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Published: February 26th 2009
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Farewell Bolivia
From here the roads miraculously started to be tarmaced, as well as seeing our first road signs and markings in months! Argentina Part I - by Kate
It took skill and strategy to get out of San Pedro, but due to our incredible Spanish and amiable partners in crime, Daniel and Gemma, we aquired four of the remaining five bus tickets to Salta leaving two days later. Quite why there are only three buses a week to Argentina, which were all booked at least two days before departure, seems a mystery. We decided that it was all part of an elaborate plan. With the San Pedran authorities in cahoots with the Bolivians who had pursuaded us that it was much easier to go in to Chile and then cross to Argentina. Our time in San Pedro was spent enjoying the heat as well as the nice cafés and restaurants, although due to the huge increase in price from Bolivia we ended up cooking for ourselves quite a bit.
When we finally left it was a beautiful 9-hour journey with some stunning scenery and delicious bus food. Honestly, it's better than aeroplane food and you get snacks and drinks, although the tea and coffee were a bit dangerous when the road was bumpy!
We arrived in Salta at about 8pm
Colonial Architecture of Salta
One of George's famous 'Mirrored building' photos! and after some skilled haggling, courtesy of Gemma, got a free taxi ride to our hostel. It was a great location and following a beer and an interesting game of pool, on the World's wonkiest table, we made our way to dinner at about 11:30pm. Obviously this being Argentina we were early birds, so there we were well past midnight tucking in to an enormous paradilla - a BBQ mixed grill complete with intestine, blood pudding and liver.
Whilst in Salta we took advantage of strolling around the colonial streets, admiring the incredible architecture and making the most of the café culture. On the second night the four of us hit Barney Gomez Bar. Anyone who knows the Simpsons may know him better as Barney Gumble, but here in Latin America he was christened with what we thought was a far superior name.
We took a cable car up a hill in order to gain a better view of the city and after sampling far too many empanadas and salteñas (Salta capital being their home) we prepared ourselves for a night out on the town. George and I, in all our ancientness, only managed to last until 2.30am,
Mmmm Steak
Officially the best steak we have ever eaten! ridiculously early by Argentine standards but seeing as we had not really been out later than midnight in the previous 7 months we were still rather impressed. Daniel and Gemma, having been born in Australia were significantly more hardcore, so we left them to it!
The next day we bid farewell to the Aussies, who were hot-footing it to Iguazu and Buenos Aires, before Daniel was off to spend 6 weeks on a glacier!?!
George and I stayed on in Salta to sample some more delicious saltenas and then, on our final night, the most incredible steak we have ever eaten, complete with sparkling wine and some delicious Malbec from Mendoza.
Having gained an appreciation for the Mendozan wines we thought it only fair that we should visit its world famous vineyards. Eighteen hours later, after a very comfortable journey, this time with unlimited wine, two films you might actually choose to watch and the most enormous chicken dinner, we arrived in Mendoza. For whatever reason our go-getter enthusiasm was waning a little, so our time in Mendoza wasn't exactly action packed. We did spend one of our days visiting the vineyards. Cycling from one to the
Wine tasting in Mendoza
Looking remarkably sober?! other sampling some excellent wine, liquors and olives before wobbling our way back to the bike rental company, Mr Hugo, only to be invited to share in some more complimentary wine! Needless to say we returned to the hostel a little woozy having had a fantastic day. We also visited the beautiful city park, as well as the many town squares in Mendoza, armed with our books. After our well earned rest we were on the road again and heading back to Chile.
The seven hour bus ride from Mendoza to Valparaiso in Chile takes you on a pass through the Andes where the snow capped mountains, vineyards and breathtaking windy roads, made a necessary journey, incredibly enjoyable. The only upsetting thing was seeing the beautifully groomed slopes at the ski resorts completely empty, we missed the end of the season by one week! Thats planning for you!
Hasta luego Argentina, we will be back in a couple of weeks, get the steaks ready!
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