Taking the bus from Cordoba to Salta proved to be a smart idea in the end as the storms that had hit town a couple of days before lasted the whole 12 hour trip into the capitol of Salta Province.Most of the towns we passed through were under water and it would have been a miserable time to be on the road.Luckily for me as soon as we made the steep descent to Saltas bus terminal the clouds parted and the sun shone brightly.That was great for me as my bike was in a cardboard box and I was living in fear of the whole thing falling apart and leaving my stuff all over the bus terminal.
I was met by a hostel rep and soon found myself unoading my bike,trailer and all my other gear onto the street in front of what was to be my home for the next week.There was a very small bike shop opposite and the sight of a bike box caused the usual fuss as everyone crossed the street to see what sort of bike this gringo had hidden away in that old box.I promised that I would show them the next day and stowed all my gear in the hostel store room.I was told as there had been a big party the night before everyone was still asleep and that I would have to wait to get into my dorm.No worries mate,I was getting used to the Argie way of life and 11.30am was way to early for any self respecting party animal to rise.What to do to fill in the time?It was then that I met the Icelandic Viking Princess!!
There I was standing at the reception desk asking Raoul,the reception guy,what I could do to fill in a couple of hours when I heard this really strange accent echoing down the hallway.Then as the voice got louder she came into view.Obviously this creature hadn`t been informed that the party the night before had indeed ended.There she stood scotch bottle in hand swaying with the breeze blowing through the window.It was obvious that she couldn`t really focus as it took her a few seconds to even register my presence.Her presence,however,was hard to miss.I`m not sure if it was the crazy white dreadlocks framing her distorted face or the fact that her pants had started falling down, revealling more than a guy should see on a first meeting, that gave away her drunken state.I made a quick exit and went up to the rooftop bar/restaurant for a coffee.I thought that I had managed to escape the five foot four nutter, but no,she had followed me and had sat down at my table in the chair opposite.Before I could say anything she poured a genorous amount of scotch in my coffee and declared in her slurred Bijork-like accent."I am the Icelandic Viking Princess,You will drink now!"
Now what`s a guy to do when faced with royalty,albeit self declared.I did as instructed and drank,hoping that it would soothe the savage beast.Not so lucky buddy,she just filled my cup up and took a big drink herself,straight from the bottle.She then proudly asked me if I liked her scotch,telling me that it was the best eight peso($2.60U.S) scotch around and would I be interested in hanging out with her for the day.By now I felt like I was driving past a car wreck,you know you shouldn`t look at the carnage, but you just can`t help yourself.I put myself in survival mode and agreed to be her date for the day.Once I realised that she wasn`t a charachter from the recent movie"Hostel" if figured this was one experience I just couldn`t miss so off we went to see Salta from the moutain towering above the city.
There is a cable-car that takes people up to the lookout and restaurant and it is a very popular place for tourists and locals alike.Don`t think they were prepared for my new best friend. We spent exactly one minute looking at the view and as she drained the last of her scotch found ourselves a table overlooking the city.It truly is a magnificent view and one I would enjoy many times over the next week.This time however it was truly comical.To her credit she did calm down and we had a great time and she even taught me a bunch of stuff about Iceland that I never knew.Very interesting stuff really and I figured when sober,she would probrably be a great girl.Today however wasn`t one of those days.I`m not sure if it was the spitting over the railings or giving the three Uraguayans at the next table a hard time that got us kicked out.Seems you should not tell three football mad boys from Uraguay that the guy at her table is from the country that kicked them out of the World Cup,and then proceed to tell them that they must be crap if Australia can beat them.Thank`s mate!
After arriving back in town we walked back to the hostal but not before being challenged to an upside-down handstand walking race.A what!!Dutifully I did what I was told and as soon as I was inverted she rugby tackled me and bit me really hard on my belly.Strange mating rituals they have in Iceland.Must be all those long winters.I can tell you though if she had gone missing that day I had a perfect set of her dental records on my stomach for the crime scene guys to look at.For me that was the last straw and we were soon hostel bound but,and there is always a but with this chick,not before going to the supermarket to buy another bottle of her favourite scotch.My $4U.S bottle of red wine was positively upmarket compared to her favourite tipple but then I`ve always been known to splash out on a nice bottle of red.Even the security guard at the supermarket couldn`t help but laugh at us.Maybe I should have stayed in the hostel after all.
