Salta, Argentina - 11-20 April

Salta was a really pleasant surprise after Mendoza. To start with, on the way there fable became truth which then became legend for us, when we actually got a FLAT BED seat on our overnight bus from Mendoza. Yes, it´s true, gasp shock horror..

For those of you who haven´t heard us whinging about it, we have been trying to find and book one of these bloody beds for the last 6 weeks but every time it is not the real deal.. they don´t go back, and the service is Class D not VIP, much to our (mostly James) grave disappointment. However, we held our breaths, held up the handle at the side of the seat and leaned backwards.. and back the baby went.. alllllll the way. Ohhhh yeh.... ;-) They even cracked out the champagne. Now THATS the treatment we have been looking for.

Salta. Great city. It is big but feels small. There are quaint streets and old colonial buildings. The people were the friendliest and nicest I have come across on our whole trip. Now that is saying something. Everyone was nice and helpful. We felt really safe there.

* We stayed at a great little family run hostel called Las Rejas Hostel. Highly recommend it.
* We bought cheap (very) warm clothes from a market called ´The Free Shop´(it wasn´t, but might as well have been) as it was getting cold, and will be getting colder up north in Bolivia.
* We went on two day trips - to Cafayate and Cachi - both were awesome with some of the most amazing scenery we have seen
* On one of the trips we went to a natural amphitheatre in the rocks and there was a little dude playing pan pipes in there... sounded so surreal.... (we bought his DVD so feel free to come over and listen to it at ours when we get to Oz)
* We climbed a hill overlooking the town which was GREAT, and caught the cable car down for free (wasn´t supposed to be)
* We went white water rafting for the day and had great fun with some Frenchie Frogs
* We went zip lining (me for the first time) - there were 4 of them over a massive valley and they COULD BE the highest zip lines in the world.....
* Had a very funny night, just the two of us, drinking red wine on James top bunk, singing and dancing around to James iPod
* One day I got my ears blasted off by a local 8 piece pan pipe ensemble who decided to park right behind my head for their next ´lets get some money from these Gringos´set while I was trying to eat my dodgy little local food lunch (not happy)
* We went horse riding out in the foothills of the same massive mountains. The horses didn´t break a sweat to our disappointment but we had an authentic GAUCHO (Argentinian cowboy) as our guide which made up for it.
* We ate lots of Argentina´s best beef... home cooked (so cheap) and eaten out (also so cheap).

We stayed in Salta for a week or so mainly because we were hanging around waiting for James iPod to arrive in the post (he left it at our hostel in Buenos Aires about a month before) and also James bank card to arrive in the post (also sent on by the hostel in BA, the replacement for the stolen details way back in Carnavale, first week of Feb in Brazil..). Thankfully they both arrived (my goodnes, thank you at last) safe and sound and we could move on.

But we totally LOVED Salta and had a blast doing adventurous activities and seeing the surrounding countryside. Could have spent longer out there in the wilds......

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