Day 7: August 21, 2007 In Salta

  Salta, Argentina
Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Day 7: August 21, 2007 In Salta

I slept well until 4:30 but then had trouble getting back to sleep. The apartment was bustling with activity by 8:00 as Bernardo and another visitor got up to go to work at the XR office. Soon after I got up, Toyo appeared. Toyo, a.k.a. David González, was a driver for YPF when I first met him in 1989. He acquired the nickname "Toyota" and hence Toyo. When Tuity left YPF and struck out on his own, Toyo came with him and has been a right-hand man ever since. He is one of my favorite people.

Toyo

I let Elena sleep and went down to the office where I was able to take care of a lot of financial matters and to work on the upcoming Galápagos and Argentina trips over the internet. The workstations are the nicest I've ever used with fast computers and double screens at each desk.

Around noon, Elena and I took a cab to El Centro and had lunch at Empanadas Chueco, located in the older part of what used to be La Posta. It is still very nice inside and we had a goon Milanesa Napolitana. We dallied longer than anticipated so we took a cab out to the Universidad Nacional de Salta (UNSa). It took awhile to find someone I knew but finally I decided to check out the x-ray lab where I found Nilda. She took me to the office of Ricardo Omarini who I hadn't seen since 1999. We talked geology in rapid Spanish, boring Elena. Eventually, Claudia came in and joined us. She had to go up to Grand Bourg at 4:30 to pick up Matías so Elena went with her while I decided to wait for others to appear.

A few minutes later, I went out back and found Claudia and Elena stranded with a dead battery. She called Toyo, since it is an XR vehicle, and he came down to help her jumpstart it. As we waited, she explained that she might not be able to do too much fieldwork this fall because of her ongoing family problems.

It was clear that few others would be coming out so Elena and I rode back to Grand Bourg with Toyo and spent some time on the internet in the office. Claudia returned with Matías at 6:30 to pick up Elena and the three of them went off to Matías' English class. I was beat so I took a siesta. I awoke at 8:00, just before Elena returned from the class. She was excited and had had a good time.

We decided to try the restaurant next door, the Vista del Cóndor. It serves parilla and pasta. We opted for the parilla. It was Elena's first opportunity to sample assorted cow parts. There were really only a few: the udder, kidney, morcilla, and chorizo. We declined on the kidney but I ate the rest. Elena likes chorizo but was understandably put off by the taste and texture of the other servings. The meal also included a salad, chicken and two cuts of steak. By the time the pork was brought out we were both full, although Elena managed to find room for a flan con dulce de leche.

We returned to the apartment where Bernardo and Jorge García were just finishing their dinner. Jorge is Tuity's ex-brother-in-law and the architect who designed the XR Geomap compound in which we are living. Elena went to read Harry Potter and I joined the other two for a whiskey and conversation. They remembered that Celeste, Tuity's daughter, was receiving her degree in La Plata so we called her and sent our congratulations. I've known Celeste since 1989. She visited us for a month in 1997, traveling with us up to my parents' home in Hamilton, NY and up to the Adirondacks. She was excited to speak with me and very happy to be graduated from the University of La Plata.

The three of us cleaned up the kitchen and turned in around 11:30. To my surprise, Elena had already put her book down.