They keep strange hours here
I was trying to find stuff to do around town, and nothing was opened. The feriados was yesterday, but it happens that they´re still celebrating it here. I walked down one of the main roads to the plaza and found a celebration going on commemorating the death of General San Martín. It was small..but it is a small town. It seemed that the whole town was in the Plaza. A lady was giving a speach about the history of General San Martìn. There was a band playing as schoolkids marched across the plaza.
After the celebration, I walked to the ends of town. I walked back, and people were starting to open shops. It seems that in the smaller cities I´ve been in, people tend to close shop during siesta hours, and then open shop in the late afternoon to evening. It´s strange. Something I´m not used to.
There really isn´t much to do here. I think I could have just done it all in one day. Well, tomorrow I´m going to go to the zoo. I´ve got a bus ticket to Salta at 8pm, so have all day here. I´m kinda bored now.
I´ve decided that I´m going to try to make it to Tilcara tomorrow. I think it´s about 4 hours from Salta. There, I´ll get to test my body to altitude. Tilcara is at 2460 meters, which is a bit over 8000 ft. It`s not *that* high, but I know I tend to have problems around 9000-10,000 ft. If I have problems here, I´m screwed for Africa!
Oh yeah, and I think I´m headed back for cold weather. I´m debating whether or not to make it to a town close to the Bolivian border, which has been reported to get down to -25C. I don´t have the proper gear for really cold weather…so I may do some shopping in town :p
Tags: Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, Travel
Marisa
August 19th, 2005 at 11:56 am
If you go over to Kili thinking your’re in trouble you will be in trobule. You climb the mountain mainly with your mind. Be strong!! Take diamox starting the night before you head up the trail. Take a half a dose in the morning at breakfast and half in the evening at dinner. Drink lots and lots of water. Bring some Gatorade powder or some Gu powder. Differnent flavors to change it up because you will get so tired of drinking water drinks up there. If you are really serious about the summit don’t have a single alcholic drink until for 10 days before the climb not even that necessary I am Africa drink. Wait for after the summit.
August 19th, 2005 at 1:17 pm
Thanks for the tips, Tim! I´m now in Tilcara, above 8000 ft. I have very mild altitude sickness. Nothing like I encountered last year, though! Just had trouble hiking up a hill with all my gear when I first got here. Gonna take it easy today and not overdo it. No headaches, yay, so I think I´ll be fine here (and hopefully for Kili, too). Last year was killer (bad altitude sickness for 6 days at 10,000 ft to 12,500 ft).