Another early morning flight from Puerto Iguazu to Salta with an airport pickup took us to a nice hotel just outside Centro, the 10 x 12 block area considered the core of the colonial city. That area is littered with museums and hotels and nice restaurants around Plaza 9 de Julio (that's independence day in Argentina. The architecture is very impressive especially the ornate cathedral.
It's also the location of the MAAM or Museum Of High Altitude Archeology dedicated to research the ancient burial sites found near a mountain top over 6700 meters high. It's a "no photo" kind of place but I managed to sneak one of one of dessicated children found buried there.
Fascinating exhibits, including some videos of reintroducing condors to the wild.
Other things we did in Salta included a gondola ride to the top of the largest hill in the city. Not impressive by Vancouver standards but still interesting.
The main reasons for the Salta trip though was to take excursions into far reaches of the province to visit Cafayate (pronounced roughly "kaf-a-shat-ay"), Humuhuaca and the Quebrada De Las Conchas (Valley of the Shells). We did 2 long trips into these areas seeing colourful spectacular scenery along the way. We passed through colourful towns along the way too and, visited a winery at Cafayate and at Humuhuaca reached an elevation of about 3100 meters, or very nearly 10,000 feet. This sea level guy felt it when I ran up a steep stairway to get a better view.
