Day 91 - 95 (June 13 - 17) Salta

Day 91 - 95 (June 13 - 17) Salta

I finally left Mendoza on another (4th one) overnight bus. I got into Salta early in the afternoon. I wandered over to my hostel and checked in. I had a chat with a few people and grabbed some food. I was trying to take it easy so I went to go see Robin Hood (with Spanish subtitles) with the guys from the hostel. A nice sleep later and the next day it was time to look around Salta.

I watched a bit of the world cup, its hard to get away from so might as well join in! After the morning game, a few of us went up to the hill on the edge of town. You ride the cable car up ($10AR) and there is a cool look out and a bar. So a few litres later (if I haven't mentioned it, Argentine beers come in liter bottles...), we took the cable back down and went to the hostel. I spent a lot of time talking with people about Bolivia and things to do up north.

Eventually we headed down to another hostel for dinner. After dinner the guys there played a few songs and we hung out for a bit. We had arranged to go to an estancia the next day for some horse riding. Some of the guy I met had looked into it and I ended up tagging along and then booking it with them. During dinner we talked two more people from our hostel into coming, so there would be 7 of us (3 kiwis, 1 scottish guy, an irish couple and me).

In the morning NZ was playing in their world cup game (they drew 1-1) and then the gauchos came to pick us up. They showed up in their car(a VW golf) and suddenly we were a bit worried on how to fit every one. epecially when one of their girlfriends was driving!! See originally we were only 5 but then we added the 2 at dinner and couldn't tell them until they came to get us. Thankfully they had a truck too, so we didn't have to try and clown car the ride out to the estancia.

As we drove out it was quickly discovered that they gauchos spoke very little to no english and I was the only one of us with passable spanish... We had to stop to pick up a few things, more meat for lunch, more wine for lunch, salad stuff and some coca leaves... A lot of the gauchos and people suck on coca leaves, its like chewing tobacco.

On the way out we talked with the gaucho - Gonzalo. He told us the history of the area, the estancia and stuff. He turned out to be the estancia manager, a huge rugby fan and played for years here and even a year in Parma. The estancia was huge - 5,000 hectares. We got out there and found our horses. We saddled up and rode for about 2.5 hrs before returning to the house for a huge lunch of steak, chorizo and pleny of red wine. The guys (Gonzalo and Martin) played and sang some trditional music and I tried to translate what I could to the group. It was amazing and a great experience. The songs were awesome and they sung with a lot of passion and emotion. After lunch we rode for a little more and then returned to town. We had the dinner at the other hostel and a big night...

The next day I laid low and chilled out. I had lunch with some others from the hostel and did a bit of a wander around town. That night a few of us went over to La Casona del Molina. It is a local spot that was an old house with a big courtyard in the middle. The four of us were definitely the only gringos there! But no one seemed to care. It was the sort of place where all the locals would come and sing and just pass the guitar amongst themselves. Gonzalo had told us about it and was there with several of his friends, playing and singing too.

The next day was the Argetina vs South Korea (they won 4-1) and were partying in the streets all day. If that wasn't enough there was also a huge parade to celebrate the local hero - General Guemes. He led an army of gauchos against the Spanish in their war for independence. The parade had the usual, school groups, municipal and military units but then their were the gauchos... We acually saw one of our guides out in the parade. He said there were over 3,000 gauchos there and there would be races and stuff that night in a nearby estancia. However I don't have time to go to them, but seeing the parade and everything was great. I am going to head up to Bolivia tonight with a few guys from here.

Salta has been great, I've meet some awesome people and had a great time. Its a beautiful part of the country and definitely a time I will remember.