El Norte!

Hola everybody!

This weekend, we went on three day trip to the north of Argentina, hitting four different cities/towns in two different provinces. There's a lot to write about, so I'll give each city/town its own section so that it's easier to navigate.

Our travelling arrangements

Salta

The city of Salta

In what's becoming somewhat of a habit, we left Córdoba on Thursday evening and embarked on the long overnight trip to our destination. What was different about this time though was the fact that we had our own bus, instead of going to a terminal and taking a commercial bus. I suspect this was because we would be going to a number of different places throughout the weekend, rather than staying in one city, so the bus gave us a little more flexibility. Whatever the reason, it was nice because we didn't have to worry about being considerate of the other passengers on the bus, because it was just us this time. It also made it a lot easier to move throughout the bus, talk amongst ourselves, and be a little more relaxed. The first stop on our trip was the city of Salta, which is the capital of the province of the same name. Salta is a fairly large city, with a population of over 600,000 which isn't as much as Córdoba, but still one of the larger cities in Argentina. It has a reputation for being an extremely pretty city, and it definitely seemed deserving of that reputation while we were there. Salta is located at a fairly high elevation, in a valley surrounded by some serious mountains. The city is much greener than Córdoba, and the air seemed a little cleaner and purer, which gave it a much nicer and less industrial feel.

Got my eye on that hill up ahead.

When we first got there, we spent some time looking around the main plaza, and looking at a few well known and/or important buildings. We then had some free time to walk around the city, shop, or do whatever until we had to meet up again in a couple hours. The city looked nice, but I didn't feel much like shopping; my attention was instead attracted to a large hill at the edge of the city that looked tantalizingly close and climbable. I decided to check it out and found a road that headed up the hill, which I followed for a while until it became clear that the road wasn't heading much higher and was going across the hill rather than up it. I asked a couple guys working on the side of the road if there was a way to get to the top of the hill, and they told me that there was in a fact a set of stairs that one could follow to the very top. I followed their directions and found a surprisingly secluded-looking set of stone stairs set into the hill going up through the trees. 

Stairs to the top of the hill

I followed these stairs and started passing other people who were simply walking, jogging up the stairs, and sitting and chatting. Also of interest was the fact that this set of steps seemed to be a religious tribute of some sort, because every couple minutes, I would come upon a sort of memorial to Jesus. I thought they might be the stations of the cross, but the images and number of memorials didn't seem quite right. The hike to the top was unexpectedly taxing; the steps were steep, and the went on for a long time. After probably 30-40 minutes of going up at a quick pace, I finally arrived to the top of the hill, and was greeted with some views that completely validated my decision to go up the hill. The top of the hill was also surprisingly commercial; there was a spot from which you could rent mountain bikes and go down a trail (I guess – I just saw the sign, and the building wasn't open), and there was also an outdoor workout center, complete with stationary bikes, a weight area, and people working out to some fast-paced music. Also interesting was the fact there was a gondola (not running at that time) that went from the town to the very top of the hill. I enjoyed the view for a while before heading back down to meet up with the rest of the group in the city.

View from halfway up the hill.

One of the Jesus things.

View of the city from the top of the hill.

View looking another way into the mountains.

Upon reuniting, we went to a museum with some extremely interesting subject matter. This museum was dedicated to the ancient Inca culture that existed centuries ago in the nearby mountains, and the exhibits were based around the discovery of several very well-preserved mummies around 20 years ago. Archeologists managed to uncover the remains of several Inca children on top of a mountain, which led to some fascinating insights on Inca culture. Every once in a while, the Incas would choose a couple “ideal” or “perfect” children (criteria was physical beauty and noble standing) and sacrifice them to the gods. They would bring these children to the top of a mountain, give them a drink that put them to sleep, and then buried them along with sacred possessions as a sacrifice to the gods. This museum had some interesting videos and posters on the history and the discovery, but the most memorable exhibit was the mummy itself. Sealed in a controlled glass chamber, the museum actually had one of the children that had been discovered, and was now displayed in a remarkably preserved state. The whole museum was interesting, and walked the line between cool and creepy, but it was definitely something I'm glad I got the chance to see. After the museum, we went to lunch before taking off for our next destination.

