Last Day in Cachi

The last couple days I´ve spent walking around the city, finishing up my Spanish lessons, eating good food at the hostel, etc. Last week I climbed 1070 steps up the side of this hill that over looks the city of Salta with my two Dutch friends from the Hostel. The view from the top was breathtaking, see my picture page for visuals(although pictures rarely do anything justice).
On Sunday, I did another day trip to Cachi, a small pueblo west of Salta, with the dutch kids. This trip had more beautiful scenery than Cafayate, but the guide and tour bus we went with were so obnoxious that it was hard to appreciate the beauty to the fullest. They picked us up at 7 am, and immediately turned on an amp with a microphone (with the volume cranked way up!) and started playing games and asking people about themselves. I just wanted to sleep because it was still dark out, and I´d been kept awake all night by my next-door neighbors in the hostel making all sorts of ¨sounds¨, but the guide persisted for the majority of the drive. When we finally made it to Cachi, we only had 45 minutes to explore the place because we´d spent so much time stopping to take pictures of random stuff. I took off with Mischa and we cruised around the town a little bit. We ended up walking up this big hill behind the center of the pueblo. On the top, there was this crazy little cemetery. All the graves were differently decorated, and they had a bunch of fake flowers draped all over them. It gave the place this sort of cartoon effect because everything was so colorful and crazy. Yet somehow the place felt more alive and more of a tribute to the individuals buried there than cemeteries like the one my grandfather is buried in, in Daly City, where each of the tombstones and the placards are the same white-washed stone.
When we headed back down from the cemetery to join the rest of the tour group, we found our other companion, Tobias, who had spent his time in Cachi taking a nap on a bench. I found this really funny for two reasons; one is that he spent 4 hours on a bus to Cachi just to take a nap on a bench, and two is that the angle of the sun was such that his face was burnt a bright pink, except for two white circles around his eyes. It looked like he went skiing with swim goggles on, I really couldn´t help but laugh. These two dutch kids are really funny, and sometimes unintentionally so.
Later that night, we went out to get some steak at the best steak restaurant in town (yes I know, I´m a terrible vegetarian. However, as they say, when in Argentina, eat the steak!) I was telling them over dinner about Dumpster Diving and they really couldn´t understand why anyone would do that (jump in a dumpster to collect ¨expired¨ yet perfectly edible food that supermarkets prematurely toss out). In addition, they find it weird that I always ask to take the left overs from meals with me instead of having them tossed by the restaurant. Just to prove my point that it´s a good idea, I brought our left overs with us for the stray dogs. We found a little pack of them to feed in the streets, and they gobbled it all up. But when we had no more, they kept following us and kind of jumping up on us for more, almost getting vicious. I started to get a little scared, and so we hopped in a cab to go back to our hostel. But as the cab was driving away, the dogs started chasing us and running alongside the car barking! It was actually quite scary, as they went from being mild and friendly to sort of possesed and crazy! It makes me think twice about bringing food out for them, which is a shame because there are so many stray dogs here.
Today I had my last lesson in Spanish, which means I no longer have a ¨reason¨ to stay in Salta. In addition, a fleet of new people just came in to the hostel and interrupted the equilibrium there, such that it feels a little chaotic and crowded, and less like home. Therefore, I think it is time I move on. My current plan is to go to the San Pedro de Atacama desert in northern Chile tomorrow morning with one, or both, of the dutch guys, and then over to Bolivia after that, then back down into Argentina to Mendoza. To go to the first two places would be to follow a pretty touristic route, but as both places are reputedly worth the time and effort I think I am set on the plan. In addition, once I get to the farm I will be in the same place for at least a month or more, so doing a little sight-seeing now is probably not a bad idea.
As a post-thought, I really appreciate the emails and facebook messages I´ve been receiving from people. It makes me feel so nice to know that I have friends and family, who are so supportive of me, waiting for me when I get back home. I love you guys, thank you for all the support! And please keep it coming! :-)