March 9, 2008 - Buenos Aires & Salta, Argentina

March 9, 2008 - Buenos Aires, Argentina
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After a leisurely wakeup and breakfast, I checked out by 10 AM but left 2 bags in their storage room. I decided to wander around until 12 Noon when the Museo Borges would open. Buenos Aires appeared quite a dead place at 10:15 AM. There were not many places open and the few that were, were small cafes. I found an Internet cafe and read news and checked my e-mail for an hour. By this time a few bookstores had opened and I went to those in the hope of finding Borges in an English Edition (translation). I did not have any luck.

I was at Museo Borges a little after 12. The Museum is located in the Galerias Pacifico shopping mall. I was quite disappointed with the museum as there was very little on Borges himself. Instead the museum showcased different artists. Among these exhibits was a retrospective on the Swiss Photographer RENE BURRI (very interesting) and works by the Surrealist Joan Miro (I was not impressed with the works on display despite my love of surrealist works). The rest of the Museum was devoted to Contemporary artists - who were quite sad - and that's putting a positive spin on it. The Mosaics by Gabriel Lopez Santiso were quite interesting with their vivid colours.

After my museum visit, I visited the adjacent Galerias Pacifico mall and purchased some candies from a famous chocolatier - Abuela Goye (Means grandmother Goye in Spanish). I tried to have a lunch at Ideal Cafe and was disappointed to see that it was closed. I headed to my favourite haunt - Cafe Tortoni - and had yet another breakfast for lunch. As this would be my final visit to this place during this visit, I took out my camera and shot some pictures. It is a great place. As I have said before, Buenos Aires is a lot like Paris. The cafes are wonderful without the snobbishness endemic to French cafes.

I got back to the hotel by 3:15 PM, collected my bags and took a taxi to the airport. My duffel bag still weighed in at 21 Kilograms! I was quite flummoxed. Even after shipping out 5 Kilos of goods from Uruguay, the bag continues to weigh over 20 Kilograms! I don't know what else to do. The bright aspect in all these is that I just have 1 more internet flight to go (from Salta to Mendoza) after which I will be travelling by bus to Santiago (Chile) before taking the trans-continental flight from Santiago to USA.

Buenos Aires is a terrific place. If there is one big city (in South America) I would like to visit again, it would be Buenos Aires. The place is rather inexpensive, there are lots of things to see and do and it is quite safe even at the wee hours of the night.

I started reading "I'll bury my dead" by James Hadley Chase. The blurb on the jacket stated that the book ought to be finished in a single sitting (250 Pages). By the end of my 2 1/4 hour flight from Buenos Aires to Salta, I had finished 110 pages.

March 9, 2008 - Salta, Argentina
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Dark grey skies greeted my arrival in Salta. There was, however, no rain. The tourism office at the airport was quite helpful and provided me with lots of Information. I took a Minibus to the City Centre (6 miles away). The ride took 30 minutes and cost me 6 Pesos (US$2). I was dropped in front of my hotel.

I met Maria at the front desk and was given a Triple bed room with Private bath and air-conditioning! The cost was 90 pesos (US$30) per night with breakfast. After putting my bags in my room, I got back to the reception and told her the list of things I wanted to see and do while in Salta. She spoke to someone on the Phone and there was someone from a local travel agency within 10 minutes at the front door! The "Tren a las Nubes" (Train to the Clouds) - which was the sole reason for me making Salta as a stop in my travels - was apparently not running as the maintenance works were still not completed. The Travel agency, offers a bus trip that follows the train route and also takes tourists to the Salt flats further north. I took this tour option for 270 pesos (US$ 90). This was to be a 14-hour round trip and I took this option for Tuesday, March 11. I also booked myself on another trip to the Cafayate area for 125 Pesos (US$ 42). This would be a 10-11 hour round trip and I slated this for tomorrow (Monday, March 10). I paid for all of these by Credit Card. Ah, the convenience of Plastic.

I headed to the centre of town for dinner and had a local dish called HUMITA that consisted of CORN, ONION and CHEESE steamed / cooked inside a palm leaf. One has to untie the palm leaf wrapping to reach into the cooked HUMITA. HUMITA tasted a lot like the Indian dish Upma.
It also has some slight semblance to the Northern Chilean dish QUINOA. I will perhaps request the QUINOA without Cheese next time around. Perhaps add some MALAGUETA peppers from my stash :)

Dishes derived from the Indigenous populace are usually terrific. The Unimaginative European (Spanish / Portuguese / Italian) cooking is what irritates me.

I head off to Cafayate tomorrow morning. My pickup is scheduled at 7:15 AM. I had to request breakfast specially at 6:30 AM (as breakfast does not open until 7 AM). It is well past midnight already. I hope I wake up in time for breakfast and the tour.

One of the nice things about the tours in these parts is that, the tour company will force the hotel to knock on your hotel room, wake you up and then take you on the tour. You may have bad breath (because you did not have time to brush your teeth) or smell bad (because you did not have time for a shower), but you will not miss the sights that you paid up to see!