Argentina A-OK

Hello. I am now in Argentina. Salta, to be exact. And the food is better (horah). In fact, I had a damn good steak for lunch today that was bigger than my head (that's a lot of steak). And a fish bowl of wine (375ml, or a little over 12 ounces - the smallest glass they had), and a Waldorf salad (blue cheese/walnut/apple - I realized I had been hankering that salad for two months or so once I started eating it). So that was good. Plus, they have Budweiser here! Thank God I'm back in a civilized country. And the traffic lights go to yellow when they're about to turn red, but also when they're about to turn green. Which seems kind of silly, because when the go from red to yellow, everyone just goes, so they may as well go straight to green, I think. Also, a lot of stuff has price tags on it here (which they don't do in Bolivia), but if it has a $ sign, it's priced in Argentinian pesos. If there is no sign, it's probably priced in American dollars. Well that makes sense, right?

When I got here, the taxi driver told me that Salta is a great place, that there are no "bad people" here. Which is probably not true, but it is a marked contrast to arriving in a new Bolivian town and having several people tell you to "be careful, it's dangerous here". More welcoming, you know? Almost as welcoming as all the mullets, which somehow are chic here. Which is totally fucking awesome.

Another thing I like is how everything happens later in the day; stuff like newstands, stuff you would expect to be open really early, don't open until 9 or 10am. Lunch is around 2, and dinner usually isn't until 10pm or so. When I got here from Bolivia, I had to set my watch ahead an hour, even though it's directly south - like the Argentinians organize their time around their nite-owl tendencies. And I've never been much of a morning person, so that suits me just fine.

So far my only complaint is the napkins, which seem to be made of tissue paper. I wasn't even sure if they were supposed to actually be napkins, or maybe something that you hold your food in so you don't need a napkin as much. But they're napkins. Pathetic ones. But those are only at the cheaper places or if you go for empanadas (kind of like pot stickers, only baked, and the bread is flaky, and they're filled with either burger meat or chicken or cheese). Of course, the cheaper places are where I usually go.

So it's strange being a tourist again. I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to be doing... should I really just tool around the continent for the next few months? That seems like a really strange, not particularly appealing idea to me somehow. I guess I need some cavities filled, so I can get that done in Buenos Aires maybe. And I'm going to Chile for one more interview (hopefully) with the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, and to party with Jason, who is on exchange in Valparaiso. So I guess that's a plan. In the interim, I'm going to a town called Cordoba, in the middle of Argentina, which is supposed to have lots of adventure sports. I thought I might do some rock climbing or something. I have a ticket on a bus company called "Plus Ultra Merco Bus," which seems like it's trying a little too hard to convince me that it's a good company. But supposedly the buses here are supposed to be amazing; like they serve wine or port before bedtime on the night buses, for example. And I like wine, so I think this will work out just fine.