The Andean Northwest...Salta and JUJUY!!!

Salta was a blast. I hung out with natives the entire time, and spoke nothing but Spanish for 3 days, Super Bien! I made new friends who I truly hope to see again one day. I am forever grateful for them exposing me to the Argentinian culture and treating me like family, in fact, two of them, Celeste and Manuel were brother and sister. I was little jealous :) So I meandered around the city a lot, I got to know it VERY well. It´s always so annoying that after you know the ins and outs of the city you have to leave, ahh a part of traveling. With my new friend, Celeste, I rode the teleferico, which is essentially a gondola. It gave me a great view of the city and the mountains surrounding it!

We went out every night, saw live music in the street, typical folk Argentinian music, another night we went to a bar for a cover band, who seemed to love playing the classic american songs! I had such a great time with them, drinking mate, walking around, sharing music, and exchanging aspects of our culture. Side note: they were in Salta for a concert by Indio. People are obessed with this guy, so much that I bought a T-shirt with his logo, AND, when I arrive to Jujuy the girl at the front desk has a tattoo of the logo, OBSESSED!

I am rejuvinated from Salta, and am prepared for the next 4 weeks, ONLY 4 more weeks left. Time is going so fast. I made a delicious dinner of stirfryed veggies and tomato and avacado with tortilla and cheese. I have a picture. This is my last good home cooked meal for a while, since food poisoning is inevitable in Bolivia I am going to be very cautious on what I eat. I am prepared though, to get sick, I just hope its not as sick as I was in in El Salvador (remember sisters???).

After my friends left Salta, I decided to head to Coronel Moldes (can you find it on a map?) Its just a little town with a lake and a river with rapids. Here people do "extreme sports". Sounds right up my alley!! So I try to figure out how to get here. I ask a few people and they all send me in different directions. After about 30 min of a building frustration, I go to the central bus station and talk to someone. I really got so frustrated that I almost cried, haha...I had to verbally tell myself to calm down, it was just the time was passing, and I wanted to get there and back before dark. Alas, the man at the station directed me where to go. And it was a successful. About an hour after searching for a the bus, I found it (this was my first time getting on any city bus in South America)!!! I was certain of my success after meeting an older lady who was sitting on a bench near the bus. What a sweet lady she was, we talked for about 30 min until her bus arrived....Another 30 min passes and yay, the bus is here. Its about 3 ish now...I talk to myself telling myself to relax, I still have 4 solid hours to enjoy this day, and the bus ride is only 1hr....NOT...the bus ride was almost 2 hours. I then finally arrive to Moldes, it is 430 and the bus driver tells me the last bus back to Salta is at 5:10...haha, gotta love it, at this point I had been practicing patience and was not even slightly thrown askew from hearing this news. I walk around for 40 min snap a few pics of a lovely lake with beautiful landscapes.

Then I head on my way back to the bus for my 2 hour ride back to Salta. I spent my entire day on the bus. However, I found that I enjoyed it. I did a lot of poeple watching, saw lots of landscapes and went around the entire city of Salta...Overall an unexpectedaly decent day!! After arriving back to Salta I find to Aussies in my dorm room, YAY I finally spoke some English!! We had a couple drinks at the hostels bar on the rooftop and talked about what was mostly insignificant.

I now have arrived to Jujuy, after being convinced by by native friends in Salta, and I love it! If I had known that it was such a great city with copious beauty and nature amid, I would have come here earlier. In fact, I have chosen to stay one more day! I was convinced to stay longer, by another set of locales that I met yesterday. When I first arrived, I wanted to make the most of my day so instantly I got on a city bus (I am a pro now, I had absolutley no problem figuring it out this time) and I head to Tremes del Rey. This is a place up in the mountains about an hour outside the center of the city, that has natual thermal pools (I thought of you Amy). The views were stunning! It was a valley, with a little river in the middle, and green, lush mountains all around me. When I was in the thermal pool I was so relaxed, bathing in natural water from the mountains staring at mountain tops that were covered with clouds, brisk air brushing acrossed my face....ahhhh

(Awww bummer, the pics are sideways, well its takes literally 10 mins to upload one photo, so this will have to do, meh...)

Ohh, but this is not the whole story, prior to my arrival to Termas de Reyes, when I was on the bus, a guy started talking to me about where I was from and what I was doing. After walking around and arriving to the pool, I talk with him and am introduced to his two friends. This turns into us drinking mate, which turns into me meeting one of the girls uncles, who then takes us around the city is his car, we then go get an asado (BBQ), drink wine, and then I go to a town an hour away San Pedro, and drive around there, till suddenly it is 2 am and I am exhausted. What a day! I am grateful that I can speak Spanish, and therefore get to meet locals, and do what not every back packer gets to do! These new friends of mine have now convinced me to stay one more day in Jujuy, which is good, I wanted to communicate with you all before I left for Bolivia, which I leave tomorrow morning. I suspect I will have limited internet access, but I will do my best to keep in touch.

Caio-caio,

Andrea

Gato at the pool that just jumped up on my lap!!