Salty Goodness

Salta, ahhh Salta. Not only the name of my favourite seasoning, but a very beautiful city as well. Travelling from Bolivia to Argentina the differences in wealth are obvious. It's like travelling into Italy from Afghanistan. This is also made doubly true as there is a huge Italian population in Argentina, who seem to have made it their life's work to make it as similar to their home country as possible and let's face it who'd blame them. It makes for a pretty bloody nice place to stay, with lots of olive groves, vineyards, gelato shops, cheese shops, bakeries, cafes and bars and all of which is done with pride.

We crossed the border with our friends from the Salt Flat tour: Adam, Rhona and Natalya and stayed with them during our stay in Salta. It felt like time to celebrate and what better time to celebrate than Halloween. Not that we had any costumes, but we didn't care. We grabbed a load of booze, partied with the rest of the hostel and went out for some more fun. After a few hours, we ended up in a pool hall where the lady owner had a huge problem with us, but had the sweetest husband who would always apologise for her rudeness. We asked her for some empanadas, and she told us she had none, yet her long-suffering husband came over and offered us some to eat. The only thing she did offer us was a massive slice of dirty looks... it was quite comical really.

And, on the way home we saw a totally naked transvestite prostitute, so there!

Everything about this place felt like a breath of fresh air. After a month of spending time in pretty poor towns and cities, it was great to be back to European style civilisation again. It felt like coming home. I wouldn't say that Salta has a real draw to it for tourists, apart from the cable car ride to a park that overlooks the city. Salta is a charming place, with a warmth about it that makes you want to sit, relax, perhaps grab a coffee or a beer and contemplate nothing but the thought of having another one.

Having said that we did manage to drag ourselves away from our very comfortable surroundings to the elevated park I just mentioned, which again was very quaint. A few water features, some statues and a man selling ice-creams were all that greeted us, other than the misty view of a city I was becoming extremely fond of that is. Again it had a calmness about it that made you feel happy to sit and relax.

Although I obviously had a lovely time in Salta I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a holiday destination, but perhaps if someone was looking into moving abroad I can't think of many better places. It's calm, relaxed, warm in Summer and has a homely feeling about it. Yeah, I guess you could say it was just what the doctor ordered.

ps