After arriving in Salta city in the Salta province, we quickly sorted out our tickets to get us back to BA at the end of the week. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get cama (bed) seats.  But, no matter. We found a hostel at the bus terminal and checked in to a shared room with the 5 of us.  We were all a little tired and hungry from the bus ride.  So, we decided to grab a quick bite down the street and chill in the afternoon.

At night we met up at the town center.  For being fairly remote, the city of Salta was quite impressive.  The town center was beautiful with trees, fountains, flowers and lots of people milling around.  Surrounding the town square were  museums, a cathedral and plenty of outdoor cafes.  The old Spanish architecture blended with some of the newer 20th century art deco buildings.  Lit up at night, the city was magical.  We wound up at a restaurant featuring national and regional music.  So, we got a taste of tango music and Salteñean tunes.  And, who doesn’t love that.

On Sunday, we spent the day wandering around to see Salta.  Kim and I headed into the center touring the museums, cathedrals and parks.  The highlight for me was visiting the local archeological museum which had several mummies.  The latest exhibition was a mummy of a 15 year old girl who, along with 2 younger kids (aged 5 and 6), were recently found.  Believed to have been part of a sacrifice, the girl was immaculately preserved.  Usually the mummies look old, dusty, boney.  But this girl looked like she had recently died.  It was at the same time enthralling to view and yet, a little unsettling.

At the end of the day, we set off for the local teleferico so we could watch the sunset from one of the nearby mountaintops.  We were supposed to meet up with our friends there.  We passed through a park full of people enjoying the day with lots of food, goods for sale and clowns and ponies.  The teleferico was closed and we didn’t see Andres, Noemi and Pepe.  So, we hung out at the park for the rest of the afternoon.  We found out later that our friends took a cab up to the top and did watch the sunset from there.

Originally Published September 14, 2007

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Tags: Argentina travel, career break travel, Jeff's Career Break Blog

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