Off to Lima, Peru super early Saturday morning. New adventures!
Chau Argentina!
Friday, September 23, 2011
Thursday, September 15, 2011
More Salta
Our second to last day we traveled to the 7 colored hills and the salt flats. The hills get their colors from their different mineral content.
The salt flats are a working source of salt and to collect the salt, slabs are cut from the ground down to the water below and the water is allowed to evaporate, leaving the salt behind to be collected. Our tour guide noted that sadly all who work on the salt flats eventually go blind because of the strong reflection of the sun.
Endangered vicuña, if you look really hard for the light brownish specks. Their wool is extremely valuable because it's so fine it can be knitted into an extremely warm windproof garment. Wikipedia article on them.
The salt flats are a working source of salt and to collect the salt, slabs are cut from the ground down to the water below and the water is allowed to evaporate, leaving the salt behind to be collected. Our tour guide noted that sadly all who work on the salt flats eventually go blind because of the strong reflection of the sun.
Salta continued
The next day we visited an anthropology museum that had artifacts such as pottery, cooking, and hunting tools from a number of indigenous peoples from Northern Argentina. The museum detailed the dwellings people lived in and how they hunted and cooked.
We also visited a museum about Pajarito Velarde. Pajarito was only a nickname but he became so well known that one only had to draw a picture of a bird on an envelope and write 'Salta' on it and the letter would find its way to Pajarito's house. Pajarito attended university but the only piece of paper he returned home with was a certificate showing he had one first place in a tango competition. Back in Pajarito's day, dancing tango was a bit risque so when he returned to Salta to teach the dance, the quiet Catholic town was scandalized. Pajarito became a patron of the arts and was very generous with the little money he had. He gave instruments to aspiring musicians who had none, and helped poets publish their work and helped musicians record their music. A number of people famous in the tango and literature world stayed at Pajarito's small one room house. Anyone who was anyone would visit Pajarito when passing through Salta. Pajarito became a banker of sorts and still somehow managed to make it to work every morning after throwing amazing parties with live music that lasted through the night.
The next day we trekked into the mountains, winding our way through them by way of a road cut out of the side of a mountain (a la the road to Los Alamos). Can't beat natural desert beauty.
We also visited a museum about Pajarito Velarde. Pajarito was only a nickname but he became so well known that one only had to draw a picture of a bird on an envelope and write 'Salta' on it and the letter would find its way to Pajarito's house. Pajarito attended university but the only piece of paper he returned home with was a certificate showing he had one first place in a tango competition. Back in Pajarito's day, dancing tango was a bit risque so when he returned to Salta to teach the dance, the quiet Catholic town was scandalized. Pajarito became a patron of the arts and was very generous with the little money he had. He gave instruments to aspiring musicians who had none, and helped poets publish their work and helped musicians record their music. A number of people famous in the tango and literature world stayed at Pajarito's small one room house. Anyone who was anyone would visit Pajarito when passing through Salta. Pajarito became a banker of sorts and still somehow managed to make it to work every morning after throwing amazing parties with live music that lasted through the night.
Gifts from all over the world decorate Pajarito's home.
The next day we trekked into the mountains, winding our way through them by way of a road cut out of the side of a mountain (a la the road to Los Alamos). Can't beat natural desert beauty.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Salta
Two weeks ago we had some time off from school and took a relaxing break from the hustle and bustle of city life to visit the town of Salta. We took an overnight bus there and were welcomed by a sunny, warm day. After dropping our things off at our hostel, we explored the town. One of the first things we did was ride a cable car up a hill to enjoy the view. The town did seem to sprawl a bit from our vantage point but we were able to walk everywhere we needed to go so it felt a bit smaller (and a map of the city fit on a large-ish piece of paper, whereas I have an 180 booklet of BsAs broken up into 42 mini maps as well as a list of all the colectivos, subway lines, and train lines that criss cross the city, quite useful, but it makes you appreciate how big BsAs is). Salta also had the tiny streets that only fit 1 or 2 lanes of traffic at the maximum with parked cars, there was only a little bit of traffic during 'rush hours' so Salta definitely had the feel of a smaller town.
Stained glass at the cable car station. Bottom of the hill.
Our chariot.
Up, up, and away!
The top of the mountain was beautiful. There was a very nice garden/park setup with many benches, sidewalks, perfectly manicured grass and flowers. There was even a nice artificial water feature with falls and ponds.
We walked down a loooong series of step and worked out our 'going down stairs' muscles. Those muscles were thusly sore for the remainder of the trip...
Once we got down the hill it was early evening and we still had a few hours before dinner was served at the hostel so we explored the downtown/plaza area and saw some beautiful churches. We saw these churches during the daytime too but they looked a bit better lit up at night.
The top of the mountain was beautiful. There was a very nice garden/park setup with many benches, sidewalks, perfectly manicured grass and flowers. There was even a nice artificial water feature with falls and ponds.
We walked down a loooong series of step and worked out our 'going down stairs' muscles. Those muscles were thusly sore for the remainder of the trip...
Once we got down the hill it was early evening and we still had a few hours before dinner was served at the hostel so we explored the downtown/plaza area and saw some beautiful churches. We saw these churches during the daytime too but they looked a bit better lit up at night.
Mi Primera Boda
ISA took us all to a movie today, Mi Primera Boda. It was hilarious, kind of like an Argentine version of Meet the Fockers. The movie was set right before a wedding, and everyone's nervous and the two families are completely different and of course something goes wrong... In this case the bride's family is Catholic and the groom's is Jewish and the groom loses the wedding rings right before the ceremony. The majority of the movie is a series of ways he's stalling for time while inventing different schemes to find the rings and keep their misplacement a secret from his bride to be. To complicate things, the bride's ex-fling is in attendance and kind of trying to win her back. The bride's mother is a bit ridiculous and always has a drink in her hand and the groom's bumbling cousin hurts almost as much as he helps the search for the rings.
