Good times in Salta...

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  Salta, Argentina
Sunday, September 21, 2008

Last night was a lot of fun... Even though I was super tired, since I hadn´t slept the previous night (night train from Uyuni, and then the bus all day yesterday), we headed out to a place called "La Casona", which I absolutely loved.  It´s a beautiful old-architecture house with drinks and food, and the locals come and play traditional Argentian music like samba (not like Brazilian samba) and other styles.

I think it´s absolutely amazing how just locals, who aren´t paid or anything, just show up at the Casona with their acoustic guitars, and some with drums, and play amazing folkloric songs with some of them singing amaaaazingly.  My jaw kept dropping as I turned left and right in the room we were in, where two different groups would take turns singing and playing beautifully.

Afterwards, we went out with a group of some Couchsurfers that are also in Salta at the time.  We went to an area called Balcarce, which is full of clubs, and went dancing for a few hours.  Even though I had been super tired, I was able to keep up for a few hours, but we finally went home around 4 or 5am, and slept really well until about 11am this morning.

I then had an amazing nice shower, and met Raul (my CS host)´s family.  Everyone is super friendly and nice, and since it was almost lunchtime on Sunday, they were getting ready for an asado with the family and some friends.  I had a really nice afternoon, trying my first "yerba mate" (very typical Argentinian tea-like drink) and then eating an amazing "asado" (barbecue beef steaks) which never seemed to end (they have lots of leftovers), even though there were like 8 or 10 of us in total.

So yeah, I had a great afternoon with Raul and his family and friends, who all made me feel extremely welcome.  I´m so glad to be a part of Couchsurfing which allowed me to meet them all and have such an amazing experience that I never would have had if I had not contacted Raul through Couchsurfing.

After finishing eating and chatting for a while, Raul´s parents were nice enough to drive me over to the plaza de armas "9 de Julio" and walked around for a bit.  The Cabildo museum, unfortunately, closes Sunday afternoons and Mondays, so I won´t be able to visit it, but I visited the really interesting MAAM (Museum of Mountain Archeology) which housed a couple of Incan mummies that were uncovered in the Salta region of Argentina.

Afterwards I visited the extremely beautiful Cathedral as well as the church of San Francisco.  these both had beautiful architecture, which I always love in religious buildings, as well as numerous statues and paintings.  I had a great time walking through them, as well as in the park of the Plaza de Armas.

A few hours later, I walked back towards Raul´s house, which is about a half hour walk away.  It ws nice to walk along the typical Salta streets, watching the locals and businesses drift by as I headed home.  I got to Raul´s house, and have been chatting with him, his sister, and his parents for a bit.  He was really tired, so he went to sleep, but now I came on to update a bit, but I´m ready to pass out soon. 

So yeah, after having had a grueling experience crossing the border into Argentina, Raul and his family have made me feel extremely welcome and better about being in Argentina.  I wish I could stay a bit longer, but I have a route I really want to follow, and am off to Resistencia, south of Asuncion, Paraguay, tomorrow night.  It costs around 90 or 100 Bolivianos (around 30 USD), leaves around 6pm, and arrives in Resistencia sometime the next morning.

Anywho, good day... till´ next time..

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