Well, we are not in Argentina any longer.
We finished our last days in Cafayate, Jujuy and Purmamarca.
In Cafayate, we spent as much of our time outdoors as possible and enjoyed wine flavored ice-cream. Around the area there is a river which boasts large waterfalls. Unfortunately, we followed the river as directed but could not find the waterfalls. This was similar story we heard from other people, so we didn´t feel like too big of losers. We also did an excursion through our hostel of the Quebrada or Gorge or dried up river. Our guide, Jorge was awesome and showed us numerous rock formations from a toad to a choo choo train to a king to an obelisk. He also gave us facials...aka put mud on our faces.
Jujuy was our last overnight stay in Argentina. There is not much to write about. We saw the first civil flag of Argentina which was created around the time of their independence and given to the people of Jujuy for their devotion to independence. The civil flag looks totally different from the current national flag which we learned was the flag of the army and then the sun was added after independence. From Jujuy, we were able to take a little day trip to a small town of Purmamarca which is surrounded by the Seven Colored Hills (I´ll post pictures someday). We were also there for the Goat Cheese festival and the celebration of the town´s library which was compiled very recently. For the festival, Gauchos from neighboring communities within the region road around on horseback and then there was a cheese judging and tasting.

Now, we are in Tarija, Bolivia with Koehler´s family! They are all wonderful and Tarija is beautiful!!
Carnaval starts on Sunday!

Resistencia, Argentina...

After one month of traveling sans major problems, I would like to thank the town of Resistencia and the bus company Rio Uruguay for teaching us three valuable lessons:
First, before getting off the bus, reclaiming luggage, and buying tickets to your next destination it is important to make sure that you are indeed in your intended destination. We had planned to go off the map and spend one day in a town called Resistencia. We caught a night bus and everything was pretty great. We got two meals, watched some Will Smith movies, slept. Then, we stopped at this town and everyone got off the bus and we followed and it was not until we had reclaimed our luggage and bought bus tickets for the next day and then asked for a map of Resistencia that we discovered we were in Corrientes, a place that Lonely Planet is quoted as saying "f*** Corrientes." We ended up catching a bus an hour later that was heading in the direction of Resistencia, so alls well that ends well.
Second, it is also important to check the weather of your intended destination to see if you really want to go there. Resistencia was really hot. Some man told us it was 46*C. I don´t know what that is in farenheit, but it was boiling. Ice-cream couldn´t soothe the heat. and...
Lastly - Knowing the story behind the naming of the town you are visiting is also important. Resistencia was named for the white resistance against the aborigenees, knowing this we might have just hopped over to Salta.
Well, we went to Resistencia so that we would not have to take a 36 hour bus and also because it sounded quaint. There is some organization that has helped to erect 466 statues throughout the city. We thought "hey, that sounds cool. a town slowly being taken over by statues" and it is also the states capital so we figured it´d be worth seeing. Our grand image of a modern day, landlocked Easter Island was a little bit shattered. There were statues all over the city and it was nice to walk and then see a hippo or an abstract interpretation of the big bang theory, but in the heat it also made me feel a bit delusional. The statues were also really spread out so I think we saw about 50 of the 466.
Apparently, Resistencia is hopping...our timing was just off. Two days before we came there was a large parade for carnaval and three days after we left was another large festival. Overall, it was pretty fun being semi-stranded in a boiling hot town with a plethora of ice-cream parlors. People were really interested in why we were there and I would have been too, I just felt bad we didn´t have a good story about how we got there. A
fter leaving Resistencia, we went to Salta which was a beautiful oasis full of parks and hot dog stands and walk that gave us a nice view of the city. We went strolling at night down this walkway which was full of fair type foods and Myrtle Beach-esque shops...two of my favorite things. The walkway led to plaza which was surrounded by Spanish colonial style buildings and a Cathedral that looked edible.
At this very moment, we are in Cafayate.