Wednesday 29th March 2017
Salta, Argentina
Ate the hotel packed breakfast – 2x croissant and a nice
ripe pear! Arrived unexpectedly about
10am (we thought it would be about 1pm) to be met by Pablo the guide. Short transfer to hotel – Altos de Balcarce -
older style with swimming pool (bit cool) in a courtyard. It had been raining heavily in Salta, but
stopped every time we went out walking. Very humid.
The town is situated in the Lerma valley
between two forested mountains and seems to be used as a bit of a stepping
stone to travel elsewhere. The town was
founded in 1582, so lots of nice old colonial style buildings, plazas, and
Gaucho heritage. The Cabildo is one of the
oldest in existence and like the others housed the governor, jail, and
government of the time. We walked around
taking usual tourist photos without actually knowing what we were looking
at. Nice reflection of the pink and
cream painted 19th century cathedral, in the plate glass of the bank
next door.
All of the buildings in the
Plaza 9 de Julio have a ‘corridor’ walkway so that you can stay dry whilst
walking around, and it was nice to see that the new bank also had this
architectural requirement. Lunch of a
traditional hot bowl with veg/potato/meat/ stew (Ed tried Llama – OK, but a bit
chewy). We found a nice outside bar with umbrellas and left Gunna with beer and
still nursing his badly swollen leg while we went wandering. Terry and Diane went off horseriding ‘Gaucho-style’
at an Estancia outside of town.
Back for a kip then 6x of us got ready to go out to a traditional
‘Pena’ show. Found one just a block away which was handy. Didn’t open until 9pm, with the show starting
around 10pm through to 2pm while we ate. (usual thing in South America – dinner doesn’t
start until 9pm earliest, including with young children). I had
a large sirloin steak with peppercorn and mushroom sauce, roasted vegetables
and pumpkin squash. Cost 290R for food
and no cost for the entertainment (other than 20R pp seating charge). Bottle of Malbec about 160R. Treated to the most fabulous show – 3x male
and 3x female Gaucho dancers – mix between flamenco, tap and Russian, with
quite a bit of handkerchief waving. Don’t think their knees and ankles could
survive beyond 25yr old. Then joined by
a trio of superb tenor singers, plus guitar backing and one drum – should have
been on Argentina’s Got Talent. Better
than El Divo. We bought a CD from them
(got them to sign) and one of the dancing – hopefully the money will go to the
entertainers. Followed by a further group of singers and guitarists, this time getting the crowd more involved in the dancing.
Great nights’ entertainment.
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