Not that the 45 minutes I spent looking for some ultrachic French Argentinean restaurant mentioned in my guidebook was a total waste. A tour of Salta’s Plaza 9 de Julio and side streets with their galleries, museums and restaurants was on my tourist to-do list anyway.
But it was late, and I was tired and famished, having spent the mate hour awestruck in the High Mountain Archaeology Museum where the frozen bodies of three children in a nearly perfect state of preservation were on display. The children had been offered as a sacrifice to the Inca deities some 500 years ago and discovered in 1999 at the peak of Mount Llullaillaco, 6,700 m. above sea level. It was one of the most important archeological discoveries of modern times.
But that is another story.
Now it was nearly 10:00 p.m., the usual dinner hour in Argentina, when I finally wandered back to the Hotel La Candela, my friendly, charming inn, and asked where I might find a decent restaurant that was not too far.
“Fifty meters,” the girl at the front desk replied.
Sure enough. In a small brick building next door was Paladar Negro, a small family-run Italian restaurant with a wonderful selection of homemade pastas, fine cold cuts and local wines.
Augustin, the waiter, immediately made me feel at home. Glad to practice his English, he was happy to ask about my travels and talk about his dreams of coming to New York to study engineering and experience life in the Big Apple. As I watched him make me a plate of the finest prosciutto, ham, salami, and cheeses, I sipped a glass of Torrontes, the country’s famed white wine and told him about my home town - the museums, sports, shows and people. In return he offered some guide books for me to peruse while I ate. Later in the evening, his 5-year old nephew Joachim came over to chat – impressing me with his knowledge of English by counting to 15! and then drew me a picture of a truck as a parting gift.
It turned out to be a lovely dinner, after all. And I sincerely hope Augustin will call if he ever gets to New York.
Sometimes it’s better to leave the guide book at home.
Kevin got right on our request and had us booked within the week
Linda Cummings
1 day ago
The info on the website was laid out very well. I did some comparisons with other tours and found Adventure Life met a lot of what I wanted in an Antarctica trip at the cheapest price. Requested a quote on Claudia contacted me right away. She answered a lot of questions the I had via email even though she offered to discuss via phone call. I’m more of an email person so appreciated how she accommodated that and answered all my questions. And when I was ready to book, she quickly got the ball rolling with getting our spots reserved on the trip my friend and I wanted. Thanks again, Claudia!
Hazel Araza
1 day ago
(1) great information on the website and throughout all the "materials." (2) Jane Packer is great: knowledgeable, responsive, takes a personal interest and tone, seems to care about the customer as a person not a sale.
Larry Bethune
1 day ago
great people doing a wonderful job to make our voyages happen.
trudy
2 days ago
For our first trip to Costa Rica, Adventure Life designed a tour that meets the interests, ecological and adventure, of our party; but also takes into account our physical limitations sine we are all septuagenarian. We are looking forward to the trip.