Equipo internacional is now reduced to three. Dakin, Dominic, and me. We would have been hot on Jess and Nick´s trail, but we ended up finding a way to get to Chile without waiting too long.

North of Salta is the province of Jujuy. Humahuaca is one of the northern pueblos in the Jujuy region. We arrived there after dark and took a taxi to a hostel. The altitude there is about 3000 meters (about 9000 feet) above sea level so the temperature at night is a little colder. We put on some warm clothes and set out to see the town at night. Chicken with cold french fries and warm beer made me feel like I was right back in college and had, once again, failed to pay our electricity bill on time. The little girl whos father owned the restaurant provided some entertainment with her persistent requests to have her picture taken. She kept saying ¨Saca un photo! Saca un photo!¨ Apparently she was under the impression that every Gringo that ate at her fathers restaurant carried a digital camera. In this case, she assumed correctly. She spent the next fifteen minutes snapping photos of us, whether we were looking or not, and giggling each time at the captured image on the display.

After dinner we walked around until we heard some comotion in the street and followed the noise. We knew the election was going on, but we never expected what came next. As we approached the crowd and had a good look at the man speaking we realized that he was one of the men we had seen on the campaign signs. He was running for the Jujuy province. He was speaking into a microphone, on a back alley street corner, at one o´clock in the morning with a band behind him.

¨Somos Argentina….We are Argentina! We are Patriots. I will give you protection with the police. I will protect you from AIDS.¨

When he finished speaking, he had a moment of silence, followed by a chant, and then the band kicked into gear when which his family joined him and they locked arms and did some sort of jig while everyone clapped in time to the music.

¨

The next day, we walked around town. Humahuaca is filled with cobblestone roads and adobe houses. We kicked the soccer ball, which we had acquired in Mendoza, around town, every now and then involving some locals in few back and forth passes. At 5 we took a bus south to Purmamarca.