Beautiful Cachi

Happy Halloween everybody!  It´s sweltering hot in Salta right now, and weird to think of it being Halloween, which I associate with cold (or at least cool) weather.  But I´m not complaining, we´re in our element and are maintaining our Texas heat acclimation skills.

In Salta again, waiting for our 10 hour bus ride at 10 pm tonight.  We spent three wonderfully relaxing days in a small town in the mountains called Cachi.  It´s a four hour bus ride (old clunker bus, that is) on a twisting, turning dirt road through amazingly beautiful arid mountains.  One Argentine who recommended we explore Cachi described it as everything being red and green.  And he was right.  It´s a breathtaking drive to an altitude of 2280 meters, where Cachi is situated in a plush, green fertile valley made so by pre-inca irrigation!  Once up the mountain, we went through miles and miles of desert, similar to West Texas, except much more isolated and dotted with huge cacti that grow up to 6 meters high.  Many of the building in Cachi have cactus wood in the interior, which is beautiful, with oval holes designing the wood (I can´t imagine this being too sturdy though, considering it´s, well, holey).  The town is sparse but clean with appropriately rugged architecture.  We ate fantastic regional food with tamales, humitas, a stew called locro, and cabrito (goat)!  I emphasize the cabrito because this is where I´ll launch into my first real carnivorous experience.  Cazuela Cabrito is a stew with goat meat, potatoes and carrots.  The meat literally melted off the bone at the slightest touch of the fork and consumed my vegetarian, meat novice tastebuds with flavor.  It was very lean, but by no means dry and I ranted and raved about my lunch to everyone around me (Jacob) of this succulent quisine.  The goat cheese in the area was magnificent as well, and not goaty at all. 

Cachi was really like a vacation, with our hotel room on the corner with a view of the moutains and we lounged by the pool during siesta time, enjoying the hot but dry climate.  In the mornings we went on runs and walks in the mountains, exploring the little villages in the area.  Very relaxing and we shed a tear while driving off in the bus back to Salta.  Northwestern Argentina is by far our favorite place thus far, although Bariloche and Patagonia, we suspect, will be new contendors.

Back in Salta, we´re back to wasting time (using our skills learned on the Camino).  Our checkout time is usually 10am, so that means we wonder around town trying to take up the day, much like a homeless person would.  We never multitask, sit in the plaza and people watch, sit at a cafe and people watch, walk around, window shop, and people watch some more.  By the way, if you have a shopping addiction, NEVER, I repeat never come to Argentina.  There are clothing and especially shoe stores at every corner.  Any which way you turn, there they are...shoes!  And more shoes.  I have to admit though, everyone is pretty stylish in their foot attire.  I did some shopping myself today (again to waste time) which is not a usual activity for me.  I bought some dangly earrings, which I´m wearing right now, and a sparkly green flowered light scarf to accesorize my pink, raggedy Panama City Beach Florida T-Shirt I´ve been wearing for the past few months.  What glamour a little accessorizing can do, all for under a total of $3 US.

As I mentioned before, one of our favorite things to do to pass the time is to sit in one of the many green busy plazas every Argentinian city or town has.  But sometimes it becomes a challenge, because there are only a limited amount of benches in the shade.  We have to be quick, and on our toes to nab one.  Like just a few hours ago, two separate incodences of bench thievery occurred right under our noses.  We were practically two steps away from the sought after bench, when swoop, it´s taken.  Don´t worry though, we prevailed in our shaded bench acquisition, but it´s no piece of cake, I assure you.

We ate lunch at a Middle Eastern food restaurant (a hidden jewel), and it was enough to convert me back to a vegetarian.  Seriously, I don´t know how people live down here long term.  Too...Much...Meat.  Yea, I know I just gushed over a goat dish, but boy was that hummus, tabbouli, dolma, pita, babaganough lunch to die for.  My arteries are still thanking me as we speak.

Well, I guess I´ll have to go sit in the plaza again, maybe enjoying an ice cold (or luke warm, depending on which kiosk you go to) Orange Fanta to help pass the afternoon hours away.  We´re off to Mendoza and the wine country next, but first we´ll spend a day or two in a town in between known for it´s regional food of wine, olives, and walnuts.  How´s that for powerpacked, anti-oxidant laden food!