Salta - La Linda [Salta - The Beautiful]

I arrived in Salta late Thursday evening. My referente flew with me, and her husband picked us up in the airport. Her two young girls - 6 and 2 - were also in the airport waiting for us. Talk about high-energy. Probably the greatest moment was riding in the car, listening to the girls sing "Sexy Bitch" and "Love Game" and having not the slightest idea what they were saying!

The house that I'm currently living in is really nice. I believe there are six rooms total, and five of the other tenants are French. They are all around my age - one of them works for a non-profit, and a couple work in tourism offices or the Alianza Frances (French Alliance - I'm still trying to figure out what this is). Needless to say, the common language of the house is Spanish. Although it's kind of hard to be in Spanish mode all the time, I really like it because it forces me to think in Spanish. It's also pretty easy to understand each other because we are all learning and we all speak a bit slower than a native speaker does.

Salta is known as Salta la Linda or Salta the Beautiful. And so far, it has upheld its name and then some! I spent a whole day wandering around the city so I could get oriented and learn my way around. Luckily, there is a mountain that is along the eastern side of the city, so it's pretty hard to get lost. The weather here is incredible. You can go here to see the forecast. I'm sure I will be posting many pictures as time goes on, but here is a snapshot (HA!) of my first couple of days:

My street:

The main plaza:

I took the teleferico up San Bernardo hill:

A typical street:

General Guemes:

In true Argentine fashion, things are still very much up in the air as far as my teaching and projects go. I still go to the school everyday and help whoever grabs me first, but I'm hoping to settle into a more regular schedule. Once I have that settled, I will start looking for children's organizations that I can work with. Until then, I will be doing lots of traveling!