April, 2005
April 4 - 6, 2005
We spent the past week in and around Salta, in Northwest, Argentina, and are really glad we made the stop. We almost skipped it and headed straight for Bolivia after Patagonia, because although we heard Salta was great, the description of the city in our guide book didn't sound all that interesting. Nevertheless, we figured we would give it a shot and are really happy we did. The surrounding area is gorgeous.
We spent the first few days actually in the city of Salta, which is much more like Central America than any other area we have been to in Argentina. Aside from some beautiful colonial architecture in the main plaza, a pretty good museum dedicated to three 500 year old sacrificed children found almost perfectly preserved atop Volcan Llullaillaco, and a good finicula ride to hill overlooking the city, there is not to much more to attract the visitor. However, Salta does have some really great food, the Locra soup was excellent, a strong Gaucho culture, great folk music at penas, and a large indiginous population and influence, unlike most of the areas we traveled in Brazil and Argentina.
After a few days, we decided to rent a car for four days to tour the surrounding areas North and South of Salta. These surrounding areas are why Salta is such a famous destination. Plus, we had not rented a car during the entire trip, so a road trip sounded pretty good. It was also the first time we had driven a car in over 4 1/2 months, which made things interesting. This, coupled with the fact that there are no stop signs or signals at over half of the intersections in the city also made driving fun. Its pretty crazy - people just go whipping through intersections, maybe slowing down a bit, maybe laying on the horn a little bit, and having no real idea whether someone is coming the other way. Well, at least we got out alive.