About ten minutes into the movie the film somehow broke and the movie stopped. Someone from the theater immediately came in and informed us they should have it fixed in five minutes. Then, a server from the cafe came in and served everyone in the theater Coke and Sprite! The building the theater is in also houses a bowling alley, restaurant, ice cream parlor, McDonald's and an arcade. There's also a grocery store attached to the building on the first floor, next to a small shop that sells purses and jewelry. Oh and there's a parking garage. The theater employee returned a short while later and informed us the problem was not as easily solved as they had previously thought and that we could have our money back or wait another 15 minutes. We all wanted to see how the movie turned out so we chose to wait for them to fix the film (we also hoped that if we had to wait long enough they would bring out empanadas). Sadly there was no more free food or drink but the film was fixed and everyone enjoyed it a lot.
About ten minutes into the movie the film somehow broke and the movie stopped. Someone from the theater immediately came in and informed us they should have it fixed in five minutes. Then, a server from the cafe came in and served everyone in the theater Coke and Sprite! The building the theater is in also houses a bowling alley, restaurant, ice cream parlor, McDonald's and an arcade. There's also a grocery store attached to the building on the first floor, next to a small shop that sells purses and jewelry. Oh and there's a parking garage. The theater employee returned a short while later and informed us the problem was not as easily solved as they had previously thought and that we could have our money back or wait another 15 minutes. We all wanted to see how the movie turned out so we chose to wait for them to fix the film (we also hoped that if we had to wait long enough they would bring out empanadas). Sadly there was no more free food or drink but the film was fixed and everyone enjoyed it a lot.
Monday, September 12, 2011
Click on the image to go to my Picasa album.
Some pictures
Pictures are up on my flickr account! The photos in the Buenos Aires set to the right are all from my first Sunday in Buenos Aires.
Apparently there's a monthly upload limit and I've pretty much already reached it....
Apparently there's a monthly upload limit and I've pretty much already reached it....
Festival de la Luna
AMAZING
There was a huge stage set up in the middle of China town and about 6 blocks of the street in the middle of China town were closed off for this festival. Restaurants were selling food outside of their establishments in portable containers so you could buy your fried rice and walk around to see the other vendors. People were advertising classes for yoga, meditation and Chinese and booths in the middle of the street were selling everything from tea cups to fortune cookie.
TOFU YUM
No idea what this was, it was squishy and had jelly in it.
I had some delicious fried tofu, right out of the frying pan. I covered it in spicy Sriracha (the sauce looks darker here) and proceeded to enjoy. I couldn't have been happier about finally having something spicy to eat. Alli got a tasty melon flavored ice cream pop and later on some tasty noodles. I got a milk tea with bubbles (just like in the States, yum) and some fried rice, half of which I saved and can't wait to eat. There were also eggrolls, battered and fried chicken on a stick, and corn on the cob for sale. I realize now that we forgot to eat moon cakes during the moon festival. Oops.
The performances we saw were great. A woman sang beautifully in Spanish and Chinese and there was a fan dance as well as a dance performed with shiny silver balls. The most exciting dances were the lion and dragon dances. About seven men held up the giant dragon form and two each played the part of the lions. The dragons made their way throughout the streets and into restaurants during the entire festival but performed on stage as well. We were also treated to some tango performances by dancers of Asian descent with a live violinist, accordion player, keyboard player, and stand up bassist.
Best of all, the show was free.
The flier for the festival reads: In September, in the Chinese community we celebrate the Festival of the Moon. Legend tells of Chang E, the curious wife of Hou Yi, who was very proud and drank the elixir of immortality and from then on was exiled to the Crystal Palace of the Earth's only satellite...
I'm excited to visit Lima's Chinatown too, which is supposed to be pretty big.
Official site
There was a huge stage set up in the middle of China town and about 6 blocks of the street in the middle of China town were closed off for this festival. Restaurants were selling food outside of their establishments in portable containers so you could buy your fried rice and walk around to see the other vendors. People were advertising classes for yoga, meditation and Chinese and booths in the middle of the street were selling everything from tea cups to fortune cookie.
I had some delicious fried tofu, right out of the frying pan. I covered it in spicy Sriracha (the sauce looks darker here) and proceeded to enjoy. I couldn't have been happier about finally having something spicy to eat. Alli got a tasty melon flavored ice cream pop and later on some tasty noodles. I got a milk tea with bubbles (just like in the States, yum) and some fried rice, half of which I saved and can't wait to eat. There were also eggrolls, battered and fried chicken on a stick, and corn on the cob for sale. I realize now that we forgot to eat moon cakes during the moon festival. Oops.
The performances we saw were great. A woman sang beautifully in Spanish and Chinese and there was a fan dance as well as a dance performed with shiny silver balls. The most exciting dances were the lion and dragon dances. About seven men held up the giant dragon form and two each played the part of the lions. The dragons made their way throughout the streets and into restaurants during the entire festival but performed on stage as well. We were also treated to some tango performances by dancers of Asian descent with a live violinist, accordion player, keyboard player, and stand up bassist.
Best of all, the show was free.
The flier for the festival reads: In September, in the Chinese community we celebrate the Festival of the Moon. Legend tells of Chang E, the curious wife of Hou Yi, who was very proud and drank the elixir of immortality and from then on was exiled to the Crystal Palace of the Earth's only satellite...
I'm excited to visit Lima's Chinatown too, which is supposed to be pretty big.
Official site
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