Back to luxury

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- FOOD: Steak (yeah) with blood (yeah again) and nice wine (mmmm). Thank you Argentina.

- AREA: 2 horrible border towns but then ahhh, what sophistication - smooth roads with ROAD MARKINGS!, proper pavements, shop with a big choice of goods. Lots of illuminated signs which did my head in. Luxury hotel with lots of goodies.

- PEOPLE: Are fashionable! Police manically blowing whistles in an attempt to control the traffic.

- WEATHER: Hot sun - how nice.


Tues 31st May: A 3am alarm wake up was not so nice to get the bus to Villazón, a horrible border town. We had to walk through the town to get to the border which wasn´t the nicest experience but made more amusing by Joke losing her patience with the 100th kid who was hassling us about where we going. She answered "la luna" which baffled the hell out of him!

I would hate this town to be my first entry point into Bolivia as I would have turned straight round! Crossing the bridge into Argentina led us into a totally different town where the difference was very noticable - a lot smarter.

Welcome back to Argentina - land of proper, SMOOTH roads and comfort. The scenery to Jujuy was gorgeous and I appreciated it even more from the luxury of an Argentinian bus.
In Jujuy (pronounced Hoo-hoy with a bit of a flem thing in the back of the throat - if you pronounce if Joo-joy, the locals find it hysterical as I learnt in Buenos Aires, as that means penis or something similar) I said more sad goodbyes to the others to go it alone again.

I immediately noticed the European feel of Jujuy - were all Argentinian cities like this? SO different to Bolivia... proper pavements, roads, big shops and people wearing fashionable clothes!

I think being back in Argentina made me go back to my style of being here before with Tracy and I booked myself into a posh hotel that was SO expensive (16 pounds - sorry backpackers but it had to be done) but oh my god, the LUXURY!
After spending about an hour being amazed by all the tiny little drawers and cupboards, the sofa, cable TV with more choice than fuzzy local channels, thing across the loo saying it had been disenfected, soap, shampoo and towels, I checked out the town.

Nice plaza, ok park, everything shut until 3pm in usual siesta style which I STILL haven´t got the hang of (some of us don´t have to work you know).
Found about the only restaurant in Jujuy which was huge with me being the only person in it (remember that first night in BA Tracy?). The joy of having steak with blood and nice wine again AND bread before dinner!!

It was weird to be around so much traffic again and I think Jujuy could benefit with the introduction of traffic lights as I´m sure the police who sit on top of steps directing the traffic have quite a few accidents.

Whereby the place had been a ghost town in siesta, it was buzzing at night and I was pleased that I didn´t bump into any other tourists.
Had to do my usual check of the cathedral and church (it´s becoming an obsession) and then after the illuminated signs everywhere had blinded me and brain washed advertisements into me (however am I going to cope with London again?), I retired early for a night of channel changing.

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