Hey there everyone, so day 14 was a bit different from the previous days, because nothing definite had been arranged ahead of time with any tour provider.
As such, I got up at 7:30 AM and started taking care of preliminary packing, then leaving the apartment at 8:25 AM and walking towards Plaza 9 de Julio.
At 8:42 AM I decided to get a simple and fast light breakfast at McDonald’s. I ordered a café Americano + 2 media lunas for 3500 ARS, which I paid for with my Indian credit card (235 INR – $2.82 USD). At 8:50 AM I sat down with my food.
At 9:08 AM I gave 200 ARS to a guy seeking money for Remar Argentina. He gave me a calendar which of course nobody these days would ever use. I’ve noticed that if you had out around this central plaza, there is a good chance of something similar being sold or there being some similar solicitation of funds. However, when I checked with locals, they confirmed that these are legitimate organizations doing good work in the community, so I was happy to contribute, even when doing so in a minimal fashion.
At 9:18 AM I left and went towards the meeting point in front of Hotel Salta for a “free” historical walking tour of the center which was supposed to take hours. I put free in quotations, because you are expected to give a tip. In Europe this is usually a minimum of 5 euros, but I was not sure what would be expected here.
At 9:23 AM I arrived and met a much older retired gentleman who was to be our guide, Jorge Luis Acuña. As he understandably wanted to give time for stragglers to arrive, we didn’t get started until 9:45 AM. Right off I understood that this was going to be more like a historical chat with an older relative, but he was very likable, and since it was free anyways, I figured it would be fine. If I decided I didn’t like it, I would just leave. Unfortunately, I had only just learned some background about Hotel Salta, including that it had started operating as a hotel in 1945 when at 9:50 AM I received a message from my ground transport provider for the next morning, informing me that my morning flight with Flybondi had been cancelled.
Unlike most other airlines which automatically reschedule you, I needed to make arrangements by calling them. They only had an option at 2:00 AM or one at 8:15 PM tomorrow; my original flight had been at 10:30 AM. I also found out that I would now have to fly into Ezeiza rather than Aeroparque, which was inconvenient, but not a disaster. What I did find absurd was that it took them 30 minutes on the phone in order to get my reservation changed. They said another email would arrive later in the day with the final confirmation. Now I understand why people don’t recommend FlyBondi. . . Evidently this flight got cancelled on the 26th, but last night when I did the web check-in, it showed up as fine, also permitting me to do the check-in.
At 10:44 AM I was able to join up with the group again at Hotel Adobe. 1750 was when the original house was made. Calisto Gauna lived here (not the original family owners), but he was born in Sumalau (some of the spelling might be off). There was a lot of name dropping going on of important historical figures from Argentinian history, but most of it meant little to me. However, almost everyone else on the tour was Argentinian, so it was clearly much more meaningful for them. Even though I didn’t personally connect with the names, he was incredibly knowledgeable and made the history come alive.
At 11:03 AM I was still on the tour. Evidently Gauna’s family still lives there in his house in Sumalau. What is clear, is that this whole area is steeped in important Argentinian history. Again, Don Jorge mentioned many names and events that the Argentinians knew, but I of course did not. As I assume that most of my readers, like me, will find a lot of the information to be overwhelming, I will condense down to points which I either found more interesting or which might be of interest to people outside Argentina.
At 11:29 AM we were at the main cathedral. In 1582 the first church was built here, but they finished construction of the current church in 1852. On the 13th of September at 3 PM a huge group of pilgrims arrive here from all over the north of the country, some having walked 14 days.
At 11:51 AM we saw the Archbishop’s residence. Don Jorge was quite proud that Pope Juan Pablo II slept here when he was visiting Salta.
At 12:07 PM we were in Plaza Belgrano. When General Güemes was 14, he joined the infantry. Later on when he was injured on June 7, 1821 by a competing revolutionary faction, he could have been saved by Spanish doctors, but a condition of doing so was that he would renounce control of northern Argentina in favor of the Spanish. Rather than betray his command, he refused medical attention and then days later he died.
12:31 PM we departed the plaza. This guide is extremely knowledgeable and had a wonderful way of presenting. The guide recommended Museo de Güemes, a good free museum with lots of outstanding historical information.
At 1:07 PM we were in front of the Iglesia San Francisco (where I had made a sorry visit on my own a couple days earlier). The bell which is shown in front is from 1860 and weighs 1300 kg. It was made in Italy, but it broke after just a few years since it was badly made. At 1:10 PM we finished. Although others were giving less, I gave a tip of 2000 ARS. I think it might have been better for local Argentinians, but I still was very impressed with his passion. I went off on my own from there.
At 1:56 PM I saw a street dog which was officially identified as a street dog belonging to the center of Salta.
At 2:00 PM I went towards the counter of the High altitude archeology museum, arriving at 2:21 PM. After some internal debate, I decided to wait in the 9 de Julio Plaza until 3:00 PM in order to register for the 4:30 guided tour (Registration was not allowed until 3:00 PM sharp, and it was first come first serve). I think no pictures are allowed inside, but it is considered an obligatory place to visit in Salta.
