March 28/29/30 - Salta - 300km

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It´s hard to understate how dramatically the mountains impact the climate here.

Cafayate is a near desert - it feels like Nevada.  But drive an hour over a mountain pass and suddenly you´re in the Carolinas.  It´s warm, humid and cloudy.  The fields are full of tobacco and soybeans.  The mountains are a deep green and there are lakes and rivers everywhere.

This lush climate made Salta a regional hub during the Spanish era.  As long as the silver mine at Potosi dominated the development of the area, Salta was a regional agricultural and trade hub.  The region supplied food that couldn´t be grown in the high altiplano of Bolivia.  

Even today, though, you can still feel the influence of Bolivia, just few hours north.  There are Bolivian immigrants here, and more people of indigenous descent.  The shops sell coca leaf.  More folks listen to Bolivian folklore than tango.

The recent boom in food prices has helped Salta, but it still feels like a dusty regional hub.  Imagine Kansas City or Harrisburg, PA, except with massive churches from another, wealthier, era.

There were a few welcoming cafes with wi-fi, and it was a good place to catch up on e-mail and try to get that Bolivian visa.  

And a new motorcycle battery.

I discovered one morning that mine had completely died.  Luckily it happened here and not a day earlier, when it might have turned into a real problem.

It took a day to find a replacement, which worked perfectly.  So it´s onward, across the Andes, back to Chile, with a new motorcycle battery and instructions to look for a Bolivian visa in Arica, Chile.  

Steak, wine and music, Salta style.