Salta and Cafayate

The past few days have been great, and we've lucked out with the weather too.  Our flight from Iguazu to Salta was only delayed about 25 minutes, which I would consider a win when flying with Aerolineas Argentinas.  Salta is a large city of about 600,000 people with well-preserved Spanish architecture, and it's known for its "penas."  A pena is a restaurant with traditional music, singing and dancing, that also serves traditional food.  We all tried locro, which is a thick stew of beans, corn, squash, beef, pork, and a new type of meat - vicuna, which is similar to a llama.  It had a delicious flavor, but it also had the innards/intestines of some animal, which weren't my favorite part, although overall it was a really tasty dish.  Some other new foods we've tried are various types of empanadas, and humitas - a thick cornmeal concoction with onions, spices and cheese that is cooked on the stove, then wrapped in corn husks and boiled.  I might try a quinoa burger for dinner tonight.

Yesterday we went to a museum of ethnic history that had various artifacts from different tribes native to South America.  One interesting aspect about this museum was that it displayed the ancient artifacts many times along with the modern version, so you could see the changes over time.  There were all sorts of clay jugs, jewelry, textiles, etc.  Some of the religious paintings and figures had the faces of indigenous people, which I hadn't seen much before.  But the most memorable part of the museum was our tour guide, Diego.  He was very enthusiastic about the museum's displays, (overly) frequently called us by name, constantly instructed us to look at things we were already looking at, and called us "my friends" at every possible opportunity.  I think Mom appreciated his mannerisms a little more than I did.  But he will definitely be remembered and quoted for many years, just like our favorite flight attendant ever, Anton, from 2009.

The day before yesterday we went to an anthropological museum that had actual Incan mummies that were discovered in nearby mountains.  The Inca didn't intentionally mummify the deceased like the Egyptians did, but human sacrifices were a common practice.  Young children (6-7 years old) were offered to the gods by being buried alive, and in the arid climate their bodies were preserved for centuries until they were recently discovered.  You might not typically think of the Inca as having lived in Argentina, but they did inhabit the northwestern part where the Andes are.

It's been a lot of fun having Mom and Dad here.  Despite being in Argentina it feels like just a normal family vacation - Mom identifies all the plants and flowers, analyzes all the rocks, looks at arts and crafts, and enthusiastically visits museums; Dad worries about bugs, enjoys the food, patiently tolerates craft markets and museums, and tries not to get carsick.  And I get to be the interpreter/Spanish teacher.  Mom's Spanish is coming along rather well, at least for reading or asking a question, but understanding the answers to questions is more difficult.  Dad's Spanish...is better than it was when he got here...

The scenery here is absolutely stunning.  I've been trying to get Mom to do a guest post because I think she would describe it with more specifics than I could.