Rafting, Mate, Mountains and a Cactus "Forest"

¡Buenas tardes!

Man, I really love Salta and the places around it! It is an amazing amazing place and no matter how well I will try to explain how these past 2 days were for me most likely I will fall short in doing so...

Yesterday we decided to take a last minute rafting trip on the Juramento River somewhere in the South East of Salta; it took us about 2 hours to get there. The bunch that came with us was pretty funky too: 3 British and a German; all with good stories and a lot of traveling under their belts. Got there, geared up in these rubber clothes, we looked like Plastic Man but different colors and we got a short introduction into the rules and regulations of rafting from our instructor Frank... I must admit I kinda got scared from all that he warned us about... I guess it´s his job and he did it well so we are conscious of the risks. The instructor Frank was very cool; he is German and has been living in Argentina for the past 10 years... he came here to see the country, fell in love and ended up staying... never went back.. Another protagonist of the day was one black dog who likes to swim around the raft and follow the crazy tourists into the rapids... in more dangerous parts of the river it takes its place in the raft just like a human and enjoys being on the side with the most water! CRAZY dog!

The rapids were only level 3 so we had a bit of excitement and adrenaline but not like you see in movies when you are almost covered in water, your raft flips and you almost get killed by a rock... the rapids were fun though and we had our share of splashes and cold showers; one thing that I really enjoyed was the scenery and Frank´s tales... we saw mountains shaped like iguanas, a labrador and a shark; fosile shells and algae; mountains with levels of different colors just like a cake and 500 year old cactus... simply beautiful! After the whole affair we of course had asado (BBQ). I officially give the title to Argentionians for the most carnivour and BBQ loving people that I have known so far :)

On the next day we decided to take a tour to Cachi which is West of Salta to enjoy amazing scenery as we were told... well this is where I have trouble expressing what I saw and felt... the drive took quite a while but it did not matter as we stopped a lot to inspect the scenery and just breath in the beauty and the cold air; we crossed mountains covered with junga (I might not have the correct spelling) which is a special forest almost extinct in the world... there are just a few other places I belive in Bolivia; the special thing about this forest is that it holds about 50% of all the mammals in South America; also it has what they call a horizontal rain... there is sooo much humidity that when it tries to get out the leaves of the trees stop it and due to the condensation it starts raining. The dirt road is climbing the mountains and the Escoipe Gorge like a snake turning and twisting... we went up to about 3300 meters where its sunny but it´s cold; we saw Huanacos (wild Lamas), a condor next to the Cachi cemetery and we took an ancient Inca route (route 40 - the Tintin Straight) considered the longest of its type in the world; also it is very straight... so there are a lot of theories, including the fact that it might be a landing place for alliens!

Diego and Miguel were nice enough and they shared MATE with us!! Can you imagine??... it is said that you are very lucky if locals offer you to partake in the very traditional habit of drinking mate. You can drink mate hot or cold; the cold is called ´tererei´ and its made with orange/lemon juice and is drunk during the summer. The first drink is always had by the owner of the mate after which he/she offers it to the rest; it is considered rude to wipe the straw before drinking (the straw is metallic anyway and extremely hot so many of the germes die anyhow) and you do not refuse mate, but you can say ´¡Gracias!´ at any point and that means you do not get any next time...

We had lunch in this small but very pleasant goat farm/restaurant where we ate goat cheese prepared in special seads and also tried cold cuts, different other types of meat and pickeled onions, peppers, olives etc.

Two more stops... one in a forest of CACTUS!!!! Well I call it a forest... they call it a national park where these cacti are protected... as far as you could see tones of huge cacti... they grow about 1 cm/year and after the 1st 40 years they become hard and you get wood from them; this wood appearently is one of the most solid in the world and they say there are churces build with this wood dated back to the 1600s and they are still standing! Did you guys have any idea there is such a thing as cactus wood??? ;) Oh and the other funny part, when we stopped to see the cactus the guide told us... ¨Don´t die today!¨ refering to the fact that where the cactus grow is the natural habitat of the Black Widow Spider... YAYCKS!!!

Last stop: el mirador (a viewing place) from where you could enjoy the view of the highest peak in South America called El Libertador (6720m)! In the same place there is a big pile of rocks... like a shrine where shepperds come and say an incantation to Mother Earth to protect them before they head with their sheep in the mountains: Pachamama, Madre Tera, cucia, cucia!

All in all it was amazing... every turn, every glimpse was a great and magnificent photo!
I felt soo small between these giants and so fortunate that I can experience these in the flesh!

Next stop Chile, San Pedro de Atacama... another 12 hour bus ride!
Talk to you then!
Miruna :o)