We left Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena at about 1:30 pm and were traveling through Chaco to Santiago del Estero in an area called The Impenatrable. The road was bad in some places and being repaved (with a detour) in another. We were on our way to Salta for our second visit there.
We had no roadblocks but were stopped at the "Police Control" twice. The first one wanted to chat. The second one wanted to extort money from us. The police man asked to see our emergency equipment. We complained that we would have to remove our luggage to get to the spare tire where all of the emergency equipment is stored. He was insistent. We got the stuff out and he said in Spanish (more or less): "aha, your fire extinguisher is out of date. Come inside to my office." There he said that there would be a AP$800 fine. Dimitri said "let's go to the capital and I'll pay the fine there." Of course, that is not what he wanted. Finally, a fine of AP$50 was agreed on and we were allowed to go. Tolls (beside the extortion) were AP$3.90
We arrived at 20:30 from Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena and went straight for the Alejandro I Hotel. It is wonderful (and not just because we are comparing it with the hotel where we stayed the previous night in Presidencia Roque Saenz Pena)! The address of the hotel is Balcarce 252 (CP A4400EJF), Salta, fono: (54-387)400-000, e-mail: reservas@alejandro1hotel.com.ar and the website is www.alejandro1hotel.com.ar We decided to reward ourselves with the junior suite (room 1101) at AP$435/US$140. We have a great view of the Andes!
We'll write more about our second stay in Salta later. In the meantime, click here to read about our first stay in Salta in January, 2007 (the summer).
On Sunday we went for a hike in La Quebrada de San Lorenzo and decided to have a Sunday afternoon late lunch. We happened onto a restaurant 2 days after it opened and it was a wonderful experience. It is: Juan C. Davalos 1580, Camino a la Quebrada, San Lorenzo, Salta, fono: (54-387) 492-2221. The building is lovely, an old home on a large lot with lots of running space for children. The dining rooms are divided into smoking and non-smoking rooms and they are elegant but simple. The service was good and the food excellent. There was no cubierto. We spent a total of AP$103 plus tip.
With the bread and a creamy egg dip came a blue liquor (which was unnecessary). We had a Filia Malbec '05 Mendoza (AP$45) and shared 2 dishes. One was a Pazorris de espinacas salsa suave de puerros y tomatoes (AP$15) and the other was Solomillo de cerdo con porotos, antenos y tomates confidos (AP$29). The pork was a very tender tenderloin in a sauce that had a hint of mustard. The round pastas were perfectly cooked and had a great taste of spinach. The sauce was delicious. For dessert we ordered a Sabayon con higos ahumados (AP$12). Unfortunately this wasn't sabayon; it was an ice cream cake-thing. We had 2 coffees that came with mignardise. Truly enjoyableand a great find.
If you would like more information on Salta before we post more information, write us an e-mail, we'll be glad to try to answer your questions. E-mail address: aleanddm@gmail.com
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