These are from our trip to Salta in the northern part of Argentina. We went by bus overnight (12 hrs!) and spent a long weekend in the area.
Although we were only 40 km away from our hotel (after an all night ride) our bus, of course, stopped for two hours at a gas station to watch Argentina play in the world cup.
City street in Salta.
One of the days we were there we followed the old rail line (Tren de las Nubes - train to the clouds which was not functioning) in buses up into the Andes close to the border with Chile.
The Andes are very mountainous (duh).
This is a gaucho. There was some kind of huge meeting of gauchos in Salta the day we were there but this is the only picture we got. The side things on the saddle are a form of chaps to protect against cactus.
There was lots of cactus. We were told they grow at about a centimeter per year so the one behind me here is very old.
These are vicuña which are related to lamas. Their fur is used for making clothes and blankets.
More cactus.
We decided these kids were in training for their European tour. The people in this part of Argentina are mostly of indigenous (the rest of the country is immigrant stock from Spain and Italy). We were reminded of Mexico.
Most of the income in this part of the country is from tourists who buy handicrafts. This was in one of the little towns along the way, Humahuaca.
The countryside here was very impressive and is the most southern part of the Andean altiplano which extends into Bolivia to the north.
