Last stop - Buenos Aires

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Today is the last day of our journey. After four months, we've arrived in Buenos Aires, the final destination, before heading home.

The past two weeks we've spent with my parents. We all met in the North of Argentina in the city of Salta. Due to the strike of some argentinian airline my parents couldn't fly from Buenos Aires to Salta and had to drive the 1600km in a rented car. It took them one and a half day which is pretty impressive considering the roads' condition. Not only did they have to drive all the way, they also lost some of their luggage. One of the suitcases arrived about four days later than my parents did. However, they were pretty easy about it. I think I'd be pretty pissed if the same stuff had happened to me. Well in the end they finally made it to Salta and we met again after three and a half months apart.

We spent two days in Salta. We went to some museums, did quite a deal of shopping and catched up on each other's life. Since the rented car had to be returned to the airport in Buenos Aires we figured it would be good to break down the 1600km into smaller bits. So we left Salta one week before my parents were gonna fly out of Buenos Aires to make sure they'd get there in time. Our first road trip took us to Cachi and Cafayate. Driving through the valley we saw impressive formations of rocks and pitoresque villages. The night we spend in a tiny village called Molinos. I usually wouldn't stay in such a place because it's just too tiny. There was nothing to do and I think we were pretty lucky that there even was a place to sleep. By the time we arrived the one restaurant of the village hadn't even opened yet (in Argentina restaurants don't open til 8pm). We were too hungry to wait and too exhausted to stay up and therefore got ourselves some food at the one and only supermarket. Then we had a picknick at our accomodation. The next day we finished the circuit through the valley. By the end of the day we got to Metán where some of our relatives live. My parents really wanted to go there to experience the Gaucho fiesta. It takes place only once a year. The people dress up like gauchos, get on their horses (some are rather put on their horses, either they're too drunk or too old to get up there themselves) and join the parade. It was fun too watch.

Our next stops were San Miguel de Tucuman and Cordoba. Let me tell you argentinian cities are rather awful. Tons of people, dirt and traffic. However, the city centers are neat and tidy.

Most of the time that week we spent in the car. Besides that we did some more sightseeing, shopping and my dad took pictures of about every second horse along the road. And there are many horses in this country. Some times we got pretty lucky with the food. But overall I have to say that argentinian food will never be my favorite. Too much meat and papas fritas (french fries), too little vegetable.

Two days ago we arrived in Buenos Aires. We spent the first night a little outside the city, close to the airport, because my parents were leaving the next day. We took them to the airport, then found ourselves our last accomodation on this trip. Yesterday (sunday) we went to a beautiful handicraft market to buy some final souvenirs. The rest of the day we walked around the city and drank coffee whenever we got cold. The argentinian winter is quite mild. Looking at the people you wouldn't believe it. They're not used to the cold. So they're wearing big puffy winter jackets, coats, gloves and winter boots. It's so funny to watch. Buenos Aires is a pretty city, but very noisy and there's just so many people. Sometimes it's hard to walk.

However, tomorrow we'll be on our way home. It's been a great trip. I wouldn't miss it, but it's time to go home and I'm looking forward to it. I wanna thank everyone who's supported us during this trip. It´s been great to see you guys! I hope to meet you all again! Take care!

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