Saltas Main Square.  All squares in South Americas share these things in common, they are called ¨Plaza de Armas¨, have a police station, Government buildings, and a Church.

Once again we are back in Salta, Argentina.  Liz and I decided to go out and explore Argentina and we have both decided that this is by far the most beautiful country we have been to so far.  We have just seen a small chunk of Argentina but are told by the locals that it just gets more beautiful.  We drove up to Cachi, small dirt road for a few hundred kilometres, just switch back after switch back.  We were driving through rivers and streams, taking it slow because often the road would be washed out and if you were not paying attention you would fall down a cliff.  I have really realized how much better Liz and I have gotten at biking.  I remember when we were in the States we pulled over one day because we were sure that we would get blown over.  Now we ride through small tornados and don’t hink wice.  On our way to Cachi the scenery would take your breath away around every corner.  You would see a landscape so beautiful that you were sure it could not get better, but one more mountain pass and it would do it all over again.  Fields with 20 foot high Cactus’, mountains with more colours in them then you can imagine it’s just truly breath taking.  I wish I had the words or pictures to describe it but nothing seems to do it justice.   Without standing in the middle of it being a part of the landscape with the wind, and the smells, and the crisp clean air the sounds of the animals and the birds you can’t really understand.  I am sure that you have all had moments like that when you are just at peace with the world and wish you could just share it with the world. I have really realised how beautiful of a world God created for us and I still have just seen a small part of it.  From Cachi we headed up to Tucuman, another one of Argentina’s great cities.  We found a really cheap hotel ($6) a night with air conditioning, Cable television, hot water (that hard to find down here). It was too good to be true, and it turned out that it was.  Liz and I had gone out for supper and when we came back the door had been kicked in and our stuff was gone.  They even took the television from the room (which the hotel is trying to make us pay them $300 dollars for.)  This is becoming a regular event.  So we called the police… Argentina is known for there corrupt police so when they arrived it wasn’t much of a surprise when all they did was tell us to go to the police station and make a report.  They didn’t even bother to go into the hotel room.  Off to the police station we went, we met a nice Argentinean guy who helped us with some of the translation.  I had a chance to talk to him for a while and learned a bit more about Argentina.  The average wage for a basic job is 2 pesos an hour about $0.66 cents Canadian.  If you are a teacher in an elementary school or a high school you earn about $400 pesos a month so about a $125 dollars.  University is cheap but the cost of living in Argentina is too high for most people.  A simple thing like buying a coffee in a nice café is about half a days wages.   Well, Liz´s bike is still not on the road so we are going to head down to Buenos Aires, (southren Argentina) its supposed to be beautiful and amazing.  One of these days we really will start heading North and will suprize all of you. 

-Caleb

Sheep.  One of our many obsticals on the road.

Hi Caleb - you guys have the darndest luck - robbed again!!! I know you will be glad to get Liz's bike up and running again and on the way back home. The pictures you take are great - you had your camera with you when you went to dinner I'm sure. Take very good care.