Just Say, “Fabio, I Need to Send a Fax”

Thursday night at 9:30 kicked off our weekend adventure to the northwest region of Argentina. This trip was the one organized by the program office, so all forty of the UT students met up at Patio Olmos to board the two-story bus that would soon become a sort of “home away from home” for us for the whole weekend. Once we were all loaded we set off on the eleven-hour trip to Salta. I’m not exactly sure how it all worked, but I think the bus company provided us with a tour guide whose name was Fabio. This man was hilarious, but not because he was trying to be, just because he was somewhat ridiculous. He was a middle-aged man who spoke some English, but he would get words mixed up or say phrases incorrectly. The quote of the trip generated within the first few minutes of the bus ride. Fabio got on the microphone to welcomed us and to explain the rules of the bus. He told us that the bathroom was located on the “bottom” and was only to be used for “the liquids.” Then he proceeded to tell us that if we “needed to do the second” (not number two, the second…) then we needed to tell him so they could pull the bus over somewhere. He told us that we didn’t need to tell him any details, all we had to do was say, “Fabio, I need to send a fax,” and he would find us a place to send the fax and, if necessary, even provide us with paper for that fax. I know this blog entry cannot do this incident any justice and is probably not that funny to most of you reading it; however, believe me when I say that I don’t think any of us on that bus will ever forget that moment! After that Fabio passed out some alfajores (wonderful Argentine cookies that are pretty much made of dulce de leche sandwiched between two cookies), turned on a movie, and the rest of the drive was rather uneventful. We finally arrived at our hotel in Salta around 9:30 to drop off our bags, eat breakfast, and (most importantly) catch as much as we could of the first World Cup game! After breakfast we divided into two groups, Spanish and English, and all set off for a city tour of Salta. The city is very pretty! Being in the northwest it has a rich gaucho (Argentine cowboy) heritage, so in addition to the expected elaborate and beautiful statues and fountains, the main city square had horses lined up with men dressed in traditional gaucho gear for photo opportunities. Furthermore, a big holiday is coming up soon honoring the famous gaucho Güemes, so the plaza was festively decorated and we were able to see a small gaucho parade and a performance by the state (of Salta) military band. Also located in the main plaza was the cathedral that, like nearly all of the churches I’ve seen here, was absolutely gorgeous! The next stop on our tour was another very pretty Catholic church; although it was closed and we didn’t get to go inside, just the exterior of the church was beautiful, and painted a striking red and ornamented with gold details. Our final stop was in front of yet another church, but this one was much more simple. Our guide told us that it was originally built as an ordinary church but, many years ago, was converted into a nunnery. This nunnery is apparently very well known, and a distinct characteristic of it is that once the women go in they never come back out. After hearing this piece of information we were then interested to hear that it has one of the longest waiting lists of girls and women who want to live there! Outside of the nunnery some local artisans had set up blankets displaying their goods, and we had fun looking at all of the items they had for sale before once again getting on the bus. We were running late, so we just drove by the famous Güemes monument and then headed to a town about fifteen minutes outside of Salta for lunch. The place that we ate was beautiful; it was situated right next to a river with a wonderful view of some of the heavily wooded, green foothills of the Andes. After our typical Argentine lunch of beef milanesa, we enjoyed getting to explore and walk along, in, and around the river before it was time to head back into the city. The next stop was back in Salta at the Teleférico, or cable cars, that we were able to ride up to the top of Mt. San Bernardo. The view of Salta from the top of the mountain was amazing! Also, a series of waterfalls and religious monuments had been constructed at the top, and we enjoyed walking around and taking in the views. After about thirty minutes we went back to the base and set off for our last event of the day: the Museo Antroplógico de Alta Montaña, or MAAM. This anthropological museum was really cool! It is located near the cathedral in the main plaza and, although it is quite small, it is home to some really interesting archaeological finds from the mountains near the Salta region. The main exhibit is of some indigenous children that they found within the last ten years or so. I need to check up on my facts, but from what I gathered these kids (two girls and a boy, all under the age of eleven or so) were offered up as a sacrifice on top of a mountain, froze to death, and then were buried. Since they froze, they were pretty much naturally mummified; therefore, when the archaeologists found them somewhat recently, their bodies were more or less still intact. The three of them rotate between MAAM, a museum in Buenos Aires, and internationally to museums around the world. On Saturday we got to see the little boy and it was super cool! He kind of looked like a doll, and it was really weird to think that he was an actual human. After the museum we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner, and around 9:00 we headed to the restaurant. It was really nice and we were served lasagna, which was a nice change of pace from the usual hunk of meat with a side of potatoes that we’re all used to expecting. We were warned that we were going to have to be on the bus by 8:00 the next morning, so I heeded the warnings of the program directors and went back to the hotel after dinner and got ready for bed.