Salta

---

In my original plans for this trip I hadn't intended to spend much time in Argentina, but everyone I met who had been there told me I really had to go. So I changed my plans round a bit and decided to go to the cities of Salta and Buenos Aires before going to Iguazú for the huge waterfalls and then crossing over to Brazil. The only real way to get from Potosí to Salta was by bus, and it was a long journey involving a bus to Villazón on the border, walking over the border and catching a second bus to Salta. Altogether this took about 25 hours! It shouldn't have taken so long but the incomeptant travel agency who sold me my second bus ticket caused me to miss the connecting bus and I had to wait around for the next one for nearly 3 hours. While crossing the border I had to deal with an Argentinian border official who was unbelievably rude to me when he saw my British passport - anyone would think the Falklands war was still in full swing! Eventually I caught the next bus to Salta but after a few minutes we were stopped by an Argentine patrol who made us all leave the bus, line up and get our bags searched one by one, adding to the delays.

Despite my initial experience of Argentina I soon found I really liked the place and the only people I met after the incident with the border official were polite and very friendly. Every country I've been to so far in South America has been different to the others, but Argentina is vastly different, and actually feels European. It's almost a shock coming from the poverty of Bolivia to the relative affluence of Argentina. I'd almost forgotten what a car showroom or a shopping centre looked like! And the buses are so much more clean and comfortable!

In Salta I stayed in a hostel where I hung out with a few very friendly people from the UK, Canada, Holland and Argentina. I didn't do a lot in Salta as I just felt like resting for a few days after having moved from place to place so much over the last couple of weeks and rushed around to fit in so many things. So I wandered around the city, looked at the bizarre pink and cream cathedral (whose clock has an electronic chime that sounds like bad on-hold music) and sat around in cafes, and when I got bored of that I went up the Cerro San Bernardino mountain in a cablecar to see the view of the city from the top (which was panoramic but not exactly beautiful). One night the hostel organised a traditional Argentinian asado, or barbeque (they eat a lot of meat here and most of it is very high quality), followed by a live band performing traditional ´Folklorica´music, which was a very entertaining evening. Salta was a good place to relax for a few days but I needed to move on - next stop Buenos Aires.

---