Salta, Jujuy y Tucumán

My sincerest apologies for the lengthy absence. The trip to the north-west was quite a long one. I then found myself stuck in Rosario with a bit of a stomach bug, without a computer or internet. How I survived is beyond me. Sick stomach side, the trip was incredible - another one of those life-changing, unforgettable ones where you see amazing things in the company of amazing people. I'm extracting the order of events from my camera which is still set to Australian time so the division of days is a little harder to decipher. Just keep in mind that this all happened over a course of about 11 days.

As per usual, the best place to begin would probably be the start of my trip. Thankfully the travel to Rosario went a little more according to plan this time, with no missing of buses, nor any other major mishaps. It also seemed to fly by much faster as I had a travel buddy - a Dutch girl that had just finished her exchange in San Martin de los Andes and would be heading home after the trip. We got along well and talked a lot (but thankfully not so much that I would lose my voice again). When we got to Rosario we had several hours to fill in so we met up with some other exchange students that would be travelling to the north with us. This was when I first met the two infamous Scandinavian exchange students whom I had heard so much about. I would end up spending most of the trip in the company of the pair - a short, solid Norwegian and a tall blonde Swede. To my delight they spoke English all-but perfectly - as if it were their first language. One had with him a football (soccerball) that would make an appearance at every possible opportunity throughout the week.

Later we all headed to the bus where I caught up with the small group from orientation week that had decided to take part in this trip as well as a bunch of new faces. I also had the pleasure of meeting a South African that was seeing off one of my German friends. I always forget just how much of an international experience I am having! So far I've met people from no less than 12 different countries. The South African is in Argentina with his parents on missionary work. He was bursting with energy and a pleasure to be around, marvelling at my Australian accent as he had never met an Australian before.
From there, the real trip began. Our first stop was the bus terminal in Tucuman, about 11 hours drive from Rosario. There we picked up a couple more exchange students who had travelled directly to Tucuman from Mendoza. We also had a chance encounter with two Australian exchange student, one of whom I had travelled to Argentina with! The other was doing Australia proud, on crutches, nursing a hangover and speaking some of the worst Spanish I have ever heard (including my own).

Along the way to our accommodation we stopped at a beautiful lake to have lunch. Unfortunately its name and location escapes me, however I did manage to capture a bunch of nice photos.

I fell in love with San Miguel de Tucuman instantly. The architecture was spectacular and everything had a very welcoming feel. We also noted quite a difference in the people - darker skinned and seemingly with a strong indigenous influence. This difference was to become more pronounced the further north we travelled. We had a guided tour of the city, visiting a little museum as well as a couple of churches. The beautifully constructed and historically significant churches are a famous highlight of the north-western provinces. 

After this we headed skyward to get a wonderful view of the city at night. We got back to the hotel in time to see the majority of a football game on telly between Argentina and Bolivia.

From there, we made our way to Tilcara, Jujuy, our base camp for the next couple of days. On the way we bore witness to some truly spectacular scenery - the kind of stuff that I had previously held as a stereotypical view of South America. In fact, almost every location that we visited conformed to that stereotype - placid natives, jagged mountains, simple constructions and an abundance of cactuses and llamas.

While in Tilcara we also travelled to many of the surrounding tourist towns, including Purmamarca and Humahuaca. These towns were brimming with little stores to purchase souvenirs and the like. They were always exploding with colour, as bright coloured fabrics are another famous trait of the region. It took all my strength to not purchase something in every store that I entered, although I did somehow end up with several beanies, jumpers and other assorted bits and pieces. I was not the only one however, my Scandinavian amigos went as far as purchasing a poncho each. We were quite an amusing sight for many of the locals as we ran around playing football in the plaza in Tilcara.

Near the town of Tilcara is the remnants of a native village providing some beautiful scenes - stone buildings nestled in the hills amongst the cactuses. We had a guide show us around before roaming the ruins to get some photos.

From Tilcara we headed for the city Salta, stopping along the way at Las Salinas Grandes - giant salt plains. It was very impressive - a flat sea of white stretching out as far as the eye could see. We also found it to be a perfect spot for a bit of football.

