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Published: August 24th 2006
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Salta's old vs new
One of the very few modern buildings in Salta, next to the Iglesia on the plaza Zoe and I separated in Mendoza. I sent her ahead to make her way to San Pedro in Chile, whilst I 'popped' to BA to pick up my parcel. I was hoping for a 14hr bus journey overnight there, pick up the package, then head back that same night, so potentially only 24 hours behind her. However, this is South America, and things are never that simple...
I arrived in BA, and made my way to a friend of my uncle, Sr Estari. A lovely man who owns a book shop in BA, and who I had met briefly after my last robbery. He offered to help me navigate customs, and provide a loan (customs quoting approx 200-300pounds)to get my package from customs, once I had my cards again I would be able to pay him back.
I've been told that the Fedex ofice is in Terminal C, but when I ask the bus to drop me off there he looks at me and says "but there are only Terminals A and B". Good start. I wander around asking people where Customs is, waving my Fedex letter, and after many directions I find myself in a large warehouse with
View of Salta
From the top of Cerro San Bernando, the whole of Salta can be seen a portable cabin inside. This has been converted into 3 offices, and I am directed into office 1. Here a girl reads my letter, stamps it, and directs me to office 2. In office 2 my passport is photocopied, a form filled in, and I am sent to office 3. In office 3 the new form is stamped, and I am sent back to office 1. There the stamped form is checked and signed, and I go back to office 3. There I am taken into the warehouse, my package found, opened, checked, put back on the shelf, and I get sent to office 2. The form is stamped again, and I go back to office 3. Ripped in half, and signed again, my form is returned, and I go back to office 1. Here I get to pay ( a mere 24US$, I am VERY relieved), and I get sent out. Still no package, and no-one seems interested in my any more, so I make my own way back into the warehouse, and attract someone's attention. I wave my form, they give me my package, and I wander back into the sunlight, slightly dazed by the whole experience.
Waterfalls
Man made, but still pleasant and pretty, at the top of San Bernando The next task is to find my way out. Now I have a package, I cannot return the way I have come, instead I navigate my way to several exits until I can finallly find the one that will let me leave with parcel clutched tightly.
I return to Sr Estari, return the loan and collect my bag, and head back to the bus termianl. I enquire about buses to Santiago, and am told that there are none today. None tomorrow either. I try Salta instead, and there is currently a 4 day wait. Evntually, at the 15th office, there is a bus to Santiago tomorrow, and I grab the ticket quickly. Another 24hour delay...
I spend the next day in BA, return to Sr Estari, as I managed to leave my coat when I visited yesterday. Finally I get on the bus, and try and sleep on the way. At 5am we are rudely awakened as we arrive in Mendoza, and get thrown off the bus for 30mins for cleaning. After an hour we are allowed back on, for the driver to tell us that currently the road is closed due to snow. We need to wait until 9.30 for further information. We sit. We wait. The news is...the road is still closd. So back to where I started, in Medoza, with Zoe now in Chile, San Pedro, and me stuck in Argentina. I go back to the hostal and pray the road is cleared overnight...
...but after an early morning phone call it turns out that the road wll shut for at least another 24 hours, and that I won't be going to Santiago. Instead I look to Salta, there are 3 buses a week from there to San Pedro, and in the end decide this is the best option. Back to the bus terminal, and I get my ticket to Santiago changed to a ticket to Tucuman. Tucuman you ask? I thought you were heading for Salta? Well yes, but that's the