On Saturday morning we left our campsite in Cafayate to drive to Salta Rafting where we were hoping to do a canopy tour or some rafting. We had an hour's reprieve, and didn't leave until 8 a.m. The drive was the most outstanding yet. We drove out of Cafayate and into a lush green valley flanked with red sandstone rocks naturally carved into the most interesting shapes, and steep mountain faces rising straight out of the valley. Probably the closest resemblance is Sedona in Arizona, but the sheer vastness of the mountain ranges in the background is much more grand. Then we were back into the jagged peaked, snow capped, granite mountain ranges of the Andes. We were travelling down the side of a huge lake with sheer rock on the opposite side of the road when we came around the corner and came to an abrupt halt because of a rock slide. It had just happened, and one rock was perched precariously above us, looking as if it would roll down on to the road any minute. So we had to turn around, change our plans and drive straight to Salta. This meant a stop in a typical restaurant in a small village en route. The restaurant was actually someone's house and they had a limited menu which they offered to the public. None the less the food was quite good. We also saw all the rally cars drive past us as we sat on the road-side verandah eating - no doubt they had to turn around too. Two hours later, without further mishap, we arrived in the town of Salta.
Salta is the capital of Salta Province and was founded by the Spanish in the late 1500s. It has about 600,000 population. You may have heard Ray and I talk about Salta. We read in the International Living magazine how beautiful Salta was and what a good place it was to live in. When we arrived we were a little disappointed but after today I realize that the location of the rather boring camp site is not the best. The town has retained its colonial appearance and we have visited many of the old buildings, including Casa de Arias Rengel, Casa de Hernandez, Iglesia San Francisco, Convento San Bernardo, Catedral Basilica, Palacio Legislativo, and the Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana. We also took the gondola up the mountain for a fabulous view over the city. There was supposed to be a train which took you 400 km up into the clouds, however, this is not running due to problems with the structure of the railway.
Most of the buildings around the Plaza 9 de Julio (the main square) have beeen fixed up and look lovely, however, the Palacio Legislativo is a little walk from the centre. It is a fine building, probably the finest, but sadly, it is in very bad repair. I suspect this is due to the hard economic times Argentina has suffered, and hopefully, now that their economy is starting to pick up, they will find the money to restore this and other beautiful old buildings. In the Museo de Arqueologia we read the story of La Reina del Cerro - The Queen of the Mountain - and saw the mummy of the child. The Incas had a ritual called Capacocha. Offerings were made by the four Inca provinces and taken to Cuzco, which was the centre of the Inca Empire. After days of preparation there was a pilgrimage back to the sacred site in the various provinces from which the offerings came. In some cases, the offerings included chosen children. When the children arrived back at the sacred site in their province, they were drugged, and then offered to the deities. There are apparently some 27 or 28 sites in Argentina where children were sacrificed and La Reina del Cerro is one of these. It is not known exactly when she was sacrificed, but it is said to be somewhere between 1400 and 1532. Here body was discovered at 5,175 metres in 1920 -1922, and in 1924 it was bought by a collector from Buenos Aires and taken to that province. In 2001, the CEPPA Foundation acquired the body and in 2006 the body was recovered by the City of Salta. It sent chills up my spine to look at the 12 year old girl, in a kneeling position, mummified. By the expression on her face, I can´t think that her death was pleasant. This is something I would love to explore further when I return from the trip, as 3 other little girls' bodies have also been found and are being prepared to go on exhibition. It seems to me, this has a loose connection to Body World. I may not have the whole story properly told here, since once again language and translation is a problem. Anyway, here is the web site for the museum for those who are interested: www.maam.com.ar. (Note: my Spanish is not good enough to figure out how to do a link).
Last night after supper, a number of us went to the Cinema. It cost 11 pesos ($4 or $5 Cdn). It was in a very modern shopping mall and was very clean and comfortable. I was surprised to see that most of the films were in English with Spanish sub-titles. Could have been in Canada. The film we saw was 300. Certainly not the best film I have seen, but it was fun to have a night out at the flics.
Today, Ray went on a canopy tour back to Salta Rafting. I have had a lovely day just walking around Salta with Robin. We have seen all kinds of places, walked around a school, a Spanish community centre, went into a 5-Star hotel to use the loo, visited the station, the Procurator Fiscal's office, and generally done things not on the tourist map. We also went shopping and Robin bought a lovely pant-suit and top for about $120 Cdn. Its great quality and an ideal business outfit.
Prices here in Argentina are reasonable. Taxi rides are about 5 pesos - $2.00; a small bottle of water is about 1.5 pesos. So far as clothes go, we think that the better clothes are not much different than in England, but the cheaper clothes are much more stylish than what you can buy in either England or Canada. We have priced TVS, computers, stoves, fridges, etc. and all are quite a bit cheaper than Canada. Food from the supermarkets is very cheap. We can only conclude without doing too much of an in depth survey, that living in Argentina would be considerably less than living in Canada.
