Saturday morning we all received our wake-up calls at 7:00 and got on the bus an hour later. We took off in the direction of Pumamarca, a small town further north and in the “state” of Jujuy. I will safely say that the majority of our group slept for most of the two-and-a-half hour drive, and I definitely joined in after reading up a little bit in my friend Rachel’s Buenos Aires travel guide. About twenty minutes outside of Pumamarca, our tour guide, Mercedes, woke us up to start telling us about the landscape. The mountains were pretty, but in a completely different way than the mountains last weekend in Mendoza. The explanation I keep giving people that I’ve talked to is that when you think of Mendoza mountains think more Colorado; when you think of Salta mountains, think more Arizona and New Mexico. Both types are beautiful, but each is a unique type of beautiful. About five minutes outside of the town we stopped to observe and take pictures of the famous Mountains of Painter's Colors. They were so beautiful! Layers of every shade of purple, red, orange, yellow, and green dominated the skyline; I am very glad that Susana had lent me her camera because I don’t think I could ever sufficiently explain with words how pretty these mountains are! After we took pictures we continued on our way into Pumamarca to prepare to go hiking around the mountains near the town. Pumamarca was a very cute little pueblo with little adobe-like buildings lining the few, small streets as well as numerous artisans set up around the main city square offering colorful, handmade blankets, scarves, mate cups, llama and alpaca sweaters, and much more. We browsed a little before setting off, and then followed the guide down a path leading outside of the town. We were able to walk among many of the mountain formations and observe the colorful landmarks from different, and even more magnificent, viewpoints. The landscape was dotted with colorful dirt hills and mountains lining the horizon, as well as huge cacti and desert shrubbery scattered in every direction. Despite the fact that we had been hearing since before we left Texas to prepare for the extreme cold in the mountains near Salta, this fictional freezing weather was non-existent when we were there. All dressed in jeans and long-sleeved shirts, our entire group was burning up while walking around. However, I don’t think we were complaining too much since we are all missing summer weather right now! A little ways into the hike we came across a huge red dirt/rock hill and decided to climb it. After the extremely easy path that we’d been following, the rock gave us a fun challenge as well as a magnificent view once we reached the top! Everyone had a good time on this little unexpected adventure, and we all made sure to have photo shoots before descending back to the ground to join the ones who stayed behind. We continued on and the landscape continued to amaze us. Once we reached Pumamarca again we had a few minutes to shop before hopping back in the bus to drive the half hour to another, even smaller pueblo called Tilcara where they were expecting us for lunch. On the bus Mercedes was talking to us about the significance and importance of the llama to the area of South America that we were in, and she finished her explanation with, “And today you are all going to get to try this animal for lunch!” That is correct everyone…our entire group ate LLAMA for lunch! When we arrived in Tilcara I honestly felt like we were in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by desert. The bus couldn’t fit comfortably in the small, narrow roads of the town so we all unloaded and walked the remaining few blocks to our restaurant. On our way the silence of the town was suddenly broken by a parade of cars continually blasting their horns and waving Argentina flags out of the windows: Argentina had won their first fútbol match of this year’s World Cup! It’s amazing how this sport bonds together the people of this country; even in a remote pueblo where signs of extreme poverty were nearly everywhere you turned, people were going over the top to celebrate their country’s victory. It was a really cool site to witness, and I can’t wait to see the excitement escalate over the next few weeks! Our restaurant was extremely cozy and gave the feeling of being served in someone’s home. The llama was actually very good, but the best part of the meal came just as we were all finishing. A band that consisted of men playing popular indigenous instruments appeared from the kitchen and we all had a private concert within the restaurant! They played instruments such as the guitar, the wind pipes, a huge drum, and a special indigenous type of horn that had to have been at least six feet long but, other than that, is nearly indescribable. The music was great, and I even had a wonderful surprise when they played one of my favorite songs of all time, Imagine by John Lennon. Sadly the performance eventually had to come to an end and we all left the restaurant and headed toward the other end of the town to visit an archaeological sight. We ascended the hill called Pucará, and at the top, among what seemed like a forest of huge cacti, we were able to wander in and among reconstructed Indian dwellings. By the time we arrived back at the bottom of the hill and walked back to the bus we were all quite exhausted, but we had one more stop a little ways down the road before we officially headed back to Salta. It was another place to stop and have a better view of another beautiful mountain range; however, Mercedes warned us before we got there that when we got off of the bus we would be greeted by a group of women and children who would offer us necklaces as a gift along with a slip of paper that had their address. These people live in a cooperative settlement and give every visitor a handmade necklace for free, their only hope being that when the visitors return to wherever they’re from that they’ll return the kindness by using the address to send them something, such as clothes or pencils, to help them out. Mercedes couldn’t have been more correct, and when we stepped off of the bus we were adorned with necklaces made of what looks like yarn and peanuts and each handed a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it. Also, the women and children offered to sell us some of their homemade products from their co-op, including jams, canned fruits and vegetables, and freshly baked bread. After visiting with the people for a while we all got back on the bus and returned to Salta. I fell asleep pretty quickly and was out until the sound of Fabio walking up the stairs and calling out, “Ok chicos, here comes Uncle Fabio with alfajores!” woke me up about twenty minutes outside of the city. Once back we had about an hour to shower and change before meeting back in the lobby to head to the same restaurant we had gone to the night before for dinner. The day before José (our extracurricular program director) had made reservations for those who wanted at a place called La Peña, which is a sort of restaurant/bar where they put on a nightly show. So, after dinner, everyone who had signed up and paid headed over to the other side of Salta to witness some Folklore singing, dancing, and even a ventriloquist! With a lively atmosphere and one drink gratis included in our admission fee, we all enjoyed ourselves for a few hours before heading out to experience the Salta nightlife. When we all finally returned to the hotel for bed there was no denying that it had been a great, memorable day!
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