Blogs from Salta, Argentina, South America - page 3

Bonjour. Me voilà donc Salteño pour une année, l'occasion pour moi de vous en dire un peu plus sur ma nouvelle ville d'adoption. Salta, j'y suis passé la 1ere fois en 2005 lors de mon premier voyage en Argentine, mais je n'y avais fait que passer le temps de changer de bus. Je l'ai donc réellement découverte en 2007 quand j'y suis resté 3 ou 4 jours. J'y suis ensuite repassé en 2009 quand je filais vers la Bolivie, mais encore une fois pour peu de temps, juste une demie journée. Capitale de la province du même nom, Salta est une jolie ville, de style colonial (même si cela a tendance à disparaître), située à 1300m d'altitude et on la surnomme d'ailleurs Salta la Linda (Salta la Belle) mais ce sont surtout ses alentours qui sont ... read more

C: While researching our trip, Roger had come across a newspaper article recommending ranch stays in Argentina. We were keen to do this and had booked one with the slogan 'Todos es possible!' - everything is possible. We were booked in for one night to include full board and two 3 hour horse rides. So, the morning after the bus, a car came to pick us up and drove us into the countryside outside Salta. It was a really beautiful area, very green and verdant and surrounded by hills and mountains. We arrived at the ranch and were greeted by a Flemish girl, Ringe, who, it turned out, was volunteering at the ranch as a translator. We had our second breakfast(!) and then went out to meet the horses and our gaucho. The horses were obviously ... read more

And before you know it Christmas is over and there's only one more week before we leave Buenos Aires and start the next part of our trip. Time for a short update on our activities in the past couple of weeks. A couple of weeks ago we flew to Salta in Northern Argentina for a short break from the busy city. Most people we have met in Buenos Aires go south to Mendoza or Patagonia after arriving in Argentina, but the northern part of Argentina is definitely worth a visit as well. Unbeknownst to us it was a holiday (La inmaculada concepcion de la virgin Maria). The actual holiday was on Tuesday, but on Monday everything was closed down already as well. As a result it was eerily quiet in Salta (a city of 500.000) with ... read more

Distance driven today: 317 miles / 510 km Cumulative distance driven: 12,928 miles / 20,806 km Today’s trip: Tarija, Bolivia to Salta, Argentina International border crossings: 1 After 3 hours of rather easy riding, we finally reached the border to Argentina today. During our enjoyable morning ride from Tarija in Bolivia we steadily descended, and before we knew it we had left the last parts of the South American Altiplano that we have been riding on ever since southern Peru behind us. By the time we reached the border we were practically at sea level altitude, with the temperature having risen to a very comfortable level and the tropical vegetation, which we hadn’t seen since Ecuador, reappearing on the roadside. It felt really good after our challenging Altiplano adventures. At the border we were initially confused. ... read more

Hi Friends and Family, We had a chilled day today, it was the 1816 Argentinian Independence day celebrations today so everything in town was closed including most of the wineries. We went into town for lunch and to watch the horse parades. They were pretty impressive all dressed up in the old 1816 outfits, there must have been well over 300 horses all with women, men and children riding them in formation and cantering. We got lunch from one of the food stands at the parade, we got beef and pork sandwiches, and both were amazing. We walked around the shops (well ones open) and looked at all their different arts and crafts; Vick loved all the hand woven baskets and clay pottery. In the hostel we found a new friend, a stray ginger and white ... read more