Salta

Salta

Salta. Every guidebook and everyone from Argentina raves about Salta. It definitely is a unique town compared to the rest of Argentina, but it also has many similarities. This town is beautiful in its own right; with many historical buildings and friendly people. However, if you’re not in the town square it becomes a little run down and dingy. The hotels in town are over priced and at best are a couple of “stars” below their current ratings. We decided to leave the city and head 11km west to a beautiful town called Villa San Lorenzo. This place was amazing! It has its own microclimate which allows for the town to be green and cooler than Salta all year. The people in Villa San Lorenzo are extremely nice and our hotel was perfect for us, Las Moras. There is a nature reserve a few kilometers from town as well as a city park that follows a river upstream to the top of the mountain. We went on a hike in that area and unfortunately we didn’t make it to the top on the day of our hike, but it was beautiful. If anyone is in the area, they should also either stay at or checkout El Castillo hotel and restaurant. An American by the name of John Johnston owns this particular hotel and he moved to Argentina 28 years ago. He married a Saltean and had two children. He has a very interesting story and is starting to write his memoirs now. The food at the El Castillo was amazing and the grounds were beautiful as well. The mountain biking was pretty good, however, in the future, I think I would have liked a guide. Oh well. I almost forgot one thing. The food in Salta is unlike anything in Argentina. They use spices in their food. We had the best picante salsa that could rival any great Mexican restaurant in the states.

On the second day here we contacted Roberto (from El Calfate) regarding his interest in purchasing our car. Initially he informed us that he wanted the car at the end of June, however, that quickly changed, and he told us he wanted it the following week in Buenos Aires. Oh shit! We are literally 20 hours by car away from Buenos Aires. We decided to stay one more night in San Lorenzo and drive up to Catamarca, where they have artesianal goods from Bolivia. The goods are imported into Argentina and then sold as “Artesianal goods made in Argentina” after putting an Argentine flag on the products. Pretty funny! Sounds like what Americans do with products made in China, but sold as American made after a simple addition or modification of the product. We found some beautiful blankets and clothes however we have an extremely tight weight allowance for our flight home as well as limited space so we passed on any purchases.