To the north pole!

Just kidding.  I just went on a trip to the north, but the seemingly endless amount of time spent on a bus to arrive in the north of Argentina gave it the feeling that I was attempting to reach the north pole.  In the 11 days of my AFS trip I spent nearly 100 hours on a bus!  I first traveled overnight to Cordoba a larger city where I spend the day with some of my host cousins.   Despite the rain we ate ice cream anyhow.  That night I traveled again until I reached Resistencia (the meeting point in the north for all the students traveling).  Resistencia is know for having the best chipas (miny breads with a special type of cheese that are absolutely deeeeeeeelcious), so all of the exchange students bought multiple bags of chipas as the would come out of the oven hot and yummy!

  The first leg of the trip was to the western portion of the north, the provinces of Salta and Jujuy.  Such provinces are well know for the mountains with a desert climate, along with folkloric music and lots of traditional crafts. From the hotel room we had a lovely view of the hills and an old church.

The first day in Salta we did a city tour and went up in a cable-car to the top of one of the hills where we could see the entire city and then walked back down. The city of Salta lays in the middle and was an important city in the history of Argentina and the fight for their independence because it was a location in the route from Peru and Bolivia where the Spanish would transport resources to bring back to Spain.  It also has some history with the Incas.  Many of the people have the darker more native skin type which comes from the original inhabitants of such region.  

The plaza in Salta

View overlooking a little bit of Salta

Yep, eating.  As always.

The second day we went to another province to the north called Jujuy (I will not try to describe the pronunciation until I can actually say it in person).  It is one of the poorest provinces in Argentina, but it has an incredible amount of natural beauty and very vibrant culture.

The AFS group in the valley of 7 colors

The kids from Thailand

Chillin for a little while.

We just decided to stop at the tropic of Capricorn on the way back to Salta