Northern Argentina and Chile

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After our brief stop in San Pedro in Northern Chile we crossed the border again into Northern Argentina. First stop Salta.

Salta is a medium sized town, set on a plain beneath green forested hills. Green was a novelty after arriving from the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia, and the desert of Northern Chile. There not much to do in Salta itself, apart from sit in street cafes in the sunshine and eat steak and drink red wine. Tough eh? I had the best steak ever (by a long way) and it cost less that a McDonalds Happy Meal in the UK!

We did go rafting while we were in Salta. About an hours drive south of the city there is a reservoir for hydro electricity. For a few hours every day, they release thousands of gallons of water through turbines and into a river, which transforms from a picturesque babbling brook into an almighty torrent, thundering through a spectacular gorge......well everyday except the day that we picked! That day they released about 4 1/2 fluid ounces!!!

It was actually a really nice way to spend an afternoon. Pootling down river looking at the wildlife, but not extremely adrenaline pumping! But it was also a good opportunity to rub in England´s victory over Argentina at football a couple of nights earlier.

From Salta we headed south to Mendoza (wine country). Very good and very cheap local wines, oh it just gets better and better!. Mendoza sits to the east of the Andes close to the border with Chile. We were in Mendoza for a couple of days doing much the same as Salta before we headed west across the border to Valparaiso, a chilean seaside town an hour or so north of Santiago.

Valpo´is kind of shabby-chic in a rather cosmopolitan, jazzy, arty, kind of way. It sits on steep hills leading back from the shore and is serviced by half a dozen or so fenicular railways that take you up and back into some fantasitic barrios (neighbourhoods) of narrow streets, attractive houses and spectacular views out across the bay. A pleasant place to wonder about.

It was during these pleasant wonderings in Valpo´, possibly as a reflection on my standard of personal hygiene after 2 months travelling, I began attracting stray dogs. One followed me for the best part of an afternoon, across most of Valpo´, waiting outside shops for me, them we were off again together walking side by side. I eventually gave him the slip when he stopped to do some window shopping, but then he found us again a couple of days later when we were sat outside a bar in a different part of town. He curled up next to me on the pavement, but we both knew that the trust between us was lost, and that there was no point lying to ourselves, it was over. I had shorter less satisfactory relationships with 2 or 3 stray dogs over the following few days (it was starting to become a social encumberance!) but it wasn´t the same.

Valpo was a good place to chill out in civilisation after a couple of months further north in less developed countries. We had a fantastic hotel room at a good price, and managed to get in a relaxing day on the beach at the nearby town of Vina Del Mar. A bit too relaxing actually - we both got sunburnt. But we were heading south into Patagonia next and a bit of sun burn central heating was to prove quite a bonus down there!



PS. For those of you who have read the recent entries of this blog, you may be disappointed that I have not even mentioned altitude in this one. This is partly because I don´t know them, but mainly due to the rather disappointing negative feedback we have received in this regard. Frankly, if you´ve got nothing positive to say.......!

Also, I got my hair cut in Valpo. After a brief but interesting discussion about the Falklands conflict, he shaved my ears!!!

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Photos

San Francisco Church
Salta, Northern Argentina