my mind at the last minute and went to Mendoza. This was not actually the best idea logistically or in practicality and, largely because of this, Mendoza was a wash. Part of the problem was that I got sick the day I arrived in Mendoza so I wasn´t motivated to do anything. The other part of the problem was that last week was Semana Santa, which is basically a week of vacation for Argentinians. This meant that (1) the hostel I stayed in was booked up past Thursday and (2) the receptionist freaked me out when I arrived by saying that all of the buses to Salta might already be booked up so I went and booked my ticket to Salta the day I arrived in Mendoza. I really needed one or two more days in the area to have made the trip (Mendoza was out of the way) worth it. But, I´d already booked my ticket...so meh.
Salta. Salta is the real reason that I haven´t made it to Bolivia yet. I say that I am leaving tomorrow to head to the small Argentinian town of Tilcara for a few days...but...I haven´t booked my ticket yet...Why am I "trapped" in Salta? Simply because my days here have been wonderful. The city itself is one of the most beautiful cities in Argentina. Unlike Mendoza, which was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1800s, or Buenos Aires the architecture is largely colonial. In the areas around the city there are also a number of small towns with colonial buildings and cobblestone streets. It feels like a different country (its only 400km from Bolivia and you can see that in the people and feel it in the atmosphere) in some ways and is still very Argentinian is others.
My first full day here I took the bus to a town called Chicoana. This is a small town just 50km from Salta that is known for its "gaucho" culture. Gauchos are the Argentinian equivalent of an American cowboy. The town was cute enough but didn´t have much going on. While I was eating lunch at a plaza side restaurant a group of people, two adults and a bunch of kids, rode up on horses. As I watched them I thought "You know, I´m in gaucho country, I really should´ve booked a horse ride, but I already booked a tour for tomorrow and then I´m going north..." Then the people came up to me, handed me a business card, asked me if I wanted to go for a ride, and told me the price (which was way cheaper than any of the tours from Salta). So I went and it was magically perfect. It was just me and the Argentine guide who had lived his whole life in Chicoana. We rode up in the mountains and it was beautiful. He could tell that I´d ridden before so we galloped and ran the horses, it wasn´t just a boring, slow walking, trail ride. Up in the mountain we reached a meadow where there was this ageless old Argentine man with his cows and his goats and his dogs. The sun was perfect, lighting the place up golden, and there were hundreds of butterflies flitting about the purple flower bushes. It was just marvelous. On our way back down we crossed paths with the other guide, a dutch woman, who asked if I wanted to go back up the mountain with her and the non-spanish/english speaking french woman she was guiding. I said yes so I went back up the mountain and got to see just how perfect my first trip had been. Now the meadow was in shade and the butterflies and old man were gone. But the ride was still wonderful.
The next day I took a guided tour to a town about 150km from Salta. The tour was great, a really good tour guide and driver. The first hour was a bit rough cause I went out the night before with some folks from my hostel and only got like 3 hours of sleep...but after that it was just great fun. Most of the people on the tour were Argentinians who were on vacation for Semana Santa. Somehow that made the tour feel less "touristy" and more like I was really experiencing Argentina. It was just a great day! Back in Salta a few people from the hostel and I went out to a parilla and ate a lot of really good meat for not that much money.
Today and Israeli girl and I went out to the mercado and bought a bunch of food and then came back to the hostel and prepared an amazing feast for a group of us. The food was soooo good and the conversation was just as nice. There has just been this wonderful, relaxed, comfortable, smooth, happy vibe permeating my entire stay here. Which is why I´m having so much trouble leaving. But I´m pretty sure I´m going to leave tomorrow...pretty sure...I mean I only have 7 more weeks in South America before I return to the states and I still have to do Bolivia and Peru and I´ve been in Argentina for quite a while now...
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