Salta
On our way to Salta, we encountered an eccentric man on a bicycle. He was wearing a mushroom hat, exhibited the most unnatural pedaling tactic, and had a small blue tub with a puppy inside attached to his handle bar as well as a stuffed trash bag and unicycle strapped to his rear bike rack. It is at times such as these that one wonders about the who what and why of a fellow human. When we caught up with him, he greeted us and explained that he was a street artist named Luca. Exchanging stories, we found out that he had been traveling by bike (from Buenos Aires) for the past year. He even gave us advice on which places to visit after Salta!
Soon after, we paraded onto Salta’s central Plaza 9 de Julio—a mere total of 25 kilometers that day.
After settling down in the lovely family-owned Posada La Casona, we grabbed lunch at Doña Salta, known for its high quality regional dishes.
Still hungry afterward, Kai went for some more salteñas (or empanadas, as they are called in Salta) at a local salteñería. Notice in the photos below the Cerveza Salta (beer), another specialty of this region.
Next we headed to the Teleférico, a gondola (similar to that in La Paz) to the top of the Cerro San Bernardo, where we beheld a fabulous view over the city. While there were several restaurants up here and a nice walkway, we didn’t stay all too long, as there were lots of other tourists and it was getting chilly. Notably, there were little to no tourists from outside of South America, a trend we had been observing since the beginning of our trip. We might have been two out of a dozen or so Europeans in all of Salta!
Back at the bottom of the Teleférico, we enjoyed the walk along the lively road to our hotel.
The start of our second day consisted of too many unsuccessful attempts to withdraw cash from various banks. Eventually, we decided to request money through Western Union; however, that would take until morning to process. Following our morning shenanigans, we went sightseeing in Salta’s magnificent city center.
The most interesting part of the day was our visit to MAAM, the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology. Located in the main square, it details Incan sacrificial culture and exhibits important archaeological findings from the 6739 meter tall volcano Mount Llullaillaco in the Salta province. In particular, we learned about the Inca ritual “Capacocha” (“royal obligation”), a ceremony in which chosen children were sent from all four regions of the Tawantisuyu (Inca empire) to be celebrated and eventually buried asleep under the influence of the alcoholic drink “chicha.” It was believed that these children were reunited with Incan ancestors and that the gods would reward these offerings with health and prosperity.
The museum’s most notable possession are the extremely well preserved bodies of three children who had been sacrificed and buried atop Mount Llullaillaco. The bodies are enclosed in capsules held at -20 degrees centigrade and containing only 2% oxygen. Only one child is exhibited at a time, and the bodies have always been treated with utmost respect.
The entire tour was incredibly fascinating (if not a bit unsettling).
That evening, we headed north of the city center to the district of the “peñas” (music bars and restaurants). While we enjoyed an Argentinian dinner at our dimly lit table in the restaurant Cafe del Tiempo, two local musicians entertained the restaurant’s guests with pleasant folk music—the true Salta peña experience.
This was a nice way to spend our night before leaving Salta the next morning.
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