Salta, Argentina´s last stand

It was SuperCama all the way for the 18hr journey from Mendoza to Salta, only our 2nd time to have the pleasure so the novelty value was still high. When we leave South America we sure will miss the weird and wonderful bus journeys. This one was memorable for good reasons, our first time ever playing bingo on public transport and one of the nicest dinners we´ve had in our 6weeks so far. The bingo was comical, we´d more fun lughing at how into it some of the locals were getting than anything. It also helped us practise our Spanish numbers! On the meal front, it would be hard to describe how sick of ham and cheese rolls we are, literally every bus you get onto that is the lunch or dinner, along with very weak Robinson´s style orange juice. Imagine our joy when a roast beef dinner was landed in front of us. In a plastic container admittedly but roast beef, mash and carrots with a serious amount of gravy, we were in heaven...six weeks without a Sunday roast is a long time!

On arrival in Salta, it was very clear that it was very different to anywhere we´d been in Argentina. Not in any way touristy like Bariloche/Calafate etc and not exactly glamorous looking in the way BA/Mendoza were. The people were a lot more native looking and the place was a bit run down and hectic looking...and these were the reasons we actually loved the place. A real hustle and bustle, busy, working class city with a lot more character than a lot of the other admittedly lovely spots we´d been to. This was a proper South American city (as Johnny Giles might say), in the same sense as Rio was. The city centre was bedlam to try and walk around at night with the sheer amount of people and market stalls everywhere but it was very enjoyable and the people were friendly and we had no hassle whatsoever.

After a relatively quiet (daytime wise) time in Mendoza we decided to be a bit more active here and do a bit more touristy/sightseeing stuff. So we took a tour to Cafayate our first full day with the hostel which took in some incredible Mars-like scenery on the drive. After weeks of snow capped mountians and lakes, it was great to see something so different. It was so mountaineous and barren from the extremely warm weather (we were passing out and this was only their spring too) that it was surreal at times. Anyway, it was a very enjoyable day. The town itself was small with not a lot happening and we were brought briefly to 2 "altitude wineries" which weren´t a patch on the ones in Mendoza. We even got to meet (and get spat at by) a Lllama.

The other tour we took in Salta was "El Tren a las Nubes" (Train to the clouds) which is the main attraction of Salta for tourists. It required a 6am start for the 16hr trip which was to be our first train ride in Sth America. Of course, we managed to forget our camera for the trip, both presuming the other had it. The scenery again was breathtaking, we were sitting across from a lovely couple from England and Scotland who very kindly offered to email their photos so we may get some yet. We stopped at two cool tiny markets way up in the mountains where we got gorgeous empanadas and cakes from the local indigineous people for around 25c. Along with the steaks, the empanadas have been our favourite food (such tasty little pies filled with mince similar to chilli con carne and so cheap everywhere!). The height of the day (literally) was the last stop at the breathtaking viaduct at 4200m above sea level, just unbelievable really. Anyway, as great as the scenery was, the journey back was a bit of a drag to say the least, eventually trundled into Salta at 11pm so it had been a long day. On a positive note, the altitude didnt seem to affect us at all so fingers crossed we wont be too bad in La Paz/Cusco etc too.

No rest for the wicked also as we had bought tickets for the 5.30am bus out of Saltathe following morning to head for the Bolivian border where we planned to catch the train north there (to avoid the very high risks associated with travelling on Bolivia´s dirt roads in chicken buses).