Argentina at last

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Well I have finally made it to Argentina! yeahhhhhh!!!

We spent one night in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile before we decided that it was way to pricey for our traveller wallets so we booked a ticket to Salta for the following morning (I was just pleased to have the Chile stamp in my pass port!)

Now what could be better following three days in a jeep than sitting on a 12 hour bus journey to Salta. Now I thought the buses up north were impressive but the busses in Argentina are second to none. Its a bit like first class on the aeroplane. Reclining seats (or armchairs) pillows, blankets, dinner, breakfast and an occasional glass of champagne. No joke! The bus journeys have become a real pleasure, which is a good thing because I had plenty of them to come.

We arrived in Salta late in the evening and the city was absolutely buzzing. We had dinner in the city square at about midnight and the place was absolutely packed. Beautiful Argentineans strutting around their beautiful city. Shannon and myself were like kids in a sweet shop gasping and gushing over ever shop we passed and ever street we turned into. Shoe shops beware!

Its such a stark contrast to Bolivia and quite a shock to the system, I was pretty much ready to throw my purse or myself at anybody who was willing to sell me a decent piece of meat or a pretty top.
Salta is a really beautiful and really lively city and combined with the heat and sunshine I finally felt like I was on holiday. Shannon and myself wasted no time and booked ourselves a day of horse riding for our only full day in Salta. We were collected from our hostel at 9am and taken out to the Sayta Ranch run by the one and only Enrique . The ranch was beautiful, right out in the middle of the Argentina country side. In fact that's one of the main visible differences between Argentina and Bolivia, Argentina is soooooo green. There is so much lush green grass and that lovely smell of grass in the summer. Bolivia has no grass...literally no grass. Every kind of coloured mountain under the sun but no grass. It was a welcome change and the Sayta ranch was surrounded by acres and acres of beautiful green grass. (Ill shut up about grass now!).

We were greeted by Enrique and we all had breakfast together before he introduced us to our guide and our horses!!!!!

Now I cant remember if I mentioned my first horse riding experience on the Galapagos. I probably didn't because it quite honestly left me scared and I have only just managed to get over it but lets just say Health and safety isn´t really an issue, horses can be crazy and my guide ended up seeing the best part of my palm!

I was therefore slightly nervous to meet Mafalda (my horse) but once I noticed she had dozed off whilst chewing her grass, I knew we were going to get one just fine. It was a completely different experience to the first and our guide instructed us on how to sit and control the horse etc and that was it, Mafalda and I were off! We spent the whole morning riding through the most beautiful country side in the sun with our very own (slightly pervy) Goucho...that's cowboy to me or you but they take great offence if you call them this and keep going on about broke back mountain!

We headed back to the ranch at about 2pm and were greeted by Enrique and his BBQ. Once I´d managed to actually, get off the horse we all sat down for lunch. I say "sat down" very nonchalantly when I actually mean I staggered to the table with my arse on fire and perched on the edge of my seat trying no to grimace and not to think about saddles ever again! When the initially agony of getting off the animal had subsided into numbness, aided instantly by the bottle of wine placed in front of me , I was able to focus on the lunch Enrique had prepared. This was my first taste of the much praised Argentinean steak and boy was it a good taste. I´m not sure but I think I may have had a whole cow on my plate in one way of another. We all were given steaks of different sizes and cuts and Chorizo sausage the size of my arm. Not to mention the potatoes and salads. Its was the best lunch I've had all trip. ´

I really didn't want to leave the ranch (and I might even go back) but eventually they had to roll me to the taxi because we had a bus to Iguazu booked for the morning.

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