Home Stay in Salta: Harris Elledge

The stay in Buenos Aires was my first introduction to Argentinean culture and lifestyle, and although I felt a little out of my element at first, I relished the opportunity to discover and learn about a culture different from my own.The next part of the trip was the home stay. We flew from Buenos Aires to Salta, the capital city of the province of Salta in the northwest of Argentina. While it had been cool in Buenos Aires, I immediately noticed how cold it was in Salta at night, requiring me to wear 2 sweaters and a jacket to sleep. My host family consisted of my father Luis, my mother Natalia, my sister Sol, and my brother Damian. I met them at the Salta airport and felt at ease after I had spent some time with them. I lived with them for the next two weeks while my group and I learned about Salta and explored other aspects of Argentine culture.

This is a photo of my home stay family on the last day before the final part of the trip. From left to right is my host sister Sol, my host brother Damian, and my host mother Natalia.

As a group we went trekking and zip lining in the hills, refinished a school for disabled children, and explored the streets of Salta. One of the nights I remember the most was when as a group we went to see the final Harry Potter movie, (mediocre at best), and we had a lot of fun. I was a little homesick during my stay, but now I realize that I have a second home and second family in Salta.

The last part of the trip after the home stay was the community service in Chicoana and the horseback riding. We arrived in Chicoana and I immediately liked the small, close knit feel of the city square where we spent a lot of time because our hostel was very close. We played soccer with the locals (and got killed), and experienced the festivities of the religious festival that was happening for the first two of our five days there. 

 

This is a line of gauchos waiting to start the procession in Chicoana during the religious festival.