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.

 

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.