The first thing I spotted when I left my hostel to go for a wander was that the mullet haircut is well and truly alive in Salta. Every male (and some females including my good self after my disastrous haircut in Santiago, Chile) was sporting this 1980s hairdo. They also were a mixture of indigenous and non indigenous in appearance which was somewhat different to the more European like areas Id visited in the South.
As you can imagine,I would have blended in perfectly had it not have been for my milky bar white skin...
Ugly haircuts aside, Salta is a pretty place, with lots of Hispanic looking churches and cathedrals owing to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.
Plaza 9 de Julio |
Iglesia Catedral |
Spaniards even left a street named after their country! |
Iglesia San Francisco |
That morning we visited the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo (MAC) which had a rather interesting photography exhibition about indigenous fiestas and carnivals. However it only reminded me once again how I wished I had gone to the carnival in Rio or El Salvador, or any carnival for that matter! I guess its another excuse to return to South America... : D
Not impressed with her outfit... |
Equally unimpressed with her hat... |
This picture was shot in Cuba - that's Havana in the background |
In the afternoon we went up San Bernardo Hill via the teleférico which is a Swiss made cable car. It was a pleasant ride up, that is until the cable cars decided to stop half way up! After a few minutes (and some rather sweaty palms...) it set off again. The views from the top were spectacular even despite the weather being overcast and a bit drizzly.
The entrance to the teleférico |
Inside |
I wished Id got that cable car as mine had perspex windows which are terrible for taking photos through :( |
We did : ) |
Vista from the top |
Birds on a wire |
Afterwards we ate lunch in a local parilla restaurant. After my epic illness, I stuck to my usual lomo milanesa which turned out to be the size of the table it was so big. I managed to eat half and then promptly gave up and had to take the rest back to the hostel with me for dinner. Waste not, want not!
The hostel we were staying at was nice albeit a little on the quite side for my liking. Literally there were hardly any people staying there. Had I not already reserved my stay there then I would have moved, but given it was clean and in the centre of town then I stayed. The owners were also very sweet and helpful so I mustn't grumble.
Today we visited the Museo de Alto Montaña (Museum of High Altitude Archaeology) which one of my Spanish friends Espi had recommended I visit. Given it was $40 Argentine pesos to get in I was expecting it to be amazing! Thankfully it was really interesting and I would have bought the entire contents of the museum shop had I not been going to Bolivia where most of the items were going to be a lot cheaper...
The museum focuses on three children (two girls and a boy) who were found buried frozen on the now dorment volcano Mount Llullaillaco which is situated in the province of Salta in 1999. Nothing unusual there I hear you say, until you realise that these three children were sacrificed as part of a ritual offering by the Incas. Basically they were drugged with Chicha which is fermented corn and buried alive. The premise was that by sacrificing these children (whom were normally chosen due to their looks and breading) they would protect the surrounding towns by watching over them ensuring good harvests etc..
They were found 6700 metres above sea level together with all their ritual objects, which
were also in perfect condition. Each object represented aspects of the social and religious life in the Inca world. For example the boy had a miniature llama which represented a shepherd which is a typical male job.
Illustration showing how each child was found and the items with them |
The bodies, of which only one of the girls was on display in the musuem, had all been preserved since their discovery by using cryopreservation. This is basically a conservation technique using low temperatures.
It was weird looking at the preserved body of the little girl who apparently they estimate was six years old. Her face was black in places where after her burial, during some moment in the last few centuries, a bolt of lightning struck her. Fascinating.
We weren't really allowed to take pics but I snuck these ones in (without flash obviously!) shhh!...
typical headdress |
typical necklace |
The empanadas in Salta are called Salteñas. I have to say the ones we ate at the market were OK but I had tasted a better empanada in a restaurant just off the main square in Salta...ooooh controversial!
We decided to go to the artisan market afterwards which we were told was between twelve and fifteen blocks (every one we asked kept giving us different responses) up the road. We caught a bus there and arrived to watch a Carnaval in full swing! It was entertaining to watch them all dancing dressed in typical regional outfits. Much better than the actual market which turned out to be a bit disappointing.
Salteñan ring a ring a roses... |
The bus ride back to the centre of town seemed to take forever, and as soon as the roads started appearing with no street signs we enquired as to why we hadn't reached our destination yet. We were told that the bus had already gone through the centre of town and was now en route to the outskirts of the city?! Gah!!! After another thirty minutes driving we came to the final stop and had to disembark and wait for the next bus to leave. The journey all in all robbed two hours of our lives. Thankfully the driver was sympathetic to our gringo stupidity and let us get on board without paying again. The ride back was much quicker and more direct for some reason, maybe because out driver was chewing coca leaves which he had stopped en route at a shop to buy! Amongst other things, chewing coca leaves acts as an appetite suppressant, helps with altitude sickness, provides energy and improves digestion. It also mildly numbs your cheek. Ive been told it doesnt provide any sort of high although Im sure Mr bus driver would disagree...
Im now writing this blog a few hours before I jump on a bus at midnight tonight and head north to La Quica which is at the end of the road route 9 in Argentina before you get into Bolivia. I will then disembark the bus, walk the ten minutes or so across the border into Villazón which is in Bolivia. Here Ill go through passport control before changing my Argentine pesos into Bolivian pesos and then finding a bus which will take me a few hours further north to the town of Tupiza.
Provided all the above goes to plan (you never know, this is South America we´re talking about...) I will stay the night in Tupiza before finding a reputable tour company to visit the Uyuni Salt flats.
So there you go, those are my next travel moves. In all honesty I am a little scared of going to Bolivia. Mostly because I am leaving my beloved developed countries behind and entering the home of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. But also because well, it is Bolivia and my foreign office email updates keep arriving in my inbox going on about transport strikes and floods and other miserable things which Im hoping don't impact me but invariably Im sure they will. Pessemistic, moi? Im British, duh.
No comments:
Post a Comment