Salta, Day One: The Living and The Dead

I spent my first day in Salta relaxing. I slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, and wandered slowly down to the main square of the city. Salta is very charming in so many ways. The mood of the place is relaxed and people seem to be taking their time. The central square is shady and grassy with an impressive statue of a hero on horseback (don’t know who?) and muses surrounding him anchoring it. Around the square are charming cafes with outdoor seating, lovely little candy and dress shops, upscale hotels, museums and the occasional newsstand. Just past the immediate center square is a busy shopping area with clothing and housewares stores, fabric shops, bakeries, and ice cream shops. When I arrived, the school lunch break had just started and the shopping area was crowded with teens in their various school uniforms – looking awkward, giggling, rough-housing, and just being hilarious, hormone-infested creatures. It was fun to watch and made me grateful that I never have to relive my teenage years again.

After a while, I found a good place to sit and have lunch and see the world here go by.

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Just a little something worth mentioning… even though people and websites say that the water in Northern Argentina is safe to drink from the tap, don’t believe them. I can personally attest to the fact that this is not so.

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Anyway, after lunch, I wandered over to the Museo de Arqueologia de Alta Mantana (MAAM), the archeological museum in Salta, which is quite famous. The reason why that is is becuase this museum owns a very significant find. An Inca find called the Children of Llullaillaco. This find was dug from the highest peak in Argentina, the Llullaillaco Volcano, coming in at 6739 meters. Artifacts on the summit compose the highest evidence of humans worldwide before the late nineteenth century. Here, archeologist dug in the snow and thin air to uncover artifacts from what they believe to be a sacrificial burial ground. Pottery, sacred items, dolls representing gods, and so on were part of this find. But the most important part of the find were the children. Three children were uncovered here and these mummies are believed to be the best preserved mummies in existence today. (Following portions borrowed from Wikipedia) “The Maiden” was found wearing a beautiful headdress, which meant she was probably a Sun Virgin, meaning she was chosen as a toddler to live with other girls and women who would become royal wives, priestesses, and sacrifices. She also wore a brown dress, and was buried with several statues. Her hair was braided elaborately She and the other children are believed to have been drugged with chicha, a maize beer, along with coca leaves, before being abandoned on the mountain. The maiden was 15 at the time of her death. She sits with her legs crossed and her head resting on her chest. She still has traces of cocoa leaves on her lips. “The Lightening Girl” was six years old. She also sat crossed legged, her hands resting on her lap and her head facing upwards and toward the southwest. She is called Lightening Girl because during her forever sleep in the mountain, she was hit by lightening and part ofher body as blackened from the electrical burn. The little boy was nearly seven years old. His knees were tucked under his chin and he has a ceremonial slingshot wrapped around his head. Some of the boy's clothes contained vomit mixed with blood, suggesting that he may have suffered from a pulmonary edema. It is believed that he died from suffocation. He was the only one of the mummies to be tied up, and a piece of cloth had been pulled around him tightly enough to crack his ribs and dislocate his pelvis.

All children are thought to be members of the elite due to their body manipulations, clothing and decoration. Because of the various conditions – height, cold and so on – these figures are all perfectly preserved. Only Lightening Girl was on display and I could see her up very close. Her hair was still styled. Her teeth were white and even. Her little child mouth was slightly open as if she was sleeping peacefully. Her eyebrows had a soft expression. She looked like she could come alive at any moment, simply waking up from a long doze. As I stared, I started to get an eerie uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. She looked so whole, so perfect, that I really could imagine that she would simply open her eyes and look right at me, like in some kind of movie where the dead children, unjustly killed, came to life to haunt and take revenge on those who exploited them.

(((shivvver)))

I finished my tour of the museum and rejoined the living outside in the warm sun.

The rest of my afternoon, I wandered about, taking a look at the large catedral (cathedral) painted pink with white trim, (!) as well as the Iglesia de San Francisco (St. Francis Church) painted magenta and yellow. They don’t have issues with color here.