JaceMH

We were surprised as we arrived into Salta. We expected a bigger version of Cafayate. What we saw couldn't have been more different; green hills surrounding a low rise smoggy dirty city. We had held a vision of a super charming province capital and were sadly disappointed. Regardless we had planned on being here a few days and proceeded to walk to our hostel from the bus terminal. Much farther than we expected, 15 blocks later through the heat we arrived sweating. The hostel had a good set up and our ensuite room was clean so we were content. We dropped our stuff off and set out to explore the unappealing city. In the historic center Salta gained some charm with its well maintained colonial buildings and churches. The Cathedral was pretty impressive inside with the ... read more

Our overnight bus from Mendoza arrived in Cordoba at dawn, giving us little time to wake up and get our stuff together before we were walking half asleep through the terminal trying to find a bus or taxi to take us to our hostel. As it turns out, there are no local buses from the terminal and we had to wait in a 20 person cue for a taxi. Fortunately the taxi was chearp and we arrived promptly to the hostel. Our beds weren't ready at that hour of the morning, and as we were not going to waste any time, we set out to wakl the city soon after our arrival. Our first stop was at an underground Jesuit mission. It was only recently rediscovered in 1989, when a paving crew uncovered it while renovating ... read more

The bus from Santiago only took 2 hours to arrive to the city of Valparaíso. Along the way, we passed a number of coastal wineries, reminding me of some of the CA southern coast wineries near Santa Barbara. Valparaíso was a sight to see. A city built on hills, destroyed and rebuilt after earthquakes and tsunamis. Similar to Pucon, we passed tsunami escape route signs. Chile, land of natural disasters! We took a short local bus ride then walked up a steep hill to our hostel. A beautiful remodeled Victorian house, our private room had 15 foot vaulted ceilings, crown moulding throughout, and lots of natural light. Once we put our stuff down, the receptionist (who reminded me a lot of my Spanish friend Pascual, with his laid back attitude, goofy demeanor, and love of climbing), ... read more

Coming from Bariloche, we had to change buses in San Martin de los Andes, Argentina, in order to cross the border and arrive to Pucon. We got fortunate not to get stuck there and were able to snag a pair of the few remaining seats. The 6 hour ride was smooth enough, except for the border crossing which was located at the base of the imposing Lanin Volcano. The process was more strict than we expected. They take their agriculture very seriously; all of our bags were unloaded and scanned, and we had to declare any raw foods. Fortunately they didn´t toss the pizza or stirfry we had made the night prior but they did take a couple delicious Fuji apples. Fruitless, we got back on the bus and continued down a dirt/volcanic ash road for ... read more

Our bus from Floripa left us on the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls. The hostel we booked was on the Argentinian side, and we soon found out the process of crossing from one side to the other was not a quick one. Somehow we struggled to find the bus stop where the transfer would pick us up. After wandering around for a half hour with our front and back packs on we found it, directly across the street from the bus terminal. Once we arrived to the Brazilian border, we had to get off the bus to receive our exit stamps. After waiting through the line, we had to wait for another transfer bus to pass in order to continue. During this moment I found that I´d lost the ticket stubs and we had to pay ... read more