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Finally made it to Salta! After arriving from Jujuy I managed to walk the wrong way out the bus terminal and walked 13 blocks in the wrong direction looking for my hostel...good start. I finally swallowed my pride and asked someone, which resulted in me finding the hostel with ease(it was actually only three blocks from the bus station, just in the opposit direction). Ditched my bag and headed of to the centre which was definately a welcome sight having arrived from the Kabul-esque streets of Jujuy! The main plaza, 9 de Julio, could be mistaken for being in a small city in southern Spain...but nicer! After a quick wonder round to get my bearings and a massive jug of cold orange juice in one of the square's cafes I headed back to the hostel and spent the rest of the day lounging in the sun by the, very small, pool. Next day decided to actually do the town properly, went to the Museo de la Ciudad in Casa Hernandez, nothing special but ok. Then to the Museo Arqueologia de Alta Montana which is really cool, has the mummy of a child that was sacrificed by the Incas on top of a 6000ish meter high volcano and then struck by lightening...really freaky but definately worth seeing. After having lunch back at the hostel I took the cable car up to the top of the hill overlooking the city which has some amazing views over the city and to the mountains behind it. Spent the evening sitting in shorts and a t-shirt outside a cafe in the plaza eating a few slices of pizza, drinking a litre bottle of "Salta" beer and watching the world go by...all for under £6! The next day took a day trip, requiring my getting up at 6:30am which didn't amuse me, to Cachi, a tiny little town on the other side of the Parque Nacional de los Cardones(Catus national park...), the trip basically consisted of spending a long period of time in a 4x4 bowling along tiny little mountain roads, half admiring the unreal scenery and half terrified of the driver ploughing over the side of the road into the valley below. Until we made it up on to the altiplano where I was able to relax a bit... Cachi itself has a cool little church, a little museum and a traditional graveyard up on a hill overlooking the town and the valley but not much else, had a wee hike into the mountains before the journey home(even sketchier on the way down the mountains!). That night sat on the main square and had some food while watching a free concert in front of the town hall which was pretty good. The next morning saw another 6:30 start, this time up to the altiplano town of San Antonio de los Cobres, following the route of the "Trene a las nubes"(train to the clouds), the journey itself was spectacular, though I was the only english speaker in the 4x4 including the gaucho/driver Pablo. After arriving in the town of San Antonio I quickly realised that the journey itself was the attraction rather than the town, which was pretty much an Andean version of Coatbridge at almost 15000ft up. Passed the time eating empanadas and trying out my spanish on a wee boy called Juan and an old man from Buenos Aires called Ricardo...it could have gone worse! On the way back down the mountain the radio had the interesting choice of Boy George's classic hit Karma Chameleon, which brought back fond memories of my second night in Buenos Aires and an interesting taxi ride to the Alamo. Today was spent seeing the rest of the things I hadnt seen in Salta. Firstly the Anthropolgy museum which wasnt the best but not terrible, then monument to General Guemes which is pretty impressive. After those two lunch was needed...found a place that did a drink, pepper steak and potatoes and a dessert for 25 pesos(£3.91)...can't argue with that! Feeling pleased with myself at finding such a decent deal I then headed to the Ethnic Art Gallery which has, according to the guide book, some of argentina's finest indigenous art, which was really cool and then finally to the Cabildo which is the city council building/history museum which again was pretty good. After that I headed back to the hostel and the welcome surprise of the entire "Be Here Now" Oasis album being played over the poolside speakers... Tomorrow Tucuman awaits and then on Thursday night the long bus ride to Buenos Aires.
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