Libertador General San Martin

North of Salta, north of San Salvador de Jujuy, north of San Pedro, we came across the medium-sized city of Libertador Gral San Martin, which has a huge open market on Saturday & a national park next door, Parque Nacional Calilegua. This morning we hiked for 3 1/2 hours in the park, saw a number of new birds plus tracks of tapir, corzuela (a small deer), & bandurria boreal (buff-necked ibis).

On the way back to San Martin, we picked up two young women who were hitchhiking to the bus terminal. The gravel road & noontime heat made for a brutal walk we were glad to save them from.

We ate lunch at a restaurant called Las Yungas -- highly recommend. The parrillada (grill-man) arrived at our table with an empty glass, good thing because without him we were unlikely to have finished the liter of beer. He wrote this in my notebook:

Para Carol Mike

Mis grandes amigos norteamericanos de corazón

Raúl Delgado
1 Amigo Argentino
Ledesma (Jujuy)
Parillada
Las Yungas
31-10-2010

We had hugs & kisses before we left, & a promise that all Mike has to do for instruction in cooking on the parilla is to call Las Yungas & ask for su amigo Raúl.

One more thing: we ordered the following:

• agua con gas
• cerveza Norte, un litro
• 2 empanadas de pollo
• 1 tortilla de verduga (a fritatta made of egg, carrot, fresh greens, mashed green pea, onion, potato)
• 1 chorizo
• 1 morcilla (blood sausage)
• postre de cayote con nuez (chayote jam with walnuts)

They also brought picante sauce for the empanadas & fresh bread served with a small bowl of fava-style beans cooked with onion, tomato, & red chilis.

La cuenta: 55 pesos.