Diversión en Argentina

Next, we went to the cities of Salta and Jujuy, and some smaller towns around these two very historical cities. We went on walking tours of both, seeing gorgeous cathedrals and old buildings, as well as statues of various heroic figures of Argentina, usually on horseback. We went up on a gondola ride (that freaked out all the students who have never skiied before) up a mountain to look at some gorgeous waterfalls, where there also happened to be huge spiders the size of Black Widows, who make their webs from trees to catch flying insects. At the market near the waterfall, I bought some shoes called Alpargatas that are made in the traditional style of the gouchos here. From the top of the mountain where we were, we could see the entire city of Salta and it was absolutely gorgeous, with lots of red roofs and white exteriors. Then we walked down the mountain (after buying ice cream of course) to another big plaza and statue of a man with a horse, and looked at a few more little shops but didn´t buy anything. We went out for dinner that night and had classic steak and potatoes of Argentina. The next day, we went white water rafting, which was very fun, but which I couldn´t take any pictures of because, for obvious reasons, you don´t want your camera on a raft when you are sure to get soaking wet. We also went this gorgeous mountain lake and had a barbecue for lunch (sausages of all sorts, including blood sausage) and swam in the lake to cool off, because we were so close to the equator that it was hot, although it is nearly winter here. I also tried what are called coca leaves here, which are good for your digestion and get rid of headaches, unprocessed cocaine. The next day we went to Jujuy and saw lots of red rock simlar to the southern desert in Utah, as well as a little archeological town. We saw the stereotypical cactus, three times as tall as me or more, with lots of thorns and arms, which were very neat. They build doors and things out of cactus wood here, with lots of little holes. We went to the market in Jujuy and bought lots of souvenirs and llama wool products, since that is what this region of Argentina is famous for, and went to the Tropic of Capricorn, where big rock marked the imaginary line. We had lunch at a restaurant in Jujuy where a little band played traditional music for us and I ate empanadas with llama meat, and went to an old archeological site with an amazing view and lots of llamas. It was all very neat.