Friday April 27, 2012
Salta, Argentina
Cloudy, Cool
Wow! Where to begin. It’s 825pm in Salta and am having a blast although it took FOREVER to get here. Started at 430am on Wednesday April 25, where the plan was to do 30 minutes of last minute work emails only to spend 1 hr trying to get my work email to work! I was locked out. By 6pm I knew I had to leave to the airport cuz my flight was at 8am to Miami and it takes about one hour to get there from my home. Got to Wally Park to park my car, checked my bag and was at the gate at 720am just when they were boarding. Had a great seat but a newly dating couple sat next to me and were making out the whole trip to Miami. Got to Miami on time, did a few conf calls, then met my travel buddy Sandra at the Admirals Club. I had a long wait as my flight arrived at 3pm and the next flight from Miami to Buenos Aires was leaving at 1120pm.
Anyhow, after we had a drink or two we boarded the flight for the 9 hour overnite flight to Buenos Aires. I was exhausted. Sandra gave me a sleeping pill so I downed it with a bottle of water and was sound asleep from take off until about one hour before we were arriving in Buenos Aires. Yeah! Then we had to collect our bags and go to the domestic airport to catch our flight to Salta. But it was ANOTHER 6 hour wait. We tried to get on the earlier flight but it was sold out. So…. the plan was to find a locker and then have lunch in San Telmo in BA before the 510pm (now Thursday April 26) flight to Salta. Well, there is no locker in AEP (the domestic airport. We would have to spend at least an hour to go to the “locker” place which is outside the airport. So we decided to stay at the domestic airport and laughed because last time we spent hours here was when LAN went on strike where we were trying to get to Iguazu. It turned out to be OK cuz Sandra wanted to catch up on the Killing and was really getting into my book “Devil in the White City”. Fortunately for us, the flight left on time and FINALLY on Thursday April 26, over 36 hours after I left home, we were in Salta.
We booked rooms at Bloomer B&B which is FABULOUS. Connie the “hostess” is the most considerate, hard working and knowledgeable person of the area. We were REALLY lucky to have met her. She greeted us and told us she was there to help us plan our travels through the region.
We were SO TIRED, so we both took a sleeping pill and slept a good 9 hours that night.
The next morning, we had a fabulous breakfast of yogurt with fresh fruit and cornflakes, an very good egg dish, medialunas (Argentinian croissants which are a staple) and very good coffee. The eggs were baked in a ramekin with goat cheese and corn. Delish!
After stuffing ourselves, we decided to discover Salta. Salta is a colonial city that was founded in 1582 by the Spaniards. Its rich soil and perpetual springs made it an ideal location to grow produce and pasture the animals as they were busy “raping” Bolivia for the mines. Today it is an ideal location to explore the natural beauty of the Andes and of course the famous wines of Cafayate.
So we walked and walked and ended up shopping at the Artesan’s Market and walked back - over10 miles in total. We walked through the many vegetable markets (our tradition) and local neighborhoods. Below are some photos from the walk. My first impression - laissez faire meets gaucho. Words can’t explain it but hopefully as the days go by, I’ll be able to articulate my impressions.
After walking and walking and walking, we got back to our rooms around 230pm. We met up with Connie to plan our excursions. After she got an understanding of what we wanted to do, we went to Bonnie and Clyde Bar which was highly recommended for a late snack/lunch/early dinner. We had fabulous cheese empanadas with salad and Torrentes wine. Delish.
After we stuffed ourselves, we walked to the “official travel agency” to book a private tour (which you will here about), went to the grocery store to buy local wine, crackers and cheese and then headed back to Bloomers.
We met up with Connie who worked very hard to work our itinerary, which has both Sandra and I VERY excited. We also enjoyed a lot of laughs with Connie and lots of girl talk that I cannot blog about.
So now, its 9pm. We are opening another bottle of wine. Sandra is catching up on “The Killing” and am going to read my book.. So excited about tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Inside Bloomers are B&B
The City is dotted with some pretty cool graffiti. Amazed we didn't see any art galleries.
The Pink Church at the Square
Milanese (pounded meet coated with breadcrumbs and seasonings) sold EVERYWHERE in the main food market
Tripe and Interesting sausages
Wonderful produce and vegetables
The cheese lady
Humitas or what we call Tamales in Los Angeles
Fresh Spices
We didn't see many fish stalls, just two and the ocean fish were salted which make sense as we are in the Andes mountains!
We knew it was fall season as squash can be found everywhere including HUGE pumpkins
During our walk, we also went by the local soccer stadium
Workers cleaning the railroad tracks
Entrance to the Artisan's Market where I bought gifts and casseroles for myself
The only woodcarving on one of the wooden pillars in the building housing the Artisans Market
Police activity outside the market where they were confiscating motorcycles
As we were walking back to the B&B, we took another route where we found this beautiful building. I believe it is for the Ministry of Education
And a beautiful street
The one thing that bothers me when I go to places in South America (and many other places) are the stray dogs. If I ever hit the jackpot, I'd be giving away most of it to World Vets and other organizations that help these poor animals
BUT, the cats seem to thrive especially near the markets!