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Published: February 21st 2009
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We got to Villazòn, which is the Bolivian border town. We changed our Bolivianos in for Pesos (thus halfing our money, literally). The Bolivian border guard was a young, jovial guy--joked around about the U.S. with us and stamped us on our way in no time. Then we walked across the bridge to Argentina--glorious country that Josie missed so--and waited over 2 hours to get our stamps there! The Argentinians kept getting pulled ahead of line and we were stuck with whole families of Bolivians, little children and ancient grandparents, always budging in front of us with new relatives. Then, it seemed like the immigration officers took at least a half hour siesta where they just closed the (one) window. We got through and trudged uphill with our bags to the bus station, bought a ticket for Tilcara and had an ice cream bar for dinner--after having snacked on nuts for lunch. We were tired, hungry and crabby but we were in Argentina at last.
We arrived in Tilcara at about 10pm and it was an absolute oasis for us. It's touristy, but set up for Argentinian middle-class tourists. We lucked out and one toothed man at the bus terminal
gave us a hand-written map for a campground. We followed the directions through the plaza and down the dark, dirt road where 3 angry dogs and one very nice woman were waiting for us. The room was 4 concrete walls and 4 mattresses that could be stacked on the floor but at 10 pesos each (under $6 each) we knew it'd be the cheapest we'd find in the whole country. We stayed two nights! We'd just been lamenting how we hadn't used our sleep sacks very much and they were taking up a lot of room. The dogs tamed down and they were always cleaning the bathrooms. Plus, John shared his shower with a tiny frog😊 We dropped our laundry off with the little grandma next door and barely got it the next morning before we were meant to leave. This seems to often be a struggle--getting your laundry done before you're on to the next place.
In Tilcara we soaked up the Argentinian-ness of it all. The good coffee, bread, empanadas, salads, etc. Everything is way more expensive than Bolivia but also a way better value. For instance, in Bolivia you can get a pitcher of fresh squeezed
orange juice for $2 (and we will miss that about them), but in Argentina you can get a pitcher of sangria for $3.50. See the difference, folks? This is high living. We took in the great arqueological museum and the Pulcarà (fortress). One of the highlights was the little botanical garden with all the different cacti, plants, rocks and trees all labeled. Tilcara is in a valley and the mountain views all around are amazing (Quebrada de Humahuaca for you googlers). We trudged back to the bus terminal this morning (the backpacks are getting very heavy and we still have to lug them around for a few weeks!) and caught a bus here to Jujuy within a matter of minutes--because that's how things work in Argentina😊
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