Strange title I know but walked up the hill that overlooks the city of Salta with my friend. We arrived and watched as it grew dark and the town lite up with street lights. He said his young daughter had described it as if an angle had flown over and cast a glittery dust over the place. This definitely sparked my imagination.
FOOD and DRINK
Argentina is famed for producing some of the best beef in the world and, with such a climate, bbqs are the big thing! The meat is of good quality and does not need to be dressed in a lot of sauces.
Lomito- A stodgy mix of ground maize and corn with cheese and herbs, consistent with uncooked dough, comes wrapped in banana leaves that helps keep it moist. Lacks in flavour but is interesting with sugar sprinkled over it. However is very filling.
Polenta- A thick soup with the consistency of semolina, with mozzarella and chunks of beef (added if you wish). Survives off it’s texture but again not full of flavour. Although reasonably tasty and filling.
Empañadas- Popular all over the continent are empañadas. These are like pasties and usually come in either beef or chicken with peas, sweet corn or other kinds of vegetables. Some places change their name and different ingredients are added (for example Bolivia calls them salteñas and adds an olive and parts of a boiled egg into the mix).
Fernet- A popular alcholic drink here is called Fernet. It has Italian heritage but has been taken on by Argentina as one of their own. It is a very bitter tasting liquid (hence why cola is added) but interestingly refreshing. Usually servered before a meal or in the bars (once you’ve had too many beer).
HISTORY, FOOTBALL and POLITICS
Local Government- Rodolfo hilariously describes the mayor of Salta as ‘Hood Robin’- in that he robs from the poor and gives to the rich. Where have I heard such a political story before…?
Football- This is the passion of the nation with two powerful teams here called River Plate and Boca Juniors- fierce rivals. However, their games are always played on a Sunday evening at exactly the same time that the opposition party is given air time on TV. There is a one hour window between the games when the party in power give their broadcast. Who says there is no politics in sport..?
General Martín Miguel de Güemes- History time- a famous General during the war of independence is Güemes. Of Spanish decendency he had become a local farmer in now a days northern Argentina. At the time the Spanish Army had won a decisive battle in Bolivia and now headed south to claim back Salta. Güemes knew that he was out manned, out gunned and was fighting battle hardened troops. So he sacked all the fields from the northern parts killing the animals, effectively leaving the Spanish with no food. Close to the city on a mountain he dressed a number of cactus in pochos with sombreros. As the Spanish army turned up in their thousands, tired, hungry and weary of conflict they were greeted with an endless mountain that appeared to be filled with locals ready for battle. They thought better of it and marched elseware. If you see a poncho with the colours of red and black adorning them this is for Güemes. Red for the blood and black to symbolise mourning for the dead.
SAN ANTONIO DE LOS COBRES
I appreciate this piece is getting a bit messy as it jumps from subject to subject without a clear link, you’ll just have to excuse me.
San Antonio is approximate a 2.5 hour drive from Salta through some stunning scenery. A dry landscape littered with cactus and other plants adapted to the climate. Mountains rise up around you, some are snow capped adding to the mystic.
Erick’s friend was driving this way to pick something up for work so we managed to tag along with me busy taking pictures as we went. There were a few nervy moments on the drive mainly because the car, for no seemingly good reason, would just cut out. We would then all have a look under the bonnet and come up with different theories as to what was happening (none of us are mechanics so some were a bit ridiculous).
The town was mainly made up of single story buildings set into the dusty landscape. It is divided by a river that runs through it and being March was cool and the wild, often violent, wind that whipped up several dust storms didn’t help. Close by is a bridge on which runs the famous train they call: ‘The train to the clouds’ as it winds its way into some of the highest parts of the country. This is mainly tourist focused (i.e. it is not something you will find people using to transport things for the various villages on route) as such is reasonably expensive. I never took it so can’t comment on the price but people have said that if you are in a group of four or more it is cheaper to hire a taxi for the day to do the route.
San Antonio though is a mining village and as such the population is generally poor. There seemed to be about one church to five houses but as Erick noted the poorer an area is conversely the more churches it has. I did note a number of hostels around the village but Erick explained that as it was close to the boarder with Chile many people use it as a stopping off point before going to the main city of Salta.
What surprised us the most was that some of the locals invited us for tea. The shock was that the population is generally very shy, for example I was walking round the village taking photos and greeted the people living there with a ‘Good afternoon’. Often people would not look at me as they went by and just murma something and school children would quickly rush past. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t me…..
At the tea one of the guys explained how life was in the village and that he had five brothers and four sisters. This made family meals a big affair!
Coming back we stopped in a village called Santa Rosa which is famed for having been abandoned 100 years before. There is no good reason why and when people asked the settlements in each direction of the village no one had seen or heard of the original inhabitants. As such it remains a mystery as to what really happened.
On the ride back, as the air cooled quickly with the setting sun, a thick blanket of fog cloaked the landscape. This made driving interesting…
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