They didn't allow any photos in the museum, but check out this link for an article on the museum: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/11/science/11mummu.html?_r=0

Cafayate

La garganta del diablo

Our next stop was Cafayete, a town in Salta province. Before arriving there though, we stopped at a few roadside attractions in the form of natural rock formations. The city of Salta was fairly green and lush, but as we drove away from the city, the scenery changed to a desert-like landscape with dry scrub and large red-rock formations. It was remarkably similar the scenery that I remember seeing in northern Arizona a number of years ago. The first stop was a rock formation called La garganta del diablo which translates as “The Devil's throat”. It was a small-ish slit in the rocks that opened up into a larger more open space, which is the reason for its name. We got to do some scrambling around on the rocks, take some fun photos, and appreciate the scenery. Our next stop was a natural amphitheater, just a couple minutes down the road. Similar to the previous stop, this formation was a large round area in the rocks that had some great natural acoustics. In fact, there was a man sitting there playing a flute of some sort and offering CDs to buy, although I don't know how much success he has with that gig, considering that it's basically in the middle of nowhere. Our final quick stop was at a little hill next to the road that offered some fantastic views. We climbed the hill real quick, took some nice photos, and enjoyed the view. The entire ride there was full of some fantastic scenery, so the rest of the drive there wasn't as difficult as it might have been otherwise.

View from the inside looking out.

Looking down the road.

Another shot from one of our roadside stops.

Artisan market in Cafayate

An hour or so later, we finally arrived in the town of Cafayate, which someone said reminded them of Vermont, and with good reason; it seemed like a relatively quiet city/town that did some big business with tourism in the summer months. After settling into our hotel (and covering our room with bug spray to kill mosquitoes) we had free time to explore the town. One of the main attractions was the artisan crafts that were for for sale near the city center. It was fun to walk through and check out the various booths and see what they were selling: everything from ceramics to clothes to jewelry. After that, we had a nice dinner (spaghetti with chicken for me) before heading off to bed. The next morning, we went to a museum dedicated to wine, owned by a local winery. It felt somewhat repetitive considering how much we've already seen with respect to wine, but the museum had some cool exhibits and had some interesting exhibits on the wine-making process. After that, we went to the associated winery located just down the street. The actual vineyards were located a couple kilometers outside of the town, and the brought in the grapes to the winery in town to be processed and bottled. Again, this seemed somewhat repetitive, but it was still interesting to seem how big a part of the culture it is. After that, we had lunch and then it was off to our next destination.

Daytime shot of the town.

Amaicha del Valle

The ruins. Always got my eye on the hill.

Our next town was Amaicha del Valle, but before stopping there, we went to see the ruins of an indigenous society that had lived there hundreds of years ago. A guide told us the history of the these people and how they interacted with the settlers, and it had a familiar feel to it: settlers come, they fight with the indigenous people for generations, and eventually the indigenous people get their homes and their cultures destroyed. However, the remains of one of their towns can still be explored, so we did that with a guide who explained the history of everything to us. This also involved a little hiking (which is always a plus) since this town was located at the base of a small hill. After hiking partway up, most of the group went back down to look at some of the crafts for sale back at the base of the hill, but that didn't interest me much, especially after spending a lot of time looking at the things in Cafayate the previous night. Instead, I got the green light to explore a little further up the hill. I wanted to reach the summit, but that proved to be impossible due to time restrictions, and the fact that I lost the path part of the way up; it's hard to pick out a trail when everything is rock and scrub plants! Despite the fact that I didn't have time to make it to the top, I still made it pretty far up and got some great views and photos before I had to head back down (an adventure in and of itself, since the hill was very steep and I had lost the trail – let's just say there was a fair amount of sliding and scrambling done).

