A home from home
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2009
1
36
81
Trip End
Ongoing
Salta, Northern Argentina, Argentina
Friday, March 19, 2010
As promised, my friend Guillermo collected me from the bus station after the epic 18 hour journey from Mendoza. Since I was staying at Guillermoīs apartment and not in a hostel, my stay in Salta was very different to that of other places in Argentina. It really felt like a home away from home since I spent a lot of time with his family.
On the first night I arrived, we popped over to his parents house just to drop off the car, but we ended up staying and meeting their friends, then having dinner, lots of wine and champagne / whiskey to finish. We all had a very good laugh speaking "Spanglish" and his mother even fell asleep at the dining table after a few glasses of champagne - bless her! IT must have been 11pm before we ate and then 2am before w left his parents house - just about the right time to head onto a club. EVERYTHING happens soooo late in Argentina, probably because from 1pm - 5:30pm itīs siesta time and literally EVERYTHING closes during this time.
Salta itself is a pretty town with the usual plaza, cathedral & museums. It certainly has a colonial style feel to it. I managed to bump into about 6 people Iīd already met on my travels - 1 even from Imbassai where I was back in Feb! Itīs pretty much a coffee / cafe lifestyle here - very laid back and chilled so you can easily spent a good few hours sitting in one of the cafes by the square drinking coffee or even wine.
Iīd only sen Guillermoīs parents house at night and then only the kitchen, dining room and lounge area, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I was invited to spend the day at their pool! Iīve not really had a chance to sunbathe since Florianopolis in Brazil back in Feb, so I was pleased at the thought. Not realising we were at altitude and using no suncream, I did burn little. I played water volleyball with his 11 year old sister and even their gorgeous dog Luna joined in, while his father cooked "asado" (a BBQ of meats).
Well, they donīt call me princess backpacker for nothing and that is exactly how I felt - totally pampered by his mother and father. They even gave me some natural / herbal altitude sickness pills for my onward journey as they knew that from the border onwards through Bolivia it might affect me. It was a refreshing change to meet such wonderfully hospitable people and I thoroughly enjoyed their company - perhaps Iīll go back some day as I have an open invitation - how nice!
I did venture away from family life one night to meet up with some friends from Buenos Aires, and we went to a club called "Amnesia" (another famous club in Ibiza) but in Salta, it was a band playing local salsa music that made this club amazing and we danced the night away with the locals - fun, fun, fun!
