I decided that I needed to celebrate being on summer vacation. Since, I did not have a final my "last" week here, I decided to travel with my friends. Brenda and Chelsea had planned a trip to Salta in the north. The three of us are pretty similar and do not like to plan ahead. We baught bus tickets and went to Salta with no plans at all.
We arrived there on Sunday Morning, and met representive of a hostel in the bus station. We checked into our hostel, and began wandering around the city. We stopped at a few tourist booths and learned of some excursiones. We went to like 4 and found the cheapest ones.
The first day, we gave ourselves a self tour of Salta. We walked around all day in 40 degree weather. For you Farenheit people that is 104 degrees. We shopped at the Ferias, and stopped to eat empanadas for lunch. We even stole water for free at the restaurant (this you will only understand, if you live here). During sunset, we took a ski lift swing up to the top of a mountain that overlooked the city. It was very beautiful and a bit cooler because there was a breeze. The breeze grew stronger and it became very windy. Due to the wind, it was cold and we were stuck on top of the mountain because it was too dangerous to go down in the ski lifts. Finally the wind died down a little, and we made it down the mountain safely.
The hostel we were at was having an asado and show the first night. We went back to the hostel and enjoyed some juicy steaks (except chelsea, who opted for the free spaghetti dinner instead). The free dinner was horrible, but the asado was great. The show was good too. Four men played folklore music, well a man and a women danced. I unfortuanately made the comment to the beautiful folkloric dancer that I had learned some of the dances in school. During the middle of the show she grabbed my hand and we started dancing in front of the entire hostel. The guy grabbed Brenda and she had to dance too. Then they put us together and we were the show. It was awesome, even though Brenda was a little embarrassed. Finally the show ended and we went to sleep.
The second day we had excoursiones. They began at 7 in the morning. A tour van picked us up at our hostel. We took an all day tour through the mountains and citys to the North of Salta. We did on big circle and even passed through Jujuy. We saw the seven colored mountain, as well as other small pueblos. We also went to the Salinas where they make tons of Salt.
The part of the tour that I found most interesting had nothing to do with what we saw. It was the mixture of cultures and languages in our van. there was a small group from Alaska, a couple people from Spain, another couple from Switzerland, and a man from Germany. One of the guys from Alaska was originally from Switzerland, so he talked with the two from there. He obviously spoke english too (but not spanish). His friends from Alaska spoke english and spanish, like Chelsea, Brenda, and I. The people from Spain spoke spanish and a little bit of english. The German, spoke german, spanish, and english. The two from Switzerland spoke a little english and spanish as well. There were like 6 different languages going around during this tour. Mostly everybody could understand atleast two of them. The tour guide gave the tour in english and spanish. It was really neat to see all these people comunicating in so many different ways.
The tour ended around 9pm. We walked around the city a little bit, and returned to the hostel around 10:30 for our free dinner. We had uncooked rice with chicken. It was horrible. The girls told me it was the worst meal they had ever had. To me, I thought it was better than the Saint Marys Cafeteria, but we all know that the Cafe food is the biggest scam in the world. The hostel food was better and cheaper. After dinner we went to bed.
For our final day, we decided to play it by ear. We wanted to do another tour to the southern parts of the province, but Chelsea´s bus left too early (she was going to Buenos Aires). Instead we gave ourselves more of a self tour. We even went to a place that had real Salta empanadas. They served them with salsa. The waiter said he did not think we would like it, but we each devoured a whole bowl of salsa by ourselves. We shopped, looked, walked, fed the ducks in the lake, and made many stops to the bathroom. One of us had developed a sickness from the food or something. It seemed that every couple minutes somebody had the "Trots". I will not mention who for means of saving them the embarrassment. During our self tour we passed a peluqeria. I joked and said... should I cut my hairs. Next thing I knew the girls were telling the barber how to style my hair. I paid a whole 8 pesos for my first haircut in another country. At the end of the day, we walked Chelsea to the bus station and sent her off to Buenos Aires. Brenda and I walked around the city a little longer before we returned to Cordoba. We walked from our hostel to the bus terminal and made it just before the downpour of rain came.
Pictures will be up soon of my trip. I cannot upload them right now because my friend Charley stole my cord to connect my camera to the computer. I got my camera back now!!
