Even with the short night we had to get going fairly quickly because we had another tour scheduled before we were to fly to Armenia in the coffee triangle. We got up and cleaned up and headed to breakfast and still managed to be a couple minutes late for our driver Marco Antonio because we had to complete packing. Marco Antonio drove us out in a similar direction as we took to get to the salt mine. In fact we were going to another salt mine,this one the Cathedral de Sal. This salt mine produces industrial salt rather than table salt and is still active. The main attraction in the mine is the cathedral which is the new cathedral of salt. The old one survived for 40 years but collapsed due to a number of reasons including poor mining technique and too close a proximity to the surface where rain caused damage to the salt (surprise) and melted it. As salt mines go this one was less interesting than Nemocon. Our guide was very good and spoke English very well. We went on an English language tour and had the two of us and a British couple who had a 5 month old boy. Before the tour started we met an Austrian man who was motorcycling all over south America. He appeared to be in his 60s or so. He was interesting but we didn't get to talk to him long because the tour started and he was not going on the one we took, having just finished. The mine has a 2 part tour. First you see the stations of the cross done in a more abstract method because the rock salt doesn't lend itself to detailed carving. Then you see the cathedral itself. I will admit it was reasonably impressive but I enjoyed the Nemocon mines better. In all the tour took about 2 hours. Then Daniela did a little bit of shopping for an emerald. After that tour we took a brief visit to the archeology museum not too far away from the cathedral, just down the hill. This was quick and consisted of a lot of native artifacts that had been discovered in the region. Most all of them were made of pottery.
From the museum we were taken to the restaurant Funzipa where we had a typical soup meal that Marco Antonio said was one of the best typical dishes of the region. We got a bowl of chicken and potato soup that was really very good and it was accompanied by a slice of grilled beef, salad, rice, potatoes and was followed by a dessert that consisted of milk curds in a brown sugar sauce. The soup was definitely the highlight of the meal and we enjoyed it very much. There was a tour that was sort of finishing up when we got there and they had some live entertainment happening, which was Andean native music that Daniela said is not typical to the regions were were in. They also played music that was Bolivian after the performers left. She thought that was very funny.
By the time we had finished eating it had started to rain. Marco Antonio took us towards the airport but Daniela wanted to see a typical local market before we got there. Fortunately the rain stopped and started a couple times but mostly it happened when we were in the car and was over by the time we stopped at the market (which was covered anyway). In the market we walked around and looked at all the stuff people were selling. Since it wasn't really a tourist area I didn't flash the camera around too much until we got to the booth that was making shakes. There wee all sorts of fruits, vegetables, meats, fish and well, practically anything you can think of in the market. It all looked very good. Every booth owner greeted us. It was probably very safe there and I could have taken more pictures but I figured discretion was probably better. In any event, we made it to a booth that had a bowl of live crabs out front. Daniela being properly curious started talking to the people that worked there and it turns out they put them into their shakes to add nutrients. This of course meant we had to try it. So she ordered one and we watched it being made. The crab went in live and probably drowned in the goop before it was pulsed up by the blender. It also consisted of local fruits, some brandy, some wine, some powders of eggs and ginseng at the very least. After it was blended, it was strained and we drank it. Daniela made me try mine first. I actually quite liked it. There were tiny fragments of shell in it but not anything you would really notice. The flavor was fruity, though I had not tasted a fruit like this exactly before. We finished up and then pretty much headed out the door as it was time to get to the airport to fly to Periera.
The airport was very small and I think the average American would recognize the serious differences in security concepts from the US. This meant that check-in and security were fairly quick. The plane was an Airbus A18 (which I have never been on one before). Daniela and I were on a 3 person row but no one took the last seat, which was nice. I think otherwise the flight was full. The flight was short and we slept through most of it. We had to wait a few minutes for our shuttle to the hotel in Armenia but we eventually found him and then had to ride about an hour and a half to the hotel. Since I had a headache the better part o fthe afternoon I again slept a good portion of the drive. We got to the hotel and had to immediately get dinner because they were closing the kitchen. It was just about 9pm. The hotel is called Mi Monaco. I wasn't feeling terribly hungry and didn't finish but we had chicken and fried plantains accompanied by rice and salad. They served us a Lulo juice which was better than the one we had tried previously as well. After dinner I got cleaned up and immediately headed to bed while Daniela worked on the computer for a bit.
The pictures from day 3 are found here.
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