Loving the North.

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We said a temporary goodbye to Buenos Aires as we hopped on our coach and headed for Cordoba. The coaches here are double deckers and the seats recline at 45 degree angles so that you can have a bit of a snooze if the movie they are showing is crap. I was happy that I had my I-pod as the movie was crap so I could just look out the window and admire the scenery with a musical soundtrack. The trip itself was a 10 hour ride and we arrived in Cordoba about 8.00pm, which was just enough time to book into our hostel and head out to grab a bite to eat before crashing out. All that travelling in the heat takes it out of you. It was so warm and humid compared to the B.A heat, so we drank plenty of water to keep us hydrated. Welcome to the north of Argentina. Dom must have drank too much water as she got up during the night to go to the bathroom. On her way back to the bedroom she forgot there was a step and crashed into the hat stand pushing it into the pedestal fan and in the process made a heap of noise. I couldn´t help but laugh, though it wasn´t really a laughing matter as the hat stand and the fan could have been damaged.

The following day (Wednesday) was ours to explore Cordoba before catching a 9.00pm coach for a further 12 hour coach trip to Salta. I was initially unsure whether to go to Salta or Bariloche. I had watched the Ämazing Race´and saw an episode with Bariloche on it, it appeared beautiful, with mountains and lakes and lots of chocolate, much like Switzerland I have been told. But in the end I changed my mind and chose Salta due to the warmer weather and more diverse scenery. But back to Cordoba, it is the 3rd biggest city in Argentina and we spent most of the day just catching the local sights and of course the shops as well. Before heading out the guy behind the desk handed Dom an umbrella advising her it looked like it may rain. We thought that was very nice of him. Im not sure what weather channel he was paying attention to, maybe he was watching Europes weather, as despite it being a bit overcast, within half an hour of leaving the hostel the sun appeared and never left for the entire day. It was so warm and humid compared to the B.A heat, so we drank plenty of water to keep us hydrated. Welcome to the north of Argentina.

Our overnight coach trip was over a lot quicker than anticipated, though it helps when you sleep through most of it. I do remember waking at one point and checked the time to find it was 3.00am. I looked out of the window and saw we were passing through a middle sized town. There were people out everywhere, riding around on motorcycles, cars, push bikes, sitting in parks, out the front of shops, even the lights at the local pool and soccer pitch were on. Remember this is mid week and 3.00am. Strange.

We arrived in Salta and immediately loved the place. The weather was much like Cordoba except it was a bit warmer and drier. Our accomodation at a B & B was perfect and the town great to explore. The locals were really friendly and laid back, and demonstrated a dislike to their big city Argentinians. A large proportion of the population was made up of the indigenous Argentinians and it definitely Gaucho county, traditional cowboys were everywhere. But that doesn´t explain why electrical stores that sell white goods and TV´s also sell motorcycles, or why bedding stores supplement their income by selling legit C.D´s. and musical instruments. Salta is also the first place we have visited on this adventure that has a mid afternoon siesta. At 1.30pm all the stores shut down and don´t re-open until 5.00pm, much like they do in Spain

Whilst the shops were closed we took the really old looking dodgy cable car up the local mountain which was approx 1500m up. When we bought the tickets the lady asked us did we want a return ticket. We both thought that was a bit wierd, what did she know that we didn´t ??. Once inside the cable car Dom had a heart attack every time it slowed or moved from side to side. I remained cool and calm though inside I wasn´t feeling too confident either. But the views as we rose to the top were spectacular. At the top we found a path to walk back down, so that was why the lady asked if we wanted a return ticket. As it was so hot we took the rickety old cable car back down and breathed a sigh of relief when we made it back safely.

The following day we visited a town approx 10km away called San Lorenzo and were amazed at how the scenery and the temperature changed. We were now at the edge of the jungle, (pronounced ´younglay´ by our host at our B & B) and the temperature had dropped at least 5 degrees. I discovered the Lomito, a steak roll, stuffed with everything, and a healthy portion of fries for under $6.00 AUS. It was soooo good.

