well folks, back by popular demand is Ryan´s blog! all of his interesting thought and actions presented in such literary ways that even hemingway himself follows it from beyond the grave with a tinge of jealousy....yessir...that´s the truth.
so i´ve been out of contact for a while, and i apologize. deeply..for the past week or so, i´ve been doing some camping and staying in towns where there is not electricity, let alone a computer with such things as access to blogs on the information superhighway. so bear with me. i´m doing my best, and trying to maintain the ranking of my blog as first on my list of things to do while traveling.
so here goes. after being in buenos aires for a bit, i started heading to the northwest, where there was meant to be quite a bit of music being played. after being here, it reminds me a lot of the southern appalachians, where the music is meant to be danced to, and where impromptu sessions and dancing can spring up just about anywhere. anyway, i knew that my friend dani was up in the northwest and i had his cell phone number, but could not figure out how to use the phones to call him. i ended up in the town of salta, which they call salta la linda, meaning salta the beautiful. it definitely lives up to its name as well. in a very green, lush valley, it has been a center of commerce and activity for, jeez, who knows how long. the indigenous folks used it and it was overrun by the spanish in the late 1500s or so..it´s a beautiful little town with cobblestone streets, maybe the size of bellingham for you westerners and maybe a big blacksburg...or so. it´s not that big. there arent´really any tall buildings. there are some really beautiful old buildings, though. the churches and the main ssquare are just gorgeous. all the towns down here are built around at least one main plaza, with a church and a big open space with a statue of somebody important in the middle. it´s a really nice way to organize things, however, for it provides a center for everyone to congregate.
anyway, to begin another paragraph, and try to organize my thoughts in an orderly manner, i spent a week in a hostel right by the main plaza. it was replete with an even number of kids from buenos aires on holidays and foreigners, mostly from europe. i always seem to end up with the irish folks, and spent a good time there busking on the streets and wandering around aimlessly just loving being in latin america. i especially love how there doesn´t seem to be a single stop sign in the whole country, nor a railing on any stairway or balcony...life does go on, however without osha approved codes, and there doesn´t seem to be an inordinate amount of people dying in the streets. it was funny though, as the hostel had both free internet and tv, that i ended up watching more tv and spending more time on the internet than i probably did in the past couple months at home. it was a great way to get settled in this beautiful country though, and i met a lot of great folks from ireland and england who i will hopefully visit in the near future.
there is a ton of music here, however, and there were some musicians that worked at the other hostel that was associated with the one that i was staying in and i got to sit in and learn some of their music and play along with it. they were pretty talented musicians, playing a bunch of instruments. they also loved the old time fiddling and the country songs. it´s great, they immediately get up and start slapping their knees with the fiddling. they love it though, and comment on how happy it is. i even got a deliverance comment on the music...it seems that movie transcends international borders....not sure what to think about that.....it was funny too, because these guys love to hear jimmie rodgers songs, especially with the yodeling, which is slowly getting better.
it was a great stay, and i will be returning to salta for carnaval, but i finally got in touch with my friend and decided to meet him up north.
so i´ve been out of contact for a while, and i apologize. deeply..for the past week or so, i´ve been doing some camping and staying in towns where there is not electricity, let alone a computer with such things as access to blogs on the information superhighway. so bear with me. i´m doing my best, and trying to maintain the ranking of my blog as first on my list of things to do while traveling.
so here goes. after being in buenos aires for a bit, i started heading to the northwest, where there was meant to be quite a bit of music being played. after being here, it reminds me a lot of the southern appalachians, where the music is meant to be danced to, and where impromptu sessions and dancing can spring up just about anywhere. anyway, i knew that my friend dani was up in the northwest and i had his cell phone number, but could not figure out how to use the phones to call him. i ended up in the town of salta, which they call salta la linda, meaning salta the beautiful. it definitely lives up to its name as well. in a very green, lush valley, it has been a center of commerce and activity for, jeez, who knows how long. the indigenous folks used it and it was overrun by the spanish in the late 1500s or so..it´s a beautiful little town with cobblestone streets, maybe the size of bellingham for you westerners and maybe a big blacksburg...or so. it´s not that big. there arent´really any tall buildings. there are some really beautiful old buildings, though. the churches and the main ssquare are just gorgeous. all the towns down here are built around at least one main plaza, with a church and a big open space with a statue of somebody important in the middle. it´s a really nice way to organize things, however, for it provides a center for everyone to congregate.
anyway, to begin another paragraph, and try to organize my thoughts in an orderly manner, i spent a week in a hostel right by the main plaza. it was replete with an even number of kids from buenos aires on holidays and foreigners, mostly from europe. i always seem to end up with the irish folks, and spent a good time there busking on the streets and wandering around aimlessly just loving being in latin america. i especially love how there doesn´t seem to be a single stop sign in the whole country, nor a railing on any stairway or balcony...life does go on, however without osha approved codes, and there doesn´t seem to be an inordinate amount of people dying in the streets. it was funny though, as the hostel had both free internet and tv, that i ended up watching more tv and spending more time on the internet than i probably did in the past couple months at home. it was a great way to get settled in this beautiful country though, and i met a lot of great folks from ireland and england who i will hopefully visit in the near future.
there is a ton of music here, however, and there were some musicians that worked at the other hostel that was associated with the one that i was staying in and i got to sit in and learn some of their music and play along with it. they were pretty talented musicians, playing a bunch of instruments. they also loved the old time fiddling and the country songs. it´s great, they immediately get up and start slapping their knees with the fiddling. they love it though, and comment on how happy it is. i even got a deliverance comment on the music...it seems that movie transcends international borders....not sure what to think about that.....it was funny too, because these guys love to hear jimmie rodgers songs, especially with the yodeling, which is slowly getting better.
it was a great stay, and i will be returning to salta for carnaval, but i finally got in touch with my friend and decided to meet him up north.
No comments:
Post a Comment