Emily in Argentina: Epic South American Adventure III: Jujuy and Salta

When we got to Jujuy, we took a cab to a hostel recommended by a friend but, since it was full, went to a different one near the main plaza. The people there were incredibly nice, fitting the stereotype that people in that part of the country are welcoming and hospitable as they helped us plan our entire stay in Jujuy. The following day we ate breakfast near the hostel then took a bus two hours north to Humahuaca to look around and buy some things at the artisan fair. We took another bus about half an hour back south to Tilcara to buy more things from the artisans (for example, I bought a second alpaca sweater…), take unnecessary amounts of pictures, and eat possibly the best dinner of the trip, which consisted of a traditional meat stew called locro, beef and cheese empanadas, and a corn paste and goat cheese dish called a humita. The bus back was longer than it should have been, not to our surprise, but we went straight to bed since we had to get up early the next day for our Gran Salinas tour.

After waking up late due to the wrong time zone on my phone and rushing to our tour (which wasn’t necessary since everything ran behind schedule, anyway), we picked up a bunch of rich Argentines who were staying in a really nice hotel and then rode the bus to Purmamarca to see the Cerro de los Siete Colores. Since it had snowed a little the night before, all the Argentines were very impressed (unlike us, seeing as we live in Milwaukee and Detroit) and cold, so we didn’t stay longer than the thirty seconds needed to take some pictures. The following drive to the Gran Salinas salt bed was epically long because our quirky, old tour guide, Carlos, stopped for a picture or semi-interesting comment whenever he thought of something or one of the old Argentine tourists we were with wanted one. Eventually we made it, though, and it was worth the wait because the expansive former ocean of salt was very impressive. The wind was also the strongest I had felt since Patagonia, possibly even stronger, since it was so flat and there was nothing to slow it down. Unfortunately, however, we learned that the people that extract the salt for a living are blatantly exploited as they are only paid thirty pesos or about eight dollars per ton of salt that they chisel out of the salt flat. After seeing the flat we continued back to Humahuaca to stop by the artisan fair again, but it was freezing cold so we just drank coffee and had an empanada to kill time before we returned to Jujuy. Because of the almost negligible amount of snow, the roads were naturally a disaster since no one knew how to drive in the cold/ “snowy” conditions and the bus ride home therefore took much longer than necessary. We didn’t have time for a real dinner before the bus ride to Salta, so we had our favorite pretend-meal of crackers and cookies (I may have had an alfajor, which is a dulce de leche/caramel filled cookie cake thing, as well) and watched The Criminal on the bus until we could order pizza and empanadas at our hostel in when we got there. We chose a great hostel that wasn’t in the best of shape but had the nicest people working there as well as fast internet, tv, and lots of blankets to ward off the cold.

The following day we hung around Salta, first buying bus tickets home then feasting on eggs, leftover pizza, and medialunas/croissants we bought at the bus station. Then we walked to the center of the city (Plaza 9 de Julio, or 9^th of July just like every other plaza in Argentina), ate pochoclo which is popcorn with honey and some strawberries some kid sold us until our city tour. We were on the tour with two Argentine couples, and after seeing the city we went up Cerro San Fernando to see an incredible view of Salta from above. We took a gondola ride down with one of the couples and, despite almost freezing to death in line and on the way down, the view and the company were both great. After the city tour we went back to the hostel for a typical Argentine asado or barbeque, prepared by David of the hostel, which was delicious. It was also fun to talk to the couple from Barcelona (and hear their Spanish accents) as well as the family from Santa Fe in the central part of Argentina, David, and a Dutch guy who had been volunteering in Peru. The food and company were good, and we stayed up later than necessary talking with them.

The following day, we got up very early to get in a car with two Argentine guys and a guide to go on our two-day excursion around the Salta area. Our guide, Marco, was incredibly knowledgeable and entertaining, and the scenery was gorgeous. We stopped in a small town called Cachi for lunch, where we ate homemade empanadas and watched kids do some traditional Andean dancing. We continued in the car to Cafayate, with one stop to try the Salta beer, and checked into our hostel. We split up for dinner, and Ben and I stopped at the local artisan fair before eating a really good dinner of salad, beef with cheese and ham on it for him and a humita and tamale for me. On the way home we also enjoyed the best artisan-made alfajores (the cookie things) I have ever had, and I have had an embarrassingly extensive amount/variety. We actually got a full night’s sleep, too, since we had time and about a thousand blankets each. This made waking up the next day a lot easier and the car ride much more bearable, especially since the rock formations (similar to the US Southwest but bigger) were very cool and made for some excellent pictures. We stopped at a dried up waterfall to eat empanadas and some more dulce de leche pastry things for lunch as well as watch some folk music that was being performed in the prime acoustics of the rock formation/former waterfall. We stopped at a man-made lake on the way back to Salta, which was very pretty and made us both excited to get back to the Midwest where that are real lakes. We finally made it back to the city in time (barely) to catch our bus back to Buenos Aires, which took about nineteen hours. Ben talked me into taking the first class bus, about which I complained due to the price but, annoyingly, he was right because the 180 degree seats made sleeping much easier and the four movies kept me from being bored. The food was pretty good, too.

Fun fact: I forgot this last time so there will be two. From the second part, I should mention that Lake Titicaca is the highest lake in the world as it is on the Peruvian-Bolivian altiplano or high plain, although I think the Great Lakes (Superior) has it on size. Jujuy province may have been our favorite that we visited in Argentina simply because the people were friendly and diverse, unlike in Buenos Aires where many people are European as opposed to indigenous- looking. It was definitely the most "South American" feeling trip we did within Argentina.