Editor's note: This blog has taken me awhile to write so I thought I'd split the trip up and write in multiple blogs so I don't make my fans wait forever... HOLA!!!!
Ariel & I have just returned from an action-packed and dramatic week visiting the north of Argentina (Salta and Jujuy provinces). Of course, I can't wait to tell all my faithful fans about it and share some pictures. The north of Argentina has some amazing landscapes, including lots of moutains, winding road, and cactus-filled deserts. It is VERY different from Buenos Aires (a lot more like Peru) as there is a lot more poverty and simplicity in life. Salta also is the home of some delicious wine and its own beer (
see picture of Salta beer, cleverly-named Salta).
To get to Salta, we opted to take a 20 hour bus ride since flights within Argentina are much more expensive for
extranjeros. The buses are quite comfortable in Argentina, as we went for the 'suite' services with fully reclining seats.
As you can see from the picture, it was quite roomy and I made myself comfortable.
I also wanted to point out that I am really becoming latino by embracing Argentinian fashion, namely my light blue jeans and my thug cap in this picture. No one is going to recognize me when I come home. Also big here in South American is long hair on guys which I have come to like but I really cannot pull that off myself, unfortunately.
On the bus, we were treated to several meals (including yummy alfajores), and some Tia Maria to knock us out before bed. You could not go #2 on the bus which is ok because I rarely go #2 in public.
We finally arrived in Salta and were supposed to meet up with our tour guide, Christian, at the bus station. Ariel was referred to Christian from a friend in his MBA program and Christian was organizing our time there including hotels, and driving us around. Unfortunately when we arrived, there was no Christian in sight, and when we texted him, his wife texted us that he had gone for the day and wouldn't be back until later. We were tired and stinky but didn't know what to do... I was starting to get a bad feeling about Christian... then some tour guy came up to us and told us that if we wanted he had a hotel we could stay at. It was 70 pesos (~25$) and it was clean with a private washroom. To help convince us he admitted to being secretly gay and told us that he would also tell us where to go to on the town. Ok I was sold... We got into the cab and arrived at our hotel....
The hotel was ok but was not exactly the luxurious hotel a VIP like me ought to be staying in. For example, I was taking a shower (see photo, not of me in the shower don't worry), adn when I turned the cold water faucet it fell off resulting in a stream of cold water flying at me and all over the bathroom. I screamed and covered up the hole and after calling over Ariel, the two of us managed to fix it...
We then decided to explore the main area of Salta. It was extremely pretty with cobblestones everywhere and we could just sit, have a coffee, people-watch, and of course have my shoes shined at the same time. My white shoes are sparkling clean now thanks to a hardworking young chap. Salta shuts down for siesta between 1-5pm so we really had nothing else to do then have a nice drink during the sunny afternoon.
We were still wondering what happened to Christian and whether we would, in fact, be going on a tour the following day. Finally, Christian called and wanted to meet us for a bite to eat and to talk. So we met up with Christian and finally met him...
When we met Christian (
right, eating a typical lunch of meat potatoes and no veggies), he had something very large in his mouth on the side which made it difficult for him to talk, and we could smell a faint smell of marijuana. We proceeded to talk with Christian who told us about our route over the next 4 days drawing it out on a napkin in the diner. Christian told us that it was just the three of us on this intimate journey and that this trip marked the beginning of a new chapter in his life - he had recently quit his job for a tour operator when they found out he was taking us on a tour outside of the regular tour company (unbeknownst to us of course) and he was now going solo and giving private tours. He had been doing his last tour today, which is why he didn't pick us up from the bus station. In his mouth was a gigantic mound of coca leaves which, he said, he would explain to us the next day. We eventually paid Christian, and went to our hotel for some sleep.
The next morning we began our road trip in a VW Gol that Christian had rented. Our first stop was a beautiful lake where we could start to see the mountains in the background. From there we went south towards Cayafate, a part of the province known for its wineries.
On the way, we drove through the desert. As you probably can tell it was very beautiful hot day.
The scenery was quite stunning (including me of course in my new Latino shorts)...
The first stop was a very wide gorge that was formed in some rocks that we could climb if we wanted. Ever since my great time at Machu Picchu, I decided I could do anything. So I decided to climb the steep gorge. Ariel got mad at me as I was was screaming that I would fall but I blame my cool shoes which kept slipping on the steep slopes.
That is not a lizard in the photo - it is me? Can you find me?
After we finished climbing the gorge, we went to look for Christian but we couldn't find him and the car (I'm not the best listening to directions, I admit it.) We were worried for awhile that we wouldn't find Christian and that we would end up left in the desert. At this point,
I decided that I would need to practice my hitch-hiking skills. 
