emilyonearth

Guys. What a day. What a day. Who knew every single Argentinian had a cape-sized flag?

Before coming to Argentina, I suspected I might be a bit jet lagged for the first couple of days here, so I planned some passive travel in the form of a bus tour to a town called Cachi. It was an early morning, as I was picked up around 7am, then got to see a little bit of the town as we drove around picking other people up. It was very rainy, and the streets were beginning to flood. At one point a car entered a puddle and I was worried that it wouldn’t come back out!!

As we left town, we drove through a whole lot of tobacco farms and heard a little about other produce grown in the area. We passed through a few pretty towns, which I wouldn’t mind stopping in once I have a car to drive around in.

Once we got out of the more populated areas, the buildings all had solar panels as they aren’t connected to the electricity supply. There was also a little school, and apparently because it’s so isolated, the kids stay Mon-Fri and just go home on the weekends. The school also has wifi, so serves as a communication point as there’s no cellphone reception in the area.

We pulled over at a rest stop and I met some llamas (Pacho + Rosalia) and goats (Pepe and ???). Apparently there are no alpacas in Argentina, just llamas (and vicuñas and guacanos). Then we started the drive up and over the mountains. It was so interesting, as soon as we got over the ridge, the rain and fog disappeared and it became a beautiful sunny day.

The next part of the day was my favourite part: a national park full of cacti!! They were huge, like, several metres tall, and there were thousands and thousands of them. Wild. Speaking of wild, apparently the national park has puma in it! Nearby was also Cerro Tin Tin (Tin Tin Hill), which is an example of the various coloured hills in this part of the country.

After the cacti, we reached Cachi, where we had lunch and a wee wander around the small town before beginning the return trip. On the way back, the football World Cup semi finals were on the radio, and after Argentina’s first goal, the excitement simply became too much for the other trip participants (most of whom were from other parts of Argentina). As they were taking a vote about delaying our return to Salta so that we could watch the game instead of just listen to it, Argentina got a second goal and the decision was made. We pulled over at a petrol station and joined the people who had already gathered there to watch the second half of the game. Although being in Argentina to experience the game was a cool opportunity, my favourite part had to be watching the intensity on everyone’s faces, and their reactions to the events of the match (do we call it a match??)

After the game, the drive back to Salta resumed, and there were people all over the streets all the way back. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. Flags, car horns, trumpets, spray foam, drums… I went for a walk to see what it was all about, and it was intense! I also saw a bit of the news while getting dinner, and it looks like the whole of Argentina is one big party right now. Hopefully from the pics you can get a bit of a feel for it!!