A week ago, I was in one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, Salta, Argentina. A quick 20 hour bus ride to the northern part of Argentina resulted in a relaxing and inspiring 5 day mini vacation. I went with 4 girls, also studying abroad at UB, from California, Florida, and Tennessee. They are all very accustomed to the great outdoors. This city girl, however, is not. Our trip was filled with hikes, lakes, mountains, salt flats, streams, and trees, all of which were exhilaratingly exciting for me. Even the small town of Salta was something new.
After getting off of the bus, we were in desperate need to stretch our legs. Walking around the small town was very different from walking around the bustling Buenos Aires. No one was in a rush or even jaywalking! Being a group of 5 tall, white, english speakers warranted us a look of surprise from nearly everyone. While sitting at a cafe (cafe culture remains strong, even in the smaller parts of Argentina), a father walked by with his two sons. He heard our english and stopped to chat, explaining his son is learning English. We tried to chat with the kid but he was a little too shy to get out more than his name and age. His father was the one really dominating the conversation, which ended up being in Spanglish. Quite often people are excited to meet English speakers and love the practice but we want to practice our Spanish, creating the eclectic Spanglish that I love so much. In Buenos Aires, you'll still find people excited to practice their English but it is less common that heads will turn when they hear it, as they did in Salta. Even though we spent most of our time exploring outside of the town, what we did see was the sense of the small town community. The park was filled with what seemed like all of Salta on Monday, a federal holiday. We couldn't buy food for dinner on Sunday night because everything is closed on Sundays. There was a very strong sense of the Catholic tradition with churches everywhere. When we didn't have enough monedas (coins) for the bus, this sweet old woman used her transit card to swipe us. We of course gave her the amount in billetes (bills), although she tried to refuse. We thanked her profousily to which she replied "No, gracias a Dios" (No, thanks to God) and pointed upward. It's the little things that count.
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| Lit up church tower |
The next day we took an excursion with a tour guide company to go up the mountains and into the salt flats. This is one thing I'm not soon to forget. I could see salt for miles. In photos it looks like snow, but rest assured, it's salt. The bus driver recommended we buy coca leaves during one of our pit stops. He explained that chewing on them would prevent and alleviate any symptoms from being at such a high altitude. I think we were laughing too hard to actually know whether they worked or not. In the following days we went to Dique Cabra Corral and San Lorenzo, both of which took my breath away. Dique Cabra Corral was this enormous lake in the middle of the mountains that was just spectacular. The other girls found just as beautiful but they're used to seeing something like it. I was in awe. Same went for San Lorenzo, a tiny town outside of Salta. We took the bus and walked through the town early in the morning, before anyone else was there. We found this stream and nature reserve that were stunning. Simply walking around, taking in the view, and sitting to read in the sun made me feel motivated about life. Our last day, we took a hike up the cerra (hill) in Salta. 1,070 steps that followed the stations of the cross to provide us with an amazing view of the city. A cable car goes up from the center of town to the same point but the view was better when we worked for it. Plus, we wanted to get some exercise in before sitting on the bus for another 20 hours. Our hike up was guided by a stray dog who decided to join us and our hike down was accompanied by four others. Two dogs walked with us in San Lorenzo as well. Both times the dogs appeared out of nowhere, walked with us, stopped when we did and in the same manner in which they arrived, they disappeared. It's silly but it felt nice to have the companionship and gave us a sense of being guided in the right direction.
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