At 3:12 PM I bought my ticket to the museum paying 8000 ARS (538 INR – $6.45 USD) and I signed up for the guide tour at 4:30. They said I needed to be there at 4:25 PM.
As I wanted to get some lunch which I would quickly receive and would be able to eat before the tour, at 3:32 PM I ordered a Grand McBacon Doble with fries and a drink, paying 11900 ARS (800 INR – $9.6 USD). I felt a bit ridiculous buying McDonald’s for a second time in one day, but my double grand bacon burger was incredibly delicious, and I was able to have it quickly.
At 4:05 PM I had finished my food and was feeling quite satisfied. I sat there comfortably waiting for a bit, and then walked over to the nearby museum, arriving promptly at 4:25 PM.
The tour started right on time. While the artifacts were not especially fancy, it’s extremely impressive how well the funerary objects were preserved, especially considering the materials which were used in many cases, such as cloth, feathers and leather.
It was also interesting to learn that the Incas only arrived in this area a relatively short time before the Spanish. They came between 1480 and 1532, the Spanish invaders then arrived in 1532.
5:47 She suggests El museo de antropología detrás del monumento Güemes.
When it was my turn to see the mummified child at around 5:46 PM I found it incredibly impressive how her eyelashes and teeth and even the braids in her hair were perfectly preserved. At first I thought that there had been some posthumous deformation of her head, but they explained that it had been intentionally shaped into a cone shape during her life as a means of showing her high social standing. The current shawl she is wearing is the only thing which is not original, as her original covering was partially burned, as was part of her body, by a lightning strike, believed to have taken place 300 years ago. Locals from the area insisted that she be properly covered if she were to be viewed by the public, so they provided a shawl which would have been very similar to what she was originally wearing. Today only the lightning girl was on display; only one of the children is permitted to be displayed at a time, both to avoid further upsetting local native/first peoples and also for conservation purposes. At 5:47 the actual tour ended.
In the next rooms pictures were permitted, but in most cases that was taking pictures of pictures. As mentioned before, the textiles recovered look brand new, just like what you could buy today in the market, if it were good quality. I also found it interesting that the boy had short hair. What is the universality of shorter hair in men that took place in many cultures across the world despite their separation?
As alluded to earlier, no photos of any type were allowed in the area with the burial objects and the current mummified child on display. Despite the lack of any visible guards, everyone seemed to respect this rule. There are however high quality videos and pictures available which can be seen online for free. Despite this online availability, I’m very glad that I was able to see this in person. The mummies and funerary objects here were “naturally” preserved due to the climactic characteristics of the region, target than being artificially preserved in any way.
At 6:31 PM in a different part of the museum, it was notable to compare the state of the mummy and objects which were robbed in 1920, with the robbers and subsequent “owners” not observing nor having knowledge of how to properly preserve the findings. However, even within that context, even the 1920 tomb had remarkably well preserved pieces, including much of the mummy itself, which now is kept under optional preservation conditions to keep it from further deterioration.
Finally at 6:41 PM I came out of the museum and decided to go back to my apartment before meeting up later on with Natalia to go to La Vieja Estación Peña. I headed back towards the apartment, noting at 7:01 PM that it was crazy how quickly the temperature drops later in the day
From 7:20 PM to 8:12 AM I was at the apartment, and then headed out walking towards La Vieja Estación. I was really grateful to Natalia for saying that she would go with me, since it’s a bit odd to go to these places on one’s own.
When I arrived at 8:40 PM, they immediately seated us in a spot with a decent view of the stage. At 9:30 PM the show started, save I also noticed that I had another message from Flybondi saying that now my rescheduled flight would depart at 9:30 PM. At this point I didn’t believe anything from Flybondi, but I was eager to just enjoy the show.
At 10:56 PM I reflected that so far, everything about the show has been fantastic. Due to the lighting, photos didn’t come out well, but here you can see some videos. Yes, it’s a bit expensive, but if you can pay for it, then it’s worth it. When I paid my bill, it was 23800 for one glass of wine, 1 small dish of sweetbreads and 1 bread pudding. It was a bit more expensive because I paid with a card. I have discovered that many places here either charge 10% more if you pay with a card or essentially the same thing, give a 10% discount if paying with cash.
At 12:42 AM the main show was over although they continued with live music, and we left walking. On the way I left Natalia at her nearby hotel at 12:51 AM then continued walking back to my lodging where I arrived at 1:12 AM.
So it was annoying to have so many changes with Flybondi, but if this hadn’t happened, I probably also wouldn’t have felt comfortable staying out so late when I had an upcoming morning flight. Furthermore, like I said earlier, the morning walking tour was a bit of an information overload, but it was nice to not just think of my surroundings as a bunch of random old buildings. Given that I would now have most of the day in Salta the following day, I was also resolved to take advantage of the time by checking out other sites which I had earlier missed. As to whether or not the Flybondi flight ever actually left, that’s a mystery that won’t be solved until day 15!
Travels with Jay 