We booked a day tour for Saturday, which turned into a 14 hour trip, but had a fantastic time. We took a round trip to visit the Salt Flats (Salinas Grandes), but on the way saw some of the most amazing scenery of the trip so far. We drove down sealed and dirt roads and the Sierra mountains surrounded us. The mountains changed shape and colour every couple of KM. On each side of the road the mountains were different shapes and colours to the opposing side. It so different from what we see in Australia. Then we reached an area which had cactuses just like you would expect to see in Texas or Arizona, and they were just everywhere, as to be expected really when the area was so dry and arid. We took heaps of photos along the way, but none of them can really do justice to how amazing the scenery actually was. En route to the Salt flats we had to pass through the Eastern Andes. We reached heights of over 4100m and then drove along a plateau at 3700m again surrounded by these towering Andes mountains either side of us. On the way we saw wild Llama´s, Vicuna´s, Donkeys, and we had to dodge the occasional stray cow, there was even a random cemetary in the middle of no-where.

We eventually made it to the salt flats and they were huge, there was flat white salt for as far as the eye can see and this is in the middle of the Andes. The temperature was 40 degrees at this stage. On the way back we descended through clouds covering switchback roads like a fog, with just a thin metal barrier between us and certain . At this point the temperature had plummeted 20 degrees. We eventually made it to Purmamaca and saw the famous rock with 7 colours, though because the weather was becoming dark and overcast we could only really see about 5 colours. Though it was still pretty impressive. We made it back to Salta by 9.30pm, only after our driver had succesfully managed to navigate us through pouring rain and drunken Argentinians driving on the road.

The following day it was pouring with rain. We had already booked our day trip to an Estancia (local ranch) for some horse riding and, of course, an Assado for lunch. We thought about cancelling but in the end, bit the bullet and went anyway. A good decision. On the way we picked up 2 other fellow intrepid travellers and made it to the Estancia about 45 minutes out of town. It was run by 57 year old Enrique a third generation Gaucho. I knew I was going to like him when he introduced himself and said ,¨I hope you speak Spanish because my English is .¨

He gave us our leather chaps, what was described as water proof ponchos and caps to protect us from the rain which was now coming down much heavier. I laughed at the first horse because it had crazy looking eyes and looked the sort that was ready to buck the potential rider off. So guess who got him.......me. Not happy. But he was good apart from wantng to frequently stop and eat the grass, branches and anything else that looked remotely green. We had a guide who led us through the rain and along remote laneways, passing farms and children yelling out hello to us, he led us along dry river banks, into fields of crops (crazy eyes loved that) and around the general countryside. All in all we rode for 3 hours and by the time we finished, the water proof ponchos proved only to be semi waterproof as we were pretty much soaked. I was pretty sore too. But we we all rode like professionals and it made up for the disasterous Peruvian experience.

Enrique prepared a late lunch for us complete with the home made Arentinian red wine which was excellent. Dom was onto her second glass when she began calling Enrique the name of Rodriguez, yes the wine had taken effect. The meats he prepared were the best we have tasted on the entire trip, cooked just right, thick and juicy without a hint of fat, and he kept filling our plates and glasses too. He was a very funny man and loved interacting with us in broken English and Spanish. He took us inside his house and displayed his collection of guns, pistols, knives, knuckle dusters, and even missiles. Evidentally all part of a collection passed down to him by his late father. We left about 4.30pm full of food and wine and really happy that we didn´t cancel.

The following day we hopped on our coach back to B.A. This time it was a 20hr trip back, so we opted for the cama suite style of coach. This one provided us with leather seats that reclined fully back into a bed........sooo comfortable and it guaranteed a good nights sleep. Plus we were served hot meals, champagne, wine and even whiskey if we wanted, we were even shown 4 decent movies for the trip back to the big city. Life is good.. welcome to life of first class coach travel.

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