The city of Salta was also very much to my liking as far as cities go. It was quite clean and open and I really enjoyed the architecture. The famous catholic church near the centre of the city was stunning. We spent two nights in Salta, on the second visiting the boliche/restaurant/bar, Balderrama de Salta - a definite highlight of the trip and a must see if you are ever in the area. As we ate some of the local cuisine - Saltinean empanadas and locro - we were treated to a display of singing and dancing in various traditional styles of the region. The dancing was something to behold.  The men in particular were very impressive to watch, one of the styles involving a great deal of jumping and boot-stomping. I also thoroughly enjoyed the musical entertainment, including three different bands playing various forms of regional folklore - from the traditional to a more modern style. Members of our group were also invited to try out a bit of the dancing with the professionals and by the final band we were all on the dance-floor having a great time.

During our stay at Salta we also took cable-cars up one of the nearby mountains to gain a stunning view of the city followed by an asado lunch - delicious as always! Unfortunately, at some point that morning we managed to misplace our football. The realisation of its absence was a very sad moment for all of the male group members.

Another very famous attraction of the north-western provinces is the 'Tren de las Nubles', a heritage railway that travels to an altitude of over 4000m - the third highest in the world. For some reason unbeknown to me (some time problem I think (my Spanish failed me at this point)) we elected to take the accompanying car route, rather than travelling in the train itself. The trip was still very cool - we got to travel through a couple of tiny little villages on the way, as well as seeing some really cool scenery, complete with llamas. We also went to one of the massive bridges running across a valley - the type of thing you see in typical photograph of the train. Whilst taking in the view from a distance, a couple of the males decided to head down the hill to empty their bladders. Lacking a football to occupy ourselves,  my Swedish mate and I decided to start hurling rocks in the general direction of our urinating companions (as boys do). Unfortunately, I was the one with the most accurate throw and found myself being run down by an angry Norwegian at an altitude of 4000m - a very different kind of breathtaking experience. (I have a bunch of photos of this trip as well as the night at Balderrama, however I haven't got to converting them to a format I can upload. Keep on the lookout though, I'll do my best to post them at some point.)

On a separate trip to some little villages in the mountains, the altitude rendered me a little worse for wear. Some of us that were really starting to feel the effects of altitude sickness decided to try out a local remedy - the chewing of coca leaves - the plant from which cocaine is extracted. Don't worry, the amount in the leaves is minute and at lower altitudes we found that they merely induced hyperactivity and a slight numbing of the body. They were very effective in curing the altitude sickness however.

From here, we began our return to Rosario, staying one night in Cafayate. We stopped at various attractions on the way home. Firstly, La Gargantua del Diablo, a very impressive rock structure formed by wind and water over the ages. For me, the surrounding landscape was reminiscent of typical Australian outback scenery (though perhaps the mountains were a little out of place).

We also stopped at the ruins of a village belonging to the ancient Quilmes people. It was constructed on the side of a hill and surrounded by massive, flat, cactus covered plains. Later that day, our Mendoza contingent was dumped at the Tucuman terminal and from there, it was straight back to Rosario, arriving early the following morning.

Seven of us stuck around in the main area of Rosario for one final catch up. This included a nice lunch and a guided tour of the city's art museum by the Scandinavians (who are probably sick of me grouping them together in this fashion, but it's far easier this way). They had volunteered at the museum, so they knew a bit about the art, and as the galleries were currently being changed, we got in for free and had the place completely to ourselves. On the ground floor there was a grand piano, and with permission from the museum staff, our big German companion gave us a private performance. It was exquisite! To see a massive German guy, with his interesting and very amusing use of the English language, caught in the improvised flow of his own jazz compositions, was something that I will always remember.

From there we returned to the Wep House, struggling to find the words to describe the beauty we had just witnessed and recounting a few of the more amusing moments from the trip, most of which revolved around the big German. Everybody collected their things and gradually we parted ways, promising to make every effort to see each other and visit respective home countries over the coming years.
 

Eventually I made the all too familiar, day-long trip back to Junin. It was mostly uneventful, other than some amusing conversations with a couple of fascinated primary school aged siblings that were seated either side of me, the younger of whom never seemed to accept that Australia is not a part of Italy and insisted on quizzing me on my Spanish vocabulary. It made a fitting, light-hearted end to an awesome trip and reminded me just what this adventure is all about - the discovery of another people, country and culture.