Salta

When we were planning our trip to South America we decided that as we were going through Salta, we may as well stay for a couple of days and have a look around. By all accounts it purported to be a beautiful city. As we were getting close to Salta in the plane the terrain started getting pretty barren and desert like. The airport was quite small, and we caught a couple of taxis to our hotel without too many dramas. The city seemed quite third world to me as we drove to the Hotel, but we checked in with our best Spanglish and got settled. The rooms were quaint and quite comfortable, the only unusual thing in our room was that the shower and toilet were in the same room, with the shower facing the toilet. As the shower didn't have any walls or curtains, the toilet got wet every time the shower was used. You do get used to wet wipes however! We have noticed this plan is quite common in this part of the world, go figure.
   The free internet at the Hotel while slow, was a lifesaver as we had been incognito for a while, and were able to catch up with family and friends.
   We decided to head into town and have a meal, catching one of the gazillion taxis that take you anywhere for peanuts. Salta is famous for succulent Argentine steak, so we ended up at a restaurant specialising in Steak. In most places in the world I have found when you order steak rare, they think you mean very well done minus two seconds cooking time, so I was delighted to receive a large perfectly cooked delicious fillet which they call here Bif chorizo. I was half expecting a steak dressed with spicy sausage, but no it was exactly what I wanted. The wine list was excellent as well, and the meal was very reasonably priced.
   After the meal we walked out into the main plaza. It seems in the parts of South America we have been to so far that the towns are very far below the western world in standard, but then you come to these plazas here and there which are like oases from the starkness of the suburbs. The plazas are without exception beautiful, and the people seem to congregate in these plazas which are generally filled with eating establishments, monuments, and park benches surrounding well kept grass and gardens. I took a video clip of the plaza, follow this link to see it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9RXLq5AYCY
   We came back here the second night and met up with the Soames' and Keatings for a meal (fellow travellers from NZ). We tried another steak establishment and this time my rare steak was extra well done. Oh well you can't win them all, but I know which restaurant I will return to when we go back through Salta. Anyway like in Buenos Aires the town comes alive late a night, and we were heading to the restaurant through the plaza quite late and suddenly all sorts of celebrations randomly start. First some gentlemen (gauchos) ride around the plaza on horses finally hitching them up outside our restaurant, then this band starts blaring its way around as well. I have videos of this at these links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98qrbwxnkLk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k89S2l9xUO4
And here is a photograph:

The horses were right beside our restaurant, and the streams of urine and piles of dung really added to the ambiance as I chewed my rubbery steak! Actually coming from Murupara NZ, it's not like we aren't used to horses, and it really was a memorable evening. In fact take a look at this photograph of some horses we were given when witnessing in Ruatahuna NZ, two weeks before flying out. I kid you not, we were honestly given these horses!!

   Back in Salta it turns out we were here during the annual celebration called "the day of the dead" Not sure what part horses and bands play in that, but hey this is South America.
   All in all we enjoyed Salta and were glad we stayed a couple of days, next post I will talk about our dramas getting from here to Tarija across the border of Argentina and Bolivia. So until tomorrow...