29 years-Salta Temple-Halfway Point

 

Salta Temple

We had a fun week!  We were able to travel to the temple in Salta.  It is a very new temple having opened in September.  We celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary on January 13th and decided it would be a good time to take a trip and celebrate.  There is no better place to celebrate our marriage than in the temple where we are reminded of our marriage in the temple 29 years ago.  

The trip to Salta is a little more than 8 hours by car from where we are in Ibarreta.  But the drive is beautiful. We drove for about 4 hours through Formosa province until we crossed the border into Salta province.  By the way, almost all of the provinces in Argentina have a capital city with the same name.  To distinguish between the two they typically say “Salta capital” or “Formosa capital”.  The temple is in Salta capital, the city.  


Sugarcane in Jujuy

To get to the temple we drove through another province, Jujuy.  This place is beautiful.  Green hills and lots of scenery along the way.  In Jujuy they grow sugarcane and along the highway we can see sugarcane fields for miles.  It sort of looks like Hawaii with all the lush green and low hills. 



When we arrived in Salta (the city) we saw beautiful mountains and hills. It kind of reminds us of Utah or California where we can see mountains.  Here in Ibarreta there are no hills or mountains.  It’s flat as can be in all directions. 

While in Salta we attended the temple on Wednesday morning and Thursday evening.  In between we were able to visit some sights around the city.  Martha found a free walking tour where we learned some history of the city and saw some cool places.  We also took time to have a good meal and enjoy a walk up the hill San Bernardino, and take the cable car down.  

View of the temple from the patron housing

A yummy steak dinner



Tamales are a thing in Salta, but not at all spicy!

We happened upon this changing of the guards in the town square. 

The streets of Salta

The hills around Salta.  The building in the foreground is a convent.

Every city has a sign with its name.

Walkway up to Cerro San Bernardino. 1,071 steps.  In 95 degree weather is feels like 10,000 steps.

Made it to the top

The view was worth the hike.  

The city Salta is beautiful.

We took the gondola cable car ride down.  Should have used it to go up!


The temple is beautiful at night

The view outside the temple housing apartment where we stayed 

Real grass!  This is the first piece of grass we have since in the 6 months we have been in Argentina.


We met the grandson of the Ibarra’s, the other senior couple we are serving with in Ibarreta.


Overall we had a good week and where able to recharge and spend time enjoying the temple.  We are so blessed to be able to get to the temple easily, even though it’s an 800km drive.  We love the temple and being able to serve and worship there.  It was a nice trip but we missed being with our friends in Ibarreta.  We are making plans to help get them to the temple.  We have plans to take some with us the next time.

We can’t believe it’s been 6 months already!  We are halfway through our one year of service. So much has happened and we continue to learn each day and find joy in our service.  Six months left to get so much done.  We love those we serve and want them to feel of the fullness of the gospel and of all the church has to offer them.  The next few weeks we have some training planned to help them in their leadership responsibilities.  All in all it’s been a great 6 months and we look forward to 6 more!


Argentina Salta temple (Jan 13, 2025)

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