View from about halfway up the hill.

View to the other side, towards the mountains.

View towards the center of the ruins.

View from the top. Worth the inconvenience.

Looking pretty empty.

That evening we finally arrived in the town of Amaicha del Valle. I had been able to find each of the other cities and towns from our trip on Wikipedia, but not Amaicha, and it was soon easy to tell why. As our professor from Union put it, it basically looked like a ghost town; there were very few people to be seen, and a lot closed up and/or abandoned buildings. After seeing some of the biggest cities in Argentina, this was definitely a change of pace. We checked into the hostel (not a hotel, a pretty rudimentary hostel) around 6 and then had several hours to ourselves before dinner. However, it quickly became clear that there was not a whole lot to do or see in this town. In fact, as one of my classmates put it, it seemed as though we were the attraction for the few townspeople living there. I ended up walking around for a while documenting the emptiness of the town, before climbing a small hill outside of town, where I got some good views and nice photos (this was becoming a theme, not that I minded).

"Tourist Information." A pretty apt image to sum up the town.

More emptiness.

View from the top of the hill.

Later that night, we went to dinner at a small restaurant in town, where the food was simple but nice. There was some commotion when a guy on a motorcycle got into a crash with a van right outside the restaurant, causing everyone to run out to the street and see what had happened. The man on the motorcycle seemed hurt, but luckily he was moving all his limbs, and an ambulance came quickly to take him somewhere (a hospital or a clinic? Didn't seem like there was much in the town). However, the highlight of the evening was an unexpected musical performance from a local band. Comprising of guitar, piano, bongo-like drum, singer, and quena (basically a flute), this band gave a performance for us and the other townspeople eating that evening (this was all outside). The music was very enjoyable, and some numbers reminded me a little bit of Irish folk music, with their chords, quick tempo, and high “dance-ability” factor. Towards the end of the night, they finally got people up and dancing, which was fun to watch (I did not partake – dancing in public is most definitely not my thing). After listening to them for close to a couple hours, we finally went back to the hotel where we went to bed, ready for an early wakeup call in the morning.

Three of our performers for the evening. 

Tafi del Valle

Our view from the hike.

The next morning, we woke up nice and early, a got a hearty breakfast of apples and bread, which is practically gourmet by Argentinian standards (they're not big on breakfast). After that, we headed out to the town of Tafi del Valle, a touristy (for both Argentinians and foreigners) town in the province of Tucumán, where we had a nice hike lined up. It was a cool and cloudy day, so I actually had to wear a jacket at first, but it quickly came off as we started hiking. There were some big mountains nearby the town, but were just hiking up a large hill that would offer some nice views, which it did, despite the cloudy weather. An unexpected element to the hike arose when we learned that there was a motorbike race going on, and the trail went right through these hills. That meant that a large part of the hike was spent looking out for motorbikes up ahead and watching them zoom by as we hopped out of the way. Overall, it was a really nice hike, with some great views and some extra added interest with the motorbikes racing past us the whole time. After reaching the top, we hiked back down and had some time in the town to poke around the shops and check out the various crafts and such that were for sale. There wasn't a whole lot of time for that, but the town seemed very nice and pretty, and definitely had a touristy feel to it. Finally, we went to a local hostel for lunch, where we had the best meal we'd had in a long time. There was a delicious mix of rice, eggs, empanadas, salad, and all sorts of great stuff. At that point, it was early afternoon, and we had to head back to Córdoba to make it home at a reasonable hour for classes the next day.

View towards the town and some houses

Motorbikes coming down the path!

Getting up close and personal.

Down the main street of the town.

trip was really fun, and had a great variety of activities and environments. It was interesting to get a feel for the different types of cities and towns within Argentina, as well as the various sceneries offered up by the Argentinian countryside and desert. We've got classes this week and next week, but then it's back to the US! Hopefully the last two weeks are great so that we end the term on a high note. Thanks for reading!