We finally located Christian sleeping in the car and were on our way to Cayafate, a town full of great wineries. In fact, even the ice cream in Cayafate was made of wine. This nice old man in the photo makes the best (and only) Torrontes white wine ice cream that I've ever had. And it even makes you drunk. We had to get a picture of this man. We also realized that Christian knows EVERYONE in this town. He received free ice cream (and pretty much ate his way free on the entire tour).
It was then time to tour the wineries... we went to 3 wineries, and tasted the delicious Malbecs and Torrontes. Each of the wineries gave us a tour in Spanish, and I realized that I still can't understand when people are speaking fast... It is frustrating but is motivating me more. I knew when I was drunk when I started asking for a refill of "Merlot" by accident instead of malbec. At that point, I was cut off.
At one of the winerires, as you can see I put Ariel to work in the fields simulating how they harvested the grapes.
We made a very important stop on the way to our cute hotel: an alfajores shop. I was in heaven!! We bought 10 different alfajores to try and had a bite of all 10 before feeling sick and throwing the rest out.
The next morning I woke up to find we, again, had no hot water in our hotel. I used my Spanish and new-found latino 'thugness' to demand some
agua caliente. We had breakfast an waited for Christian to come out of his room. After waiting 15 minutes, Ariel decided to check on him and sure enough, Christian was still sleeping soundly in his room. Christian then woke up and quickly got into the car, not changing or having time to brush his teeth. Here is a picture of Christian and I the next day as we were bonding...
Day two of our tour had a lot of driving through great scenery in the desert as we made our way back north to Salta. There were windy bumpy roads, cool rock formations, and mountain views. Here is a picture of Ariel and I posing in the desert.
I will not bore you (much more) with the many photos we took of the scenery... however we really did enjoy the drive through the desert. Look at me feeling free and confident at the top of this viewpoint (this viewpoint also served as a washroom moments later).
Also enjoying the drive was Christian (right)who would shove 15 coca leaves or more in his mouth at a time and add dabs of 'bica' [sodium bicarbonate]. Bica apparently activates the coca leaves in your mouth. Watching him do this reminded me of 'Lick-M-Aid' when I was a kid. Here Christian is demostrating his coca chewing with a dash of bica.
We drove through a national park and Ariel wanted to get up close and personal with a cactus.
On the way, we ran into a gaucho (Argentinian cowboy - definitely not from Brokeback mountain) who let both Ariel and I try out his horse. I realized I am likely getting old when I pulled a muscle getting up on the horse.
Eventually we arrived back at Salta, but before dropping us off at our hotel, Christian decided to show us the 'other' side of Salta, the red light district. Christian showed us the women in the windows which apparently are available for 5-10 pesos (he told us not to mention this to his wife if we met her the next day). We also were able to see some true Salta local activity - Christian buying drugs from a pregnant woman to sell to a friend of his. All and all, a truly eye opening experience.
Ariel and I had a nice dinner that night and looked forward to the next day when we would explore the north of the province...
Love, Miguel (& Ariel-Jose)
Hola,
Louisa wanted a photo of us on the couch so she made herself all pretty and we took this cute photo together. My big thing here is to make everyone here give me "high 5s". If she were jewish, Louisa would be a good Bubbie.
Speaking of Jewish, we actually live next to a Jewish high school. (I only found out it was a Jewish school the other day). Yesterday, when I was having my Spanish class with Jose-Luis, I heard screaming so rushed out on to the balcony and took this picture. This is the tradition here in Buenos Aires to mark the end of the school year. All of the students go wild and paint each other. I was quite impressed with their school spirit.
Another favourite person in my neighbourhood is the Senora Sandwich (right). She makes the best sandwiches with the crusts cut off for about 2 pesos each. I love going in there and buying her sandwiches since she is so super cute... Here she is wrapping up my daily order for me..
I love the sandwiches so much that I had to take this close up foto of me about to enjoy 3 of them... Notice the crusts cut off.. The sandwiches are:
We have super tight security in our building. The lady here is the Senora Security Guard who sits at the front desk from 6-8pm reading magazines. She is super sweet though and I practice my spanish with her daily. Yesterday she was asking me something about my air conditioning unit that I could not understand but luckily Ariel came down and worked it out... Apparently Louisa had been knocking water off the balcony while cleaning and the security lady was concerned we had a leak...
One of my favourite couples in the neighbourhood is Senor & Senora Laundry. They are super cute and will wash and fold a load of laundry for you for 10 pesos (~$3.50). Senor Laundry speaks really fast and I have fun trying to guess what he is saying. Here we are pretending that Senor Laundry is giving me this laundry.
Lastly, NOT in our neighbourhood is the Axel Hotel. It's in San Telmo, but we go there often to unwind and dance. This is photo taken of me and Eriq last night dancing on the grass in the Axel Hotel. Eriq is the Malaysian version of my bff (best friend forever) Jon. How sophisticated and classy am I that I can dance with a glass of champagne (notice the spillage on my leg)?