The hostel barbeque later that night offered some sort of respite from the crazy day that I had been through.The Viking Princess had passed out in some guys bed and we were all went about devouring yet another magnificent meal prepared by our excellent hosts.About fifty people turned up and lord knows but I must have eaten more meat than is reasonable for a little guy like me.The barbeque was so good and so much fun that I stayed in Salta for three of them.Too much fun but I have no doubt that I`ve eaten more meat in the last four weeks than I had in the previous four years.I`m not kidding.
The next few days were spent biking around the district and exploring the cool mountain trails that connect the hiltop radio antenna stations dotted all around the city.It made me very glad that I brought a mountain bike as a tourer would not have made it up or for that matter down some of the trails that I found.Mental note folks,Salta is a very cool place to go mountain biking.Salta is also a very coo place to sit and chill out in any one of the really nice cafes that surround the citys' main plaza.The city is celebrating it`s four hundered and tweny four anniversary and all the many churches and beautiful government buildings are shining brightly as a result of a city clean up. I spent hours there during my week, drinking way too much coffee and meeting lots of the backpacking crowd as they wandered by.This city has become my favourite place in Argentina so far not just for the city sights but also for the great people that I met while staying there.
I did manage to get myself organised and do a tour about 300k(264miles) to the north.I wanted to check out the road and my god I`m in for some serious climbing fun about two days ride away.The day was great and I got to hang out with a couple of really cool people,one,a girl from from Canada and one guy from Isreal.I have met so many awesome people along the way that it is overwealming.If I went home now I would be a happy boy.I will, at a later date I will fill you in on some of these great folks but I have some riding to do so, it`s off north again to the city of Ju Juy 124k(77miles)away.This would be the last time that I would ride to a schedule and the last of the flat rides for my trip.With rain clouds forming again I began the climb out of Salta.Quite honestly I could have stayed for another week or two.
I was met by a hostel rep and soon found myself unoading my bike,trailer and all my other gear onto the street in front of what was to be my home for the next week.There was a very small bike shop opposite and the sight of a bike box caused the usual fuss as everyone crossed the street to see what sort of bike this gringo had hidden away in that old box.I promised that I would show them the next day and stowed all my gear in the hostel store room.I was told as there had been a big party the night before everyone was still asleep and that I would have to wait to get into my dorm.No worries mate,I was getting used to the Argie way of life and 11.30am was way to early for any self respecting party animal to rise.What to do to fill in the time?It was then that I met the Icelandic Viking Princess!!
There I was standing at the reception desk asking Raoul,the reception guy,what I could do to fill in a couple of hours when I heard this really strange accent echoing down the hallway.Then as the voice got louder she came into view.Obviously this creature hadn`t been informed that the party the night before had indeed ended.There she stood scotch bottle in hand swaying with the breeze blowing through the window.It was obvious that she couldn`t really focus as it took her a few seconds to even register my presence.Her presence,however,was hard to miss.I`m not sure if it was the crazy white dreadlocks framing her distorted face or the fact that her pants had started falling down, revealling more than a guy should see on a first meeting, that gave away her drunken state.I made a quick exit and went up to the rooftop bar/restaurant for a coffee.I thought that I had managed to escape the five foot four nutter, but no,she had followed me and had sat down at my table in the chair opposite.Before I could say anything she poured a genorous amount of scotch in my coffee and declared in her slurred Bijork-like accent."I am the Icelandic Viking Princess,You will drink now!"
