Spring break

Spring break has come and gone but I had a great time. Argentina has a lot to offer and this week proved that to be true.
My friends and I left for Salta, Argentina on Friday, October 3rd and rode the bus all night long. The total travel time was supposed to be 16 hours but there was some traffic leaving BA and then also some more traffic when crossing the border from providence to providence (at every providence border, the police stop the buses and cars and ask questions such as, “Where are you going? What do you have in your car?” Occasionally, they’ll come onto the bus and ask to see passports or licenses to make sure there is no child-trafficking going on). The bus ride ended up being about 20 hours but it wasn’t so bad because the seats were comfy and spacious. We got dinner, breakfast the next morning, and then lunch that same day. Our bus was very cheap for the good service we got.
Once we got into Salta, we took a cab to our hostel (it only cost $1USD) and checked in. The hostel was very nice: colorful, three stories, a computer, a nice TV to watch movies, and a decent breakfast in the mornings. We unpacked and then headed out for dinner. The next day, Sunday, my friends wanted to go to a small town about two hours away by bus. It didn’t sound interesting to me so I decided to stay back in town and do a little sightseeing. I woke up and thought I would head to a catholic mass. I’ve never been before and if I was ever going to go in my life, I thought it would be neat to go when the mass is in Spanish. I walked to a very large church close to the hostel and went inside. There were a lot of people in the church, about 75 or so. There was a lot of standing up and sitting down and at one point my neighbor turned and kissed my cheek, said something, and then kissed the person on her other side (I’m not sure why she did that but everyone else in the church was kissing and greeting their neighbors so I didn’t think it was weird.) After about 45 minutes or so, the meeting was over and I headed over to the teleférico. A teleférico is like a ski lift but you sit inside an enclosed “cabin” and ride on a wire up to the top of a mountain. It was a nice ride: peaceful and relaxing. Once I got to the top, I was very surprised at what I saw: flowers in bloom, waterfalls, and beautiful mountains. Salta is in a valley which means it surrounded by mountains. I walked around the top of the mountain, sat on a bench and read for a little bit, and then took the teleférico back down. It was very nice to be on the top of a quiet mountain with fresh, cool air. (FYI: as it turned out, my friends didn’t get back to Salta until 1:00am because the bus ended up taking four hours one way instead of two hours one way.)
The big excursion that we went on in Salta was on Wednesday; it was an all-day trip (13 hours) to different popular areas around Salta. There is a train in Salta called “Train to the clouds” but it costs about $150USD for one person which is more money than I have to spend on a train ride. The bus that drove us around for our excursion took the same route as the train to the clouds so we got to see the same sights but for a lot less money. One of my favorite places we went on our excursion was the salt lakes: a giant piece of land that is completely dry. The land is completely white and it’s cracked in different places from where the salt split. There is one area of water where they dug about 10 inches into the salt. When it rains, the water goes through the salt cracks and rests about 10 inches under the salt. The closer it gets to the surface, the water evaporates and then there is salt left on the ground. Don’t ask me why there is salt on the ground (because it doesn’t rain salt water) but somehow it works and it is very awesome.
On Thursday, we took a bus from Salta to Tucuman, a providence four hours south of Salta. A lot of people in BA told us that Tucuman isn’t much to see; they said it is dirty and there is no much to do there. On the contrary, I almost liked Tucuman more than Salta. Being in Tucuman made me feel like I was in a big city in the states: there were people all over the streets, lots of traffic…it had a different vibe than BA. Before we left Tucuman, we went to a restaurant called “Charly’s” for dessert. We got waffles and ice cream and it definitely hit the spot.
Overall, I had a great time on my spring break. On our bus back to BA, we had VIP Suite so our seats went completely flat and made for a goodnight’s sleep. I’m glad to be back in the city but it was very nice to travel up north for a little bit and see some different sights. My family will be here in about a week or so…I’m getting very excited for that and I know we’ll have a great time together. The time is flying by in Buenos Aires and I’ll be back state-side before you know it. I love and miss you all. Chau for now.