Northwestern Argentina

After a 15 hour bus ride from Mendoza, four hours of waiting at a bus terminal and then five more hours on a bus, we have arrived to Cafayate, Argentina. It is a very small town up in the hills of the northwestern part of the country, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. After much time looking out the window, the best word I can think of to describe Argentina (at least the stretch I saw) is land. Because that´s mostly what I saw. Few houses, few people, few animals, few signs of civilization. Just lots and lots of land. Some of it hilly, some very dry peppered with cacti, other parts filled with wild bushes and short trees that remind me of something one might see in parts of Africa. The land just seems to go on forever. This morning I was lucky enough be awake (at least half awake) to see the sunrise. At that point we were passing hills so the deep oranges and light pinks of the rising sun rested in the nooks of the hills. It was so lovely. I would close my eyes for a minute and each time I opened them the shade was slightly different.

The ride up to Cafayate from the city we stopped in (the name of which I had forgotten, it was nothing special) was slow because it was mostly going up in very sharp curves. But this driver was cautious so I was able to relax for the most part and marvel at the trees, the small rivers, the waterfalls. One of my friends saw some llamas, I missed them but I did see a few goats climbing up very steep rocks, impressive.

It is nice to be in a small town after so many cities, and this one feels very typical of a small town in South America. The hostel and it´s staff are very nice, tonight we are taking part in an asado, and they are kind enough to make some vegetarian options for me. Let me tell you, it is definitely not easy being a vegetarian in Argentina. Much more difficult than Chile. I have definitely had to do some improvising making meals out of things like bread or crackers and avocados. They love their meat here. Funny story about meat: last night the bus stopped at a terminal for us to eat at the family run resturaunt there. The people spoke very fast in a dialect and were clearly not used to foreigners. So one of my friends was a bit confused when his food was brought out after ordering what he thought was a pizza. Turned out it was a big chunk of some kind of meat (vilanesa I think, although I´m not sure what that is, I know nothing about meat) topped with tomato sauce, cheese, and a few pieces of ham. So essentially it was a meat pizza with meat for the crust. It´s always interesting when you have no idea what you are ordering.

Tomorrow we are planning on hiking to a waterfall, so I will bring my camera to that and try to post some pictures soon. I hope everyone and is doing well and enjoying the holiday season. I can´t believe it´s almost Christmas, it sure doesn´t feel like it as I am sitting here sweating.
Love to all!