Now what`s a guy to do when faced with royalty,albeit self declared.I did as instructed and drank,hoping that it would soothe the savage beast.Not so lucky buddy,she just filled my cup up and took a big drink herself,straight from the bottle.She then proudly asked me if I liked her scotch,telling me that it was the best eight peso($2.60U.S) scotch around and would I be interested in hanging out with her for the day.By now I felt like I was driving past a car wreck,you know you shouldn`t look at the carnage, but you just can`t help yourself.I put myself in survival mode and agreed to be her date for the day.Once I realised that she wasn`t a charachter from the recent movie"Hostel" if figured this was one experience I just couldn`t miss so off we went to see Salta from the moutain towering above the city.
There is a cable-car that takes people up to the lookout and restaurant and it is a very popular place for tourists and locals alike.Don`t think they were prepared for my new best friend. We spent exactly one minute looking at the view and as she drained the last of her scotch found ourselves a table overlooking the city.It truly is a magnificent view and one I would enjoy many times over the next week.This time however it was truly comical.To her credit she did calm down and we had a great time and she even taught me a bunch of stuff about Iceland that I never knew.Very interesting stuff really and I figured when sober,she would probrably be a great girl.Today however wasn`t one of those days.I`m not sure if it was the spitting over the railings or giving the three Uraguayans at the next table a hard time that got us kicked out.Seems you should not tell three football mad boys from Uraguay that the guy at her table is from the country that kicked them out of the World Cup,and then proceed to tell them that they must be crap if Australia can beat them.Thank`s mate!
After arriving back in town we walked back to the hostal but not before being challenged to an upside-down handstand walking race.A what!!Dutifully I did what I was told and as soon as I was inverted she rugby tackled me and bit me really hard on my belly.Strange mating rituals they have in Iceland.Must be all those long winters.I can tell you though if she had gone missing that day I had a perfect set of her dental records on my stomach for the crime scene guys to look at.For me that was the last straw and we were soon hostel bound but,and there is always a but with this chick,not before going to the supermarket to buy another bottle of her favourite scotch.My $4U.S bottle of red wine was positively upmarket compared to her favourite tipple but then I`ve always been known to splash out on a nice bottle of red.Even the security guard at the supermarket couldn`t help but laugh at us.Maybe I should have stayed in the hostel after all.
The hostel barbeque later that night offered some sort of respite from the crazy day that I had been through.The Viking Princess had passed out in some guys bed and we were all went about devouring yet another magnificent meal prepared by our excellent hosts.About fifty people turned up and lord knows but I must have eaten more meat than is reasonable for a little guy like me.The barbeque was so good and so much fun that I stayed in Salta for three of them.Too much fun but I have no doubt that I`ve eaten more meat in the last four weeks than I had in the previous four years.I`m not kidding.
The next few days were spent biking around the district and exploring the cool mountain trails that connect the hiltop radio antenna stations dotted all around the city.It made me very glad that I brought a mountain bike as a tourer would not have made it up or for that matter down some of the trails that I found.Mental note folks,Salta is a very cool place to go mountain biking.Salta is also a very coo place to sit and chill out in any one of the really nice cafes that surround the citys' main plaza.The city is celebrating it`s four hundered and tweny four anniversary and all the many churches and beautiful government buildings are shining brightly as a result of a city clean up. I spent hours there during my week, drinking way too much coffee and meeting lots of the backpacking crowd as they wandered by.This city has become my favourite place in Argentina so far not just for the city sights but also for the great people that I met while staying there.
I did manage to get myself organised and do a tour about 300k(264miles) to the north.I wanted to check out the road and my god I`m in for some serious climbing fun about two days ride away.The day was great and I got to hang out with a couple of really cool people,one,a girl from from Canada and one guy from Isreal.I have met so many awesome people along the way that it is overwealming.If I went home now I would be a happy boy.I will, at a later date I will fill you in on some of these great folks but I have some riding to do so, it`s off north again to the city of Ju Juy 124k(77miles)away.This would be the last time that I would ride to a schedule and the last of the flat rides for my trip.With rain clouds forming again I began the climb out of Salta.Quite honestly I could have stayed for another week or two.
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