After finding the center of Salta, and finding out there´s not much to do there, I took a car cable to a hill that gives a view on the city. The best part of that expèrience was the way down. I had the car cable to myself, the Ipod earphones in my...ears and what I considered around 9 minutes of doing nothing on the way down.
Yep. It was a good decision to take the Ipod with me on this walk. I tried to find in mind the two songs I would enjoy most to scream my lungs out while hanging between earth and clouds, and ended up with Nosai Hamiga'at (the song itself) followed by Nine Inch Nails' ¨gave up¨.
With one minute to go with the NIN song, and the car cable moving closer to its home base, I feared I might end up there before the song is over, and so some people will see me in a not very normal state, but... perfectly, the car cable and the song were came to a complete stop at the exact same minute. I walked out of the car cable with a big smile on my face only to hit my head on the car cable, let out a big ¨DOH!¨ and going back to the hostel.
That day in Salta finished at this club called ¨Zepellin¨ named after the famous Led. A neat place... can´t really describe it... lots of posters on the walls of tour concerts, from Beatles to a Soundgarden & Pearl Jam tour..which is kinda funny for a place in a city that probably never had the pleasure to host anything bigger than a cover band of the dudes who sing the Macarena.
The music was damn cool... I was they had a place that plays this music back home... Turns out South Americans are really into alternative rock and hip hop. This is what they play on the local MTV and in the clubs I been to so far. sweet!
The day after I rented a car to drive up north, visit some mountain at a place called Purmamarca, spend the night there and the next day drive back to Salta through the salt desert and this other place.
The way to the Purmamarca was...ummm...how shall I say...unique? I sure helped me to come up with the first rule of ¨Driving in Salta region¨. It was a beautiful ride... after going up and down a mountain, and earning some ¨I have not seen a white man here since 1974 and I´m only 21 yrs old¨ looks, I ended up in front of a magical landscape.
Tons of beautiful hills and mountain tops around u... and out of nowhere a football game between Hapoel Jujuy and Beytar Purmamarca. There was no grass on the field, mostly sand between the stones, but the teams had uniforms, there were even around 7 ¨Ultras¨ (like in a real game of Shimshon Tel Aviv), the ball was round and the shofet was ben zona. I stayed until half time (1-0 for Hapoel from what I managed to understand), got some more ¨I have not seen a white man here since 1875¨ looks and kept on going.
around sunset, just in time, I made it to the famous Purmamarca. Check my photos in the next posts.
They call it, for some reason, ¨The 7 colors mountain¨. I believe they counted. I didn´t bother. To its legs there´s the village Purmamarca (I´d guess 100-200 ppl live there)...very small one, with a market in the center (next to the church and an ATM), where they sell sweathers and other stuff like that to tourists (EVERYthing, in ANY stand, is 30 pesos... didn´t they hear of a free market here???) and a cute small hill that gives u a great view on the village beneath u and the mountains above u.
Sunset was a perfect timing... the sun did its work... after an annoying loving couple decided to take some photos on the hill, I was left all alone.
Took off the bag, sat down, watched some kids of the village dancing to local music in a yard of one of the houses, some other kids play football in the school yard, admired the colors, the landscapre, the clean air, the silence, the time.
Yep, those kinda places make u think. Yet, i was too tired from the drive, and it got too cold, and the thinking became too heavy, so... after about an hour...it was time to leave. Spent the night at Tilcara, where, what do u know, they have a gas station!!! and some places to lay ur head.
The day after I started at the ¨salina grande¨. A big salt desert not too far from Purmamarca. Coming down the mountain and watch the salt desert in front of the mountains was beautiful... arriving there was even more. Pure whiteness.
And then it started....
The same big-boobs-small-ass-but-damn-what-an-ugly-face girl from the travel agency and Ariel, the dude from the car-rental company, told me that most of the road in the second day isn´t a very good road. Both used the same words.
Lesson #1: ¨not a very good road¨ in Argentina is a phrase that replaces what we call ¨an anti road¨.
I drove by the exit to that road twice and missed it for the pure innocent reason of not beliving this is actually a road. I can assure u...take any KURKAR road in Ma'alot Tarshikha, and it will win a world prize in Beauty, Safety, Comfort and the known ¨which one looks more like a road¨ contest over Route 40 that connects the ¨salina grande¨ and the village at the other end San Antonio de los Cobres.
Take a mixture of stones, lots and lots of stones in many shapes and sizes, add some sand (but plz not too much), do not do your best to level the surface, and u got road 40. God damn... I needed a fuckin´ Jeep, and I was driving a Fiat.
The funny thing about that road, other than the random Alpacas that wonder around, is the faces of the people (all 6 of them!!!) that share that so-called-road with u. They split to two. One is of the foreigners who drive on it. They have the ¨I can´t believe this is actually the road¨ face. The other is of the locals who drive by u with the ¨Here´s another foreigner with a ¨I can´t believe this is actually the road¨ face. HA HA HA¨.
This is the time and place to praise my Ipod, and the decision to take with me the cable that plugs the Ipod to the car radio. Yep. I usually arrange my suitcase around 2 hours before the flight, but this one desicion, to keep in mind to take that cable, saved my day. Driving into San Antoion de los Cobres made me start screaming in excitment ¨Civilization!!!! Civilization!!!!¨, made some more people stare at me with ¨I didn´t see a crazy white man like that since 1947¨ face, and some parents to send their kids home until Ya'avor Za'am. Two of those kids, probably, didn´t listen to their parents and in the second I stopped to make sure I´m at the right place, attached themselves to my car window. Basically, u might consider this as an unpleasent experience, but after an Alpaca did the same thing, more or less, on the way there... two local kids is a joke.
While I kept screaming ¨Civilization!!!¨ to celebrate the concrete under the wheels of my Fiat, came the road from SA de los Corbes back to Salta. Yep. A local person might describe it as ¨Not a very good road¨, only this time it was a road going up and down a mountain, in a very slim ¨lane¨. After another ¨very likely death¨ experience, this time of the ¨in 2 seconds if u don´t turn ur wheel in time¨ type, I made it back to Salta, while mumbeling for 20 minutes ¨I can´t believe this is the actual road to Salta...I can´t believe this is the actual road to Salta...¨. a phrase I used also on the way to SA de los Cobres, only less frequently.
And so I´m here... waiting for the bus to pick me up and take me to Cordoba at 20:30. Got 2 more hours to kill... maybe it´s time for a last steak attempt.
we´ll see.
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