Sadly, today is our last day in Argentina. Tomorrow morning at 7.00 a.m. we set off for Tupiza in Bolivia. I think things will change drastically there. It will be less developed, no more supermarkets, good loos, good food, etc. Tonight, we are going to seek out a local restaurant with folk music. Its a bit of a flyer so we'll let you know how it goes.
We will keep you posted!
Salta is the capital of Salta Province and was founded by the Spanish in the late 1500s. It has about 600,000 population. You may have heard Ray and I talk about Salta. We read in the International Living magazine how beautiful Salta was and what a good place it was to live in. When we arrived we were a little disappointed but after today I realize that the location of the rather boring camp site is not the best. The town has retained its colonial appearance and we have visited many of the old buildings, including Casa de Arias Rengel, Casa de Hernandez, Iglesia San Francisco, Convento San Bernardo, Catedral Basilica, Palacio Legislativo, and the Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Montana. We also took the gondola up the mountain for a fabulous view over the city. There was supposed to be a train which took you 400 km up into the clouds, however, this is not running due to problems with the structure of the railway.
Most of the buildings around the Plaza 9 de Julio (the main square) have beeen fixed up and look lovely, however, the Palacio Legislativo is a little walk from the centre. It is a fine building, probably the finest, but sadly, it is in very bad repair. I suspect this is due to the hard economic times Argentina has suffered, and hopefully, now that their economy is starting to pick up, they will find the money to restore this and other beautiful old buildings. In the Museo de Arqueologia we read the story of La Reina del Cerro - The Queen of the Mountain - and saw the mummy of the child. The Incas had a ritual called Capacocha. Offerings were made by the four Inca provinces and taken to Cuzco, which was the centre of the Inca Empire. After days of preparation there was a pilgrimage back to the sacred site in the various provinces from which the offerings came. In some cases, the offerings included chosen children. When the children arrived back at the sacred site in their province, they were drugged, and then offered to the deities. There are apparently some 27 or 28 sites in Argentina where children were sacrificed and La Reina del Cerro is one of these. It is not known exactly when she was sacrificed, but it is said to be somewhere between 1400 and 1532. Here body was discovered at 5,175 metres in 1920 -1922, and in 1924 it was bought by a collector from Buenos Aires and taken to that province. In 2001, the CEPPA Foundation acquired the body and in 2006 the body was recovered by the City of Salta. It sent chills up my spine to look at the 12 year old girl, in a kneeling position, mummified. By the expression on her face, I can´t think that her death was pleasant. This is something I would love to explore further when I return from the trip, as 3 other little girls' bodies have also been found and are being prepared to go on exhibition. It seems to me, this has a loose connection to Body World. I may not have the whole story properly told here, since once again language and translation is a problem. Anyway, here is the web site for the museum for those who are interested: www.maam.com.ar. (Note: my Spanish is not good enough to figure out how to do a link).
Last night after supper, a number of us went to the Cinema. It cost 11 pesos ($4 or $5 Cdn). It was in a very modern shopping mall and was very clean and comfortable. I was surprised to see that most of the films were in English with Spanish sub-titles. Could have been in Canada. The film we saw was 300. Certainly not the best film I have seen, but it was fun to have a night out at the flics.
Today, Ray went on a canopy tour back to Salta Rafting. I have had a lovely day just walking around Salta with Robin. We have seen all kinds of places, walked around a school, a Spanish community centre, went into a 5-Star hotel to use the loo, visited the station, the Procurator Fiscal's office, and generally done things not on the tourist map. We also went shopping and Robin bought a lovely pant-suit and top for about $120 Cdn. Its great quality and an ideal business outfit.
Prices here in Argentina are reasonable. Taxi rides are about 5 pesos - $2.00; a small bottle of water is about 1.5 pesos. So far as clothes go, we think that the better clothes are not much different than in England, but the cheaper clothes are much more stylish than what you can buy in either England or Canada. We have priced TVS, computers, stoves, fridges, etc. and all are quite a bit cheaper than Canada. Food from the supermarkets is very cheap. We can only conclude without doing too much of an in depth survey, that living in Argentina would be considerably less than living in Canada.
Sadly, today is our last day in Argentina. Tomorrow morning at 7.00 a.m. we set off for Tupiza in Bolivia. I think things will change drastically there. It will be less developed, no more supermarkets, good loos, good food, etc. Tonight, we are going to seek out a local restaurant with folk music. Its a bit of a flyer so we'll let you know how it goes.
We will keep you posted!
1 comment:
Someone has posted interesting photos of this region on Google Earth. One is of a mountain of seven colours, and some of Salta.
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