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Published: October 24th 2010
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Welcome to day 22 of our trip, day 9 of our tour, 1 day of Mischa being 25 and Salta!! But we left you at Saena Pena, so we'll start there!!
This day was again an early start, as we were heading across the Chaco desert to the 8th biggest city in Argentina. We all boarded the bus at 7am, ready for a big day. This was a long day, with no air-con except good old fashioned windows, and a desert to look at. But it wasn't really a desert, just a lot of cattle stations and agriculture. Our lunch stop was very amusing as everyone got off the bus to heat and the smell of cattle. It was very strong, but not to us. Everyone else complained a lot about the place, and thought it was hell. But it was ok!! 😊 We arrived in Salta a lot earlier than expected, which enabled us to unpack and alight on foot to explore the city. We visited the cathedral and museum in the main plaza, the San Francisco Convent and the San Martin Park. Many of the buildings were built in the 19th Century, the streets are cobblestone and we thought
it was very much a European-like city. For dinner, a group of us went to Veijo Jacks II to celebrate Mischa's 25th Birthday. It claims to have the biggest steak in Argentina, and it certainly was close!! The 850g!!! steak arrived on everyone's plate, with most of the couples being smart and sharing it!! We also shared a plate of roasted vegies, with Jess finishing most of them off!! She was then still hungry (amazingly) and was the only one to order dessert, a nice big lemon gelato tower with meringue, walnuts and syrup!! She loved it!! By the time we finished dinner, it was 11pm and everyone was ready to call it a night!!
The 22nd of October, Mischa birthday, started with brekky at the hotel, before 8 of the group jumped in a mini-van to head deep into the mountains to do White-water rafting and Ziplining. The drive was about 2hrs, but took us past some amazing scenery, including a gigantic lake at the foot of the mountains south of Salta. Rafting was first up, and we were all very pumped by the time we got there, so after getting kitted up and briefed, we jumped into the
raft with our guide. The first 20mins was practice of forward, backward, changing sides and GETTING DOWN!! This was all very fun, and the water was freezing!! Our guide swore like a trooper, but his accent made it all sound very funny, so we were amused!! All in all, we did 10 rapids over 15kms and 2hrs of rafting, and had a ball!! We also purchased a cd of 60+ photos, but as we don't have a disk drive we can't upload any at the moment (coming in the near future). We then had waaayyy to much food for lunch but it was all delicious!! 😊 After filling up, it was then a 20min walk up the side of the mountain to the beginning of the zip-lines!! (like flying-fox) Jess thought her lunch was all going to come back up as the statistics were rolled out; 600m long, across two mountains, the highest point being 200m above the river below, with two wires keeping you alive!! But, facing all fears (and no tears), she went before Mischa, was also the first girl to go and the only person to make it across the whole way!! (if you didn't make it,
you had to pull yourself across!!) It was an amazing experience, had superb views, and some of them were quite quick!! We had a really good time, Mischa thought it was an amazing way to spend a birthday!! By the time we got back to the hotel, Jess fell asleep for about 2 hours, and Mischa then woke her up to have a quick dinner (at 9pm!!) and then straight back to sleep!! 😊
Today started much the same as most days i think.....early brekky, then onto a mini-van to horse-riding!! It was along the same stretch of road yesterday, but about an hour shorter. Just as we were arriving, the horses did too!! 😊 Unfortunately, there weren't enough for everyone, so a few of us decided to hang around in the morning, have some lunch and then go for a ride!! That included us, so we headed into town for a 40min walk, then back, then we had another HUGE lunch (See the pics!!) and then onto the horses. Over lunch, there was an abundance of free wine going around. We were the only ones not drinking, but still had a lot of fun with everyone!! So by the
time we got on the horses, the few of us left were quite drunk!! But the ride was amazing. We went along dirt roads, beside tobacco farms being planted by hand, through dry river beds and at one point, stopped for everyone to have a gallop!! Jess' first time, so she had one of the gauchos (cowboys) ride with her both times, but still really enjoyed it!! Was a great way to spend the afternoon, but got back to the hotel around 8:45pm!! Mischa quickly rushed to the closing supermarket to get some supplies for the next few days, and now we are crashing!! Tomorrow is a 12 hour day heading up the mountains into Bolivia, so we'll keep you posted, but not for a few days until we get to our next internet spot!! Enjoy the photos and video!!
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Carol & Lalo
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Hi guys, really enjoying your updates so keep em coming! You're obviously having a ball, so keep enjoying those South American meals and keep the photos coming ;-)