Day 29:
| Museum of High Altitude Archaeology | 200 |
| Coffee grinds | 334 |
| Peruvian Set Lunch | 165 |
| Ice cream | 80 |
| Water & Gatorade | 135 |
| Empanadas and Tamales | 280 |
| Total: | 1194 ARS (144.7 RMB) (USD 20.52) |
So I actually did a bit of tourism with a visit to the MAAM, which hosts some mummies of sacrificed children (from the outskirts of the Incan empire). Coffee is a tricky thing to source in Argentina as their default is for either instant coffee or coffee grinds with sugar premixed. I bought a small package of drinkable coffee to tide me over until I gain track down a decent roaster in Buenos Aires. The deserty, northwestern region of Argentina had a small surprise for me with its local specialties–tamales, which are similar enough to the ones in Mexico. The empanadas are reportedly special, but I really can’t tell the difference and there is something else called a humita that I didn’t try at the little cafe where I sampled those for dinner.
Day 30:
| Contact lenses | 540 |
| Smoothie | 100 |
| Set Lunch | 280 |
| Phone credit | 250 |
| Total: | 1170 ARS (141.8 RMB) (USD 20.16) |
It was a busy day of running errands around town. I realized that my eyes were probably in a constant state of agitation because my contacts were several months overdue for changing. I don’t understand how I forgot to restock contact lenses when I was in Beijing in June. As it is, the Irish imported lenses in Argentina are both limited in selection (30-day only) and super expensive. Meanwhile, the 30 day tourist package on my SIM card was about to expire and I needed to figure out how (much) to recharge and what packages were available for continued internet data service. Finally, as I was running low on cash, I tried out Xoom, a Paypal service for online remittances to send myself money. Even after the service fee, I got a better rate on my money than the previous exchange at the National Bank of Argentina in the airport.
Day 31:
| Lunch, set meal | 335 |
| Chorizos from butcher | 110 |
| Total: | 445 ARS (52.5 RMB) (USD 7.46) |
It was pretty much a rest day with a bit of a splurge on a set meal at a cafe on the central plaza. It’s kind of a bummer that the set lunches sometimes don’t include a drink, in which case one is obliged to spend an extra 60-80 pesos on a bottle of water. This cafe snuck in a table cover charge, which I am aware of as a common thing in Argentina, but have generally avoided by sticking to the cheap places (which prominently display in the window: “No cover charge”).
Day 32:
| Lengua a la portuguese | 200 |
| Ice cream | 80 |
| Empanadas | 150 |
| Total: | 430 ARS (50.7 RMB) (USD 7.21) |
Another slow day, where I found a super cheap restaurant with an extensive selection of “set meals.” The fun thing is that I quickly realized that all the bife de … and milanese de … where indicating various parts of the animal that don’t necessarily sell so well (hence being so cheap). I was quite happy with my beef tongue, but maybe one day I’ll dare to eat a heart steak.
Day 33:
| Bus to Tilcara | 535 |
| Luggage tips | 15 |
| Tortilla de caprese | 60 |
| Total: | 610 ARS (71.9 RMB) (USD 10.22) |
After a long, but restful five days in Salta, I moved on to a small town in the Quebrada de Humahuaca, which is a geological feature that is basically just a desert canyon. The town is tiny and completely driven by the tourism industry with a surprising Southeast Asia backpacker scene vibe to it all. I finally got around to trying an Argentinian “tortilla” which is neither like the Spanish omelette or the Mexican wrap, but is like a cross between a quesadilla and an empanada grilled on charcoal.
Day 34:
| Water | 50 |
| Lunch | 200 |
| Musician tip | 50 |
| Garganta del Diablo | 50 |
| Potato dumplings | 150 |
| Total: | 500 ARS (58.96 RMB) (USD 8.38) |
After a morning hike, I returned to the town for a hearty lunch of excellent value near the bus station. Unfortunately, there was live music being performed and as I was basically the only customer, I felt obligated to stuff some money into the envelopes provided for that purpose. A German woman living at the hostel (as a volunteer) with her two toddlers cooked dinner en mass. It was a nice group dinner, and given the price per head over nearly 20 diners, probably not a bad way to scrape together a bit of money while traveling.
Day 35:
| 2 nights at Tilcara Hostel | 700 |
| Bus to Jujuy | 195 |
| Bus to Tucuman | 1035 (17.31 USD) |
| luggage tip | 15 |
| Fruit salad at bus terminal | 65 |
| La Guardia Hostel (2 nights) | 661 ARS (11.07 USD) |
| Fugazzeta | 230 |
| Total: | 2901 ARS (341.69 RMB) (USD 48.59) |
I was planning to stop in San Salvador de Jujuy for a night before moving on to San Miguel de Tucuman, but when I reached the terminal 6km out of town, I decided it might be better to just hop on the bus that left in 20 minutes rather than drag myself into town for 24 hours and repeat the process. The hostel I booked in Tucuman actually has the proper tax rebate/discount for paying with a foreign credit card (it would have been 400 pesos a night otherwise). A fugazzeta is a type of pizza with grilled onions.
The missing credit card transactions have reemerged on my account along with a roughly 3% foreign currency conversion fee per transaction. That’s really nice of Wells Fargo to wait a month before retroactively adding those fees into my bill (about an extra 4.55 so far that hasn’t been included in my calculations). If I had known that was the case, I would have been more inclined to spend cash.
Running Total: 5919 RMB (USD 841.65)
Daily Average: 169.11 RMB (USD 24.05)