We arrived there on Sunday Morning, and met representive of a hostel in the bus station. We checked into our hostel, and began wandering around the city. We stopped at a few tourist booths and learned of some excursiones. We went to like 4 and found the cheapest ones.
The first day, we gave ourselves a self tour of Salta. We walked around all day in 40 degree weather. For you Farenheit people that is 104 degrees. We shopped at the Ferias, and stopped to eat empanadas for lunch. We even stole water for free at the restaurant (this you will only understand, if you live here). During sunset, we took a ski lift swing up to the top of a mountain that overlooked the city. It was very beautiful and a bit cooler because there was a breeze. The breeze grew stronger and it became very windy. Due to the wind, it was cold and we were stuck on top of the mountain because it was too dangerous to go down in the ski lifts. Finally the wind died down a little, and we made it down the mountain safely.
The hostel we were at was having an asado and show the first night. We went back to the hostel and enjoyed some juicy steaks (except chelsea, who opted for the free spaghetti dinner instead). The free dinner was horrible, but the asado was great. The show was good too. Four men played folklore music, well a man and a women danced. I unfortuanately made the comment to the beautiful folkloric dancer that I had learned some of the dances in school. During the middle of the show she grabbed my hand and we started dancing in front of the entire hostel. The guy grabbed Brenda and she had to dance too. Then they put us together and we were the show. It was awesome, even though Brenda was a little embarrassed. Finally the show ended and we went to sleep.
The second day we had excoursiones. They began at 7 in the morning. A tour van picked us up at our hostel. We took an all day tour through the mountains and citys to the North of Salta. We did on big circle and even passed through Jujuy. We saw the seven colored mountain, as well as other small pueblos. We also went to the Salinas where they make tons of Salt.
The part of the tour that I found most interesting had nothing to do with what we saw. It was the mixture of cultures and languages in our van. there was a small group from Alaska, a couple people from Spain, another couple from Switzerland, and a man from Germany. One of the guys from Alaska was originally from Switzerland, so he talked with the two from there. He obviously spoke english too (but not spanish). His friends from Alaska spoke english and spanish, like Chelsea, Brenda, and I. The people from Spain spoke spanish and a little bit of english. The German, spoke german, spanish, and english. The two from Switzerland spoke a little english and spanish as well. There were like 6 different languages going around during this tour. Mostly everybody could understand atleast two of them. The tour guide gave the tour in english and spanish. It was really neat to see all these people comunicating in so many different ways.
The tour ended around 9pm. We walked around the city a little bit, and returned to the hostel around 10:30 for our free dinner. We had uncooked rice with chicken. It was horrible. The girls told me it was the worst meal they had ever had. To me, I thought it was better than the Saint Marys Cafeteria, but we all know that the Cafe food is the biggest scam in the world. The hostel food was better and cheaper. After dinner we went to bed.
For our final day, we decided to play it by ear. We wanted to do another tour to the southern parts of the province, but Chelsea´s bus left too early (she was going to Buenos Aires). Instead we gave ourselves more of a self tour. We even went to a place that had real Salta empanadas. They served them with salsa. The waiter said he did not think we would like it, but we each devoured a whole bowl of salsa by ourselves. We shopped, looked, walked, fed the ducks in the lake, and made many stops to the bathroom. One of us had developed a sickness from the food or something. It seemed that every couple minutes somebody had the "Trots". I will not mention who for means of saving them the embarrassment. During our self tour we passed a peluqeria. I joked and said... should I cut my hairs. Next thing I knew the girls were telling the barber how to style my hair. I paid a whole 8 pesos for my first haircut in another country. At the end of the day, we walked Chelsea to the bus station and sent her off to Buenos Aires. Brenda and I walked around the city a little longer before we returned to Cordoba. We walked from our hostel to the bus terminal and made it just before the downpour of rain came.
Pictures will be up soon of my trip. I cannot upload them right now because my friend Charley stole my cord to connect my camera to the computer. I got my camera back now!!
1 comment:
Very nice reading this =) you remind me a lot the time I used to live in the Buenos Aires apartments with my cousings, in Argentina... Mis a lot.
Thanks for sharing
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