The Great Robbery and The Salt Lakes

Hola amigos,

I have just finished my daily Spanish class and have been meaning to finish off the stories of our Salta trip so I can start writing more about what's going on here in BA. We only have ~5 weeks left of our adventure and then I go back to becoming boring Mike (instead of latino superstar Miguel).

Day 3 of our Salta tour started off with a new edition to the tour as well as a major catastrophe. Christian decided to bring his wife along on the trip which was nice as she was a good distraction for him (he didn't chew as much coca leaves, smoke, or drink as much when she was around). We decided to start our day with a tour of the Salta brewery (I love this beer actually). We parked the car in front of the brewery but Christian needed to borrow a pair of closed-toe shoes (e.g. my cool shoes). Here is a picture of Christian posing with his (pregnant) wife [I honestly forget her name - let's call her Barbie].

At the end of the tour (which luckily included some beer sampling), we returned to the car and slowly realized that... THE CAR HAD BEEN BROKEN INTO. Yes, some theives broke into our car in the middle of the day by forcing the passenger door.

They took our day bags which, unfortunately, contained:
- Ariel's temporary laptop,
- 2 ipods,
- Ariel's glasses,
- Frommers South American guidebook in English,
- bus tickets (which we easily replaced)
- cookies and munchies we bought for the trip
- other invaluables.

What they didn't steal:
- Our gigantic suitcase (thankfully we are gay and pack heavily)
- Our wallets, passports, camera etc. (I am smart now so carry important things on me)
- Wine from the Cafayate wineries
- Our drive and determniation to finish this tour

Barbie unfortunately was worse off since her ID and clothing were taken. We felt terrible for her and Christian. We immediately went to the police station and filed a report using their modern typewriter technology (this killed approximately 1.5 hours of our day). An ironic note for me is that my bag and ipod were both purchased to replace items that were stolen from me in the Great Barcelona Trainstation Robbery of 2006 - yes I am a good target for theives apparently.

Disappointed and frustrated, we still pressed on with our tour to the north, and first stop was a sulfur hot springs where Ariel demonstrated our anger and the likely source of the smelly hot springs in one photo (above)...

We then continued north past some scenic mountain scenery and into Jujuy province. It was a little darker than expected at this time but we made the most of it and continued taking some photos..

Only one more landscape photo without us in it I promise...





The four of us continued on and had a great dinner in Humahuaca (again Christian and his wife kept eating on the house). We were serenaded by this Argentinian boy band, I called them the Empanadas. My dish was this nice corn stew. The food was super cheap in the north of Argentina which we totally appreciated!!

We ended up at a really nice lodge hotel that night and had a great room. At first we thought we were sharing the room with Christian and his wife, but luckily Christian was able to resolve that.

At the hotel, Ariel found a Ziggy-substitute named Pirato (right)and we both realized we miss the Zigmeister.

However, we pressed on...



We climbed up mountains and posed at one of the highest points. We were excited to be getting close to our main destination: The Salt Lakes. Look at the long and winding road behind us.

The salt lakes are a magnificent site because they are so flat and you really have no depth perception. It felt like we were driving forever and when we finally got there, it was really impressive. Here are some great photos of the salt lake, where you can do some cool special effects. I love these photos:

Of interesting note, we didn't find a lot of gay guys in NW Argentina (except the dude from the bus stop), but there were a few workers in this restaurant that were questionable, including the one who was wearing this cowboy hat, which I stole as I helped out with the serving in the local restaurant where we had a nice filling lunch...



On the way back to Salta, we passed the "Train to the Clouds" which essentially takes the same route as we did in the car. I was able to act out my favourite scene from Stand By Me.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Christian and Barbie. We bid a fond farewell and wished Christian luck in his new business and Barbie luck with the baby.

We spent our last night in Salta at a different hotel. Christian recommended one which we stayed at one night, but it had no COLD water which wasn't fun either. I had to find one that I could trust, and of course, who can you trust more than your mother. So we stayed at the Hotel Linda, named of course after my mom.

Ariel and I celebrated our last night in Salta with a nice drink in the main square. It was the end of one trip but we have many more to look forward to (and you do too). Unfortunately this ridiculous economic crisis is getting in the way of many things since the USD is rising and making it expensive for us. Can everyone please try to fix that so we can continue our trip...


UPCOMING TRAVEL PLANS:
- Mendoza (Wine Country)
- Bariloche (Swiss-like village in the south, and maybe further south if we can afford it)
- Iguazu Falls - better than Niagara
- Rio De Janeiro!!! -- for New Years with Jodi, my friend and crazy party girl!!!

UPCOMING EVENTS:
- Ms. Madonna comes to Buenos Aires
- The in laws are coming!!!
- Mike & Ariel so long party (will someone plan that already!!!!)

HOPEFUL EVENTS:
- Night out with Andy, the landlord
- Mike habla espanol perfecto
- Photo shoot with all my friends in Buenos Aires, including the laundromat people

Thanks for reading!
MIGUEL