Salta - Humahuaca - Cordoba

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  Cordoba, Argentina
Sunday, April 6, 2008

Hello hello again.
I`ve had a pretty busy week since I was last on. I traveled to Salta from Corrientes on a 15 hour bus ride, met up with my friend Arida, went horse riding, and I have been visiting some amazing sites with beautiful little villages.
I arrived in Salta on Sunday morning and met up with Arida late Sunday afternoon, my hostel was 2 blocks away from the centre of town which was great, a little family run place, clean and friendly. I got talking to an Australian lad almost straight away and he mentioned he was going horse riding the next day and if I wanted to join up I could. I mentioned it to Arida who was a wee bit hesitant at first but then she gave in, "feck it" she said were off. The next morning we set off to the mountains surrounding Salta and were soon at our ranch greeted by Enrique, the owner of the stables. We had heard a lot about "crazy Enrique" the gaucho man before hand, so we were a bit unsure of what to expect

Before the gallop !!

. We saddled up and headed off on a trott at first to get used to the horse and then a little gallop. The gallop for me seemed like a race, I was bouncing up and down like an eijit with my back side really feeling the pain of my non experience riding. Although it was a bit of rush at the beginning I was glad when my horse decided he couldn't be arsed to gallop any further. Arida followed close behind on her very chilled horse laughing at my inability to stride. We spent 3 hours on the horses just before lunch and I can honestly say it was great fun, I was walking a bit like Mr Wayne after wards and my knackers were killing me, but in all I would recommend it. The best was to come at lunch when we were served copious amounts of local monk wine and a massive bar b of steak, sausage and pudding. As the lunch progressed Enrique got a little crazier, in a good way, never let your glass get below a quarter empty and when he found out I was Irish, I had an endless supply of vino tinto coming my way. We left Enrique feeling quite merry to say the least and we all agreed what a great day we had.
The next day we just chilled out and caught up with our travels over the past while and planned a little trip South of Salta into the Andes, well Arida planned the next stage of the trip to be honest! We headed off the next morning on a small mini bus, our first stop was to stock up on goodies and in particular cocoa leafs. The leafs are good for helping with altitude sickness, a couple each side of your check would do the trick. We were to reach heights of 4000 + on our trip so we were advised to chew on the leafs and drink plenty of water. I felt very strange eating the leafs and had a strange tingling feeling on both sides of my face, but it seemed to work. Our first stop was San Lorenzo, a tiny little village with art crafts for sale, little church and local Andean's selling knitted jumpers for the tourists who hadn't prepared for the cold climate

Humauacha

. We moved on to San Antonio for lunch which is a small mining town were we had lunch in the local park area, watched on by the local dogs. In the afternoon we took a 2 hour drive along the famous national route 40 which took us to the Salinas Grandes salt flats, an amazing site, white salt for as far as the eye could see. We just sat there and fooled around with our cameras for an hour or so. We decided to leave the tour and stay over in Pumamarca in the Humahuaca gorge, we were all taking back by its beauty, nestled in between the mountains was this very quaint little village. We climbed up to the top of one of the many ridges and just sat there taking it all in. The village itself seemed to be in a building boom largely due to the ever increasing tourist population, we all said that we hoped it wouldn't loose that village charm in years to come.
We got a bus north to the town of Tilcara and visited the national park there, Pucara de Tilcara, a park supported by the Buenos Aires University with amazing views over the surrounding snow capped mountains. Our entrance fee included entry into the local Museum which was also very interesting. We then  headed to Humahuaca, a larger town than previous some 3010 + meters above sea level, we all felt the altitude here as we climbed one of the many look outs the next day. It was then time to go back to Salta which we were all a wee bit sad about having had an amazing time exploring the little villages and towns for a couple of days

Pumamarca

. That night we treated ourselves to some nice Malbec wine and great food. I wasn't intending to visit north Argentina and I am so glad I did, Salta is a great city with so much to see and do in the area, of course it was made all the better that I met Arida there. I`m now in Cordoba, Argentina's second largest city and plan to stay here for two night before making my way to Rosario and then across to Uruguay in the next week or so.
Something I`ve noticed in the last couple of weeks which may or may not interest you!! Snoring can come in various different guises and stages. You have the heavy breathing stage which you can deal with, no ear plugs needed. Then you have the heavy breathing with the little snort at the end, again bearable, no ear plugs needed. Then you have the light snore that gets into your head as it continues, ear plugs needed now. Then you have the bear snore, where you need the re-enforced F1 style ear plugs and maybe mufflers too. Then you have the mother of all, the ultimate combo, the heavy snore and fart combo, here you`ll need the mufflers, F1 ear plugs and maybe a gas mask!! Smokers beware of this one the next morning, there maybe a huge explosion if you decide to light up! So there you have it, a penny for thought for us backpackers sharing rooms with randomers who enjoy snoring! Until next time, take care and keep the mails coming.

Mark
                                                                  
                       

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Salinas Grandes

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