Sitting in our hotel room in Tucuman, Argentina. We arrived here after a 4 hour bus ride from Salta. Tomorrow we begin our 21 hour overnight bus ride to Iguazu Falls (both in Argentina and Brazil).
Rescue of backpack:
A seriously big THANK YOU goes out to the Americans we met just a few days ago in Cafayate, Argentina. We sincerely want to thank April and Charlie for going above and beyond to get our left-behind backpack with all the camera cords/charger to us in Salta via a bus exactly one hour before our bus left. Talk about fortuitous! Those 2 kind souls scrambled to pack it in a box, deliver it to the bus station in Cafayate and send it on the bus to Salta. Before that option worked however, they tried many other ways and means to deliver the goods. We appreciate their generosity and effort as the blog would have been unable to go on without those missing items. I’ve said it again and again on this trip--- people in the world are truly kind and generous. Yippie for that!
So, where in the world are we and what have we been doing for all these days?
We returned to Salta from the Estancia to rent a car. Driving to Cafayate (south about
120 miles or so) on a marvelously scenic road started our adventure. We thought we were back in parts of AZ or Utah. I am in awe of big and small rocks---------- these rocks were HUGE! And the muddy rivers we crossed were our first clue that it had been raining a lot lately.
Anyway, Cafayate (town of about 10,000) was jammed with people (about 10,000 more!) who came for an annual music festival. Unfortunately, it rained both nights we were there so that was too bad for the music goers.
We could only get a 2-night reservation in Cafayate, so we took it. 4-5 days would have been nice because there’s so much to see and do in the area. However, we spent our time checking out the Cafayate golf and wine Estancia. It is stunningly beautiful spot. That’s where we met April and Charlie. She showed us around the whole Estancia and we had lunch there as well. That night we also went out with them to eat in the town. 2 Canadian motorcyclists who were golfing at the Estancia joined us. We had good food, good fun and good conversations. This is what we so love about travel; you meet great people and learn more about the world and yourself.
We hope someday to return to the Cafayate area. It is neat. Check out a blog I found and see more of the areas we didn’t get to: www.nwnomad.com. You’ll love the photography of this gal from England. And, check out April’s blog about Cafayate: www.cafayate.com. You will want to start packing your bags and making a trip there!
Our hope was to drive a different road back to Salta when departing Cafayate, because we had read about some of interesting places to visit, but that would not happen. It was a dirt road and April highly suggested that we go back the way we came as that other road would require a 4-wheel drive car and even then could have been seriously dangerous due to all the rain of late. (This part of the world has been getting more rain than normal. This does not make the grapes happy by the way.) And, there are many, many big rivers in the area. So, we took the paved road back and even that road was flooded in some sections. We also had to look out for rocks on the road and parts of the road were still under water. The all night rain caused some serious water issues. We crossed one flooded river and thought about the Stupid Motorist Law in AZ (Cross a flooded river and need to be rescued? You pay big $$$!) Our little Chevy car made it through, but we did wonder how the motorcyclists we saw later on going the other way could possibly make it as the water splashed high up on our windows. It was a cloudy day, but not raining. We thought that the drive was great. I took lots of pictures.
We arrived back in Salta, returned the car and checked into our hotel. We spent the rest of the day out walking around this fun city. We took all of our dirty clothes to a laundry we saw down the st. from he hotel. For $8, we had two loads washed, dried and pressed! We were told that we could pick it up that evening. Bob got his hair cut for $5 at a really cute old-fashioned barber shop. We found a Parilla (grilled meat) restaurant and both of us had a big steak for lunch. It was delicious. That evening, we went out walking again. Having had a big lunch, we were satisfied to not eat any dinner.
Salta on a Saturday evening comes alive! The square in front of our hotel had a gazebo filled with locals dancing the tango. The other end of the square had a gaucho band playing live music. A large crowd had stopped to watch and some people danced. Little kids were dancing. Tables at all the outdoor restaurants were filled with people enjoying the beautiful night. Young couples were sitting on benches in the park smooching. We walked around and enjoyed watching the people having a good time. Horns started honking. We followed them to the other side of the square where the Cathedral is located. More honking and lines and lines of cars started coming down the street to the church. Bridal parties kept arriving. We guessed that after a wedding is over, it must be a tradition to come to the Cathedral and have photos taken in front of it. The nightlife on the one square in Salta kept us entertained for hours.
On Sunday, we spent more time walking. Salta is a wonderful-walking city. We walked to the Sun. market and Bob bought more belts. The lady was at the same stall as last Sun. She remembered us and immediately got the right-sized belt for Bob to try on.
That evening, we went to Salta’s Theatre for a musial performance. When we first arrived in Salta, we noticed billboards announcing a famous Folkloric group playing at this theatre, so we bought tickets before we left for Cafayate. And boy, were we ever happy that we did. For 2 solid hours we sat in awe of this group of 6 men playing guitars, mandolins and singing these beautiful Spanish songs. We were the only tourists. The locals went wild for the group. They must be a national treasure because the audience of knew every word of every song. It was as though each song was a National Anthem. We got back to our hotel well after midnight. What a thrilling evening. This part of Argentina has really captured our hearts. We will be coming back to this area someday. Enjoy the photos.
Yes, yippee for the kindness of new friends and the regained camera gear. I'm loving the photos, Mar. I know if grapes get too much rain, the wine becomes "watery." We learned that in Napa. Salta sounds like a fun city - lots happening by day and night. We're back in Breck and will xski later this morning. The snow piles are so high off the back deck that I can't see into the yard anymore. Also, we have a HUGE step UP from our back gate instead of 3 down... Tell Bob I'm getting a haircut today - it will cost more than $5!
ReplyDelete