Salta

Argentina

February 2007
3 days

Salta
11th to 14th February

Up, up and away we ventured in to the top left corner of Argentina, with our full circuit almost complete. The province of Salta alone is the size of England and Wales combined. A province is like our counties back home but we were basing ourselves in Salta city itself.

The hostel was a bit of a dump to be true, but being tired we accepted the room and slept all afternoon. We skipped dinner but I did check out the roof top bar just long enough to know that a guy from Kingston was at the bar and to grab a large beer and glass to take to the room. Back to bed to sup my beer fro a few hours whilst finishing the best book I´ve read in ages, The Green Mile by Stephen King. If you have seen the movie, you must read the book, its spellbinding.... if you haven't seen the movie.....you simply must.. and then read the book. I demand it.

The next morning feeling less docile we walked the ten blocks to the centre and found breakfast. I'd already decided that I didn't really like the town but we were here because of the Salt flats that we'd heard were exceptional. After breakfast we went and booked ourselves on a tour manyana to see this salty landscape, called the Salinas.

That afternoon we headed for the shopping mall to try and catch a movie in English and we succeeded. I also managed to get a new half decent pair of headphones for my Ipod as my last pair had never quite been the same after getting sand in them. We watched a movie we'd been wanting to see since we left the UK starring Clive Owen and called Children of Men. Its about the not too distant future and women are no longer able to conceive children. The youngest person on earth is in the twenties and obviously all schools have been closed long ago. Its a weird but scary concept and makes quite a good film with Michael Cane playing a quirky role. Go see it. 7/10.

A strange thing happened on the way back, in that Sarah decided to start dancing in the street all crazy splaying her arms all over the place and scratching like a rabid dog. She was convinced that something had gotten up here trousers and was happily munching on her skin. I felt for her but I could not help but laugh as she was on the verge of taking off her clothes in the street to stop this .. well whatever it was, from reaching anything a little more delicate. In and out of doorways to let out a squeal and have a good scratch it was all so very amusing. Her tribal war dance continued until we finally reached a restaurant that was open where she pushed past the waiter and threw herself in to the toilets. She came out none the wiser but whatever it was has gone. Twilight zone!

OK so down to business. The Salt flats and seven coloured mountain tour. We were expecting yet another minibus but instead a standard people carrier turned up with the guide/driver and just one Spanish couple from Buenos Aires who were on their 25th wedding anniversary trip. The driver spoke great English and that was great because I was in the front seat and knew I'd be there for the next 13 hours so being able to communicate was rather pleasing.

Off north we went along much motorway and here the scenery and countryside looked much like the UK. Soon it became more lush and jungley as we reached a region that obviously was bless with more rainfall. A quick stop at a service station for early morning tea and we sped off again. We soon reached very beautiful landscapes with obscure mountain ranges on each side. Due to some kind of oxidisation of metals and minerals in the ground these hills each have their own colour, be it, yellow, blue, purple, red, brown or orange to name a few and every shade and hue in between. Then added to this we came across many types of cactus, and then weird ridges, lines and peaks to the mountains, caused by erosion. The guide explained that these hills were all created in one of three ways. Firstly due to tectonic plate movements that helped build them in the first place, then rainfall and water carved and moved vast amounts of rock and lastly, well I've now forgotten but there three I promise.

After a few more hours we reached a small town who's backdrop was the seven coloured mountain. If you see our photos you'll notice how this one mountain, go on you've already guessed haven't you? Yes its rocks contain a rainbow of seven colours that make a great tourist attraction for this sleep place. We stopped to take photos, and peruse the handicraft market and to make use of the loos before heading off to the Salt flats. We would be returning here for lunch on our way back.

We then had to drive over a rather large mountain in order to reach our destination. A good road but very steep and windy and when we stopped at its peak for a photo we had climbed up to well over 10,000 feet and could immediately feel the effects of this on our breathing. From this vantage point we could see a car wreck below and the guide told us that a young girl had mis-judged the corner only two months ago and had perished along with her unborn child, terrible. I little more cheery we could also see a few Chinchillas jumping around on the rocks. I just wanted to descend the other side before any signs of altitude sickness could creep in to my system, thank you.

As we approached the salt flats, or Salinas, it was very strange as we were in the basin of the desert and is was flat as a pancake but with mountains on the horizon. So to see this mass of pure white salt that extended for a few miles sitting here in this dry and reddish brown landscape it was too say the least very unexpected and somewhat breathtaking. It was now noon and was scorching as we left the air conditioning behind to explore the area. There was nothingness, if that's a word, for as far as you could see, except for some market stalls and some commotion involving film cameras and a bunch of people.

The stalls had these creepy looking guys who wore strange hats and masks, to protect them from the sun, whilst they sat and carved chunks of salt in to all kinds of natty shapes. I got one of these guys to pose for a photo and I think you'll agree if you met him own an alley on a dark night you might just need to change your underpants quite soon after. Quite predictably Sarah could not resist buying a large lump of shapely salt to add to the two rocks she'd bought back in Mendoza. I told her there isn't much point as when its back in the UK the humidity or moisture in our air will dissolve it albeit slowly. That didn't dissuade her, it could be varnished she said.

Then we headed over to what turned out to be a game show being filmed. The guide was quite excited as he recognised the main host of the show and then pointed out that one of the girls participated was actually Maradonna's daughter. We watched that for a while and then got on to the business of jumping around a lot and taking photos of us in mid air. Why? Because it looks great with this backdrop for some reason. But maybe we'll let you be the judge of that. We drove the long way back spotting more camelids, donkeys and birds roadside. We'd got some great shots of the Salinas so we were very happy indeed.

Next day before the bus we had time to visit the Inca Mama Museum where the main exhibits are the artifacts dug up from a religious burial ground way high up in the peaks of the Andes. In there they found two young girls and a boy who had somehow been mummified and 100% preserved for over 500 years, remarkable. Also found where clothes, pots, toys and other very old but in perfect condition relics. All very amazing and very touching. They looked extremely lifelike and from the various commentary there was a kind of uproar as to if they should be put back into their monutain retreat or left in a museum.

Now that's about all we did in Salta but I don't quite think you've had enough this update, so I'll now move on to a topic that disgusts me. Since arriving here in Argentina I have been outraged by the blatant and widespread use of drugs. Its far far worse that anything you see in the UK and by my judgements I'd say at least an extra 10 to 20 percent of people use them here. We've clearly seen discarded drugs left on the streets, in toilets, airports, shopping malls and outragiously even in restaurants on tables. Men seem to be the worst but women here are no better. Standing in all kinds of places getting their next fix even with kids in prams by their side and with total disregard for the health of others. I remember one guy on a night bus and as I woke in the early hours the bus has stopped for a few minutes and he was immediately up and frantically searching his bag for his drugs and wanted to step off to take them. Just as he went downstairs the bus door closed and we pulled away and he came back to his seat looking dispondent. I laughed on the inside and thought you sad sad man. Its just crazy that so many, probably millions are absolutely hooked on this stuff. I simply don't want to be witness to this abuse day in day out and have my health put in danger due to their selfishness. But the government won't do anything about it here much like everywhere else because of course it makes them a trailer load of cash, and of course I am indeed referring to the worst of all drugs..... tobacco! Do you not all realise yet how stupid the whole concept is?

In my opinion, If you're foolish enough to do drugs then at least try something a little stronger like cocaine, crack or heroin so in return you will at least get a decent buzz out of them! Only kidding kids, don't try this at home.... or anywhere else for that matter.

What really gets me is that smoking is probably one of the most pointless and damaging and addictive things in the world. Coupled with the fact that its allowed to be adopted quite freely by anyone with no brain whereas it should be highly illegal.

Well that's the end of another edition of 'You know what really grinds my gears'....

Hope you enjoyed it, now I'm off to puff on a large Havana! Adios!

Wrong Jon ; )