Salta

Buen dia from Salta, Argentina.

Just a quick post to let everyone know we´re still here. We are in Salta now, which is a pretty city nestled in the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina. This area was the southern limit of the Incan empire - they used the high Andes as a place to bury their sacrifices to the god´s. This city and the surrounding area has a much larger population of indigenous people as compared to the southern parts of Argentina. The city also has some nice colonial architecture, from when the Spanish conquered the area.

From here we will rent a car and explore the surrounding area for several days. We are planning on heading south of Salta to a city called Cafayate. It is in the wine producing area of the state of Salta, and also has some impressive ruins. The ruins are called Quilmes and are from a group that were contemporaries of the Incas. Then we will head north through sandstone formations that form the hills around Cafayate and into a notional park that is famous for its cacti - ´cadrones´ cacti are similar to saguaro cacti. We will have some pictures to post after this side trip.

That will do it for Argentina - we head north by bus into Bolivia from here. Hopefully the stories we´ve heard about the Bolivian bus system won´t be true. Maybe we´ll take the train.