Welsh David's South America: 28 and 29 January 2017

On the way to Salta we drove through the red rock formations of the Valles Calchaquies.

And stopped off to see the Anfiteatro (Amphitheatre) Natural and the Garganta del Diablo (The Devil's Throat).

On arrival at Salta La Linda (Salta the beautiful) the truck was only allowed to stop in an allocated parking place for 15 minutes to go into the hotel for the bags to be unloaded into the Hotel Marilian and then the truck had to be parked in a truck park for the time of our stay here. While on the subject of driving, the drivers here are terrible as they will not stop for anyone to cross the road even at a pedestrian crossing. It’s like a game of chicken! I did make one driver stop by putting my hand up at him and I think it was the shock of someone having the temerity to do so that made him stop.

The Convent of San Bernardo

I went out later walking to the oldest building here, the Convent of San Bernardo, and took a photo of a bride and groom having their wedding photos there. Only the best man and bridesmaid were with them, something I have seen in other countries. I have been told that the photos are done before the wedding but do not know the truth of that.

The Court Building

Police Headquarters

Confiscated motorbikes

A copied painting

There are a number of museums in Salta and although they had the opening times at the premises or in guide books most of them were closed. One, of which the door was open, I started to walk into only to be stopped as it was a court of some description. Another looked like an old fort and when I tried to enter that I was politely told that it was now the police headquarters and to go away. This had been built in 1872 and of the four walls only one had a door in it. There was some information about it on a plaque indicating the it had been built as a penitentiary in 1872, and of the four walls only one had a doorway. There was also a criminal museum in the building but it was not my time to see inside.

The police had been busy as I found a pile of confiscated motorbikes as well.

Another museum was closed but when the man sweeping the pavement saw me looking at the building took me in and, speaking in English, gave me a tour of the building. This museum, the Museum of Post Colonial Salta, taught people how to paint and copy the old paintings from the Spanish and Italian colonial days still in the provinces churches. When I asked why they had not been collected up and placed in the cathedrals as they were obviously very important and expensive he said that they belonged to the village churches and that is where they are to stay.

Picture taken from the internet

One museum I think everyone visited was the High Altitude Archeology Museum where it was explained how the bodies of three sacrificed Inca children were found (at 6,700 metres altitude) and exhumed together with the funeral items buried with them about 500 years ago. There were a lot of photos, video and original artifacts to look at and at the end one mummified body was shown. This is one of three childrens bodies (two girls and one boy) that are periodically changed for viewing.

There were a lot of old buildings in the streets, many of them originally having been banks. Although I did take photos of them it was very obvious that they were ‘spoilt’ by the electric cables that were all over the place. However, what is, is, so I have included some of the photos.