Humhuaca and San Antonio

Well a big day for us today. Had to get the wake up call at 5:15 after having dinner with a very nice couple from Pennsylvania who live here 6 months of the year. Got to bed late, up early.




A couple of days ago we went to Humhuaca. Artist pallette hillsides and adobe villages. Just beautiful. Ended up very close to the Bolivian border. The coca leaves really work helping with altitude. Pity I can't bring a big packet into Australia. But I've watched border patrol so I won't even try. Below is the artist's pallette hillside.

Yesterday up to a cloud forest with a commanding view over all of Salta.

Today, we take a bus to San Antonio, 4000 m above sea level. It goes parallel with the Tren a las Nubes which got washed out last summer. Then we come back to the bus station and get an overnight bus to Cordoba where the adventure continues. Have loaded up the Kindle, MP3 player, computer, camera and Maureen's Kobo. Hope I haven't left any cables behind. Will be doing about 1400 km.

Local wines new but delicious. Humitas and empandas delicious.

Cafayate

Well it's Friday night here and the whole town has come alive. People crowding into the Plaza 9 de Julio. Big celebrations tomorrow about the Malvinas (the Falklands). Maureen and I can't work it because we thought that they had lost that war. Oh well, just party on.




Yesterday was a big day. We went to Cafayate. I won't tell you much, just look at the pictures.That says it all.



Also did some wine tasting in a couple of boutique wineries. Tasted llama salami and a lovely goat cheese. The wines were actually really good, aged in real wooden vats.



Oh and I bought a packet of coca leaves and have been told how to suck them. Apparently you don't chew them because that rots your teeth. I'm keeping it for tomorrow because we're going to Humhuaca which is about 3000 metres above seal level and coca is supposed to help you with altitude sickness.

Trip Posadas to Salta

The long trip to Salta finished at around 7:30 am this morning. It had been a long night and we had covered about 1200 km. No food served this time, we were just allowed a quick stop in front of a diner. The food at this diner didn't even attract the backpackers so I just used the opportunity to go to a toilet where I didn't have to hold my nose with one hand and the toilet set down with the other.




We passed through many dumps that looked like the Australian equivalent of Back 'o Bourke, with some rundown shacks and skinny dogs. We usually stopped outside a rundown bus station with the bus driveway consisting of churned up mud.



There were 2 babies on the trip. The one immediately in front of us was a very chirpy little baby girl who seemed to be travelling with her mother and grandfather. Ma was Bolivian and Gramps was German. Then I saw Ma and Gramps kissing. Maureen and I thought up some salacious stories around it becoming more and more bizarre.



Today we explored Salta. It's a very pretty city in a valley surrounded by high mountains. It has the obligatory plaza in the middle called 9 de Julio. (Note to self: Check if there is a law that says all towns and cities have to have a central plaza called 9 de Julio)



We went to a museum that had some real Inca child sacrifice mummies. Three children had been sacrificed about 500 years ago by the Incas and recently found. They had been sacrificed in an elaborate ceremony starting with dressing the children in their finest gear and ending with walking them to the top of a high volcano over 6000 metres high, making them drink an alcoholic drink and then burying them alive. Grisly!

Today I leave you with an interesting butterfly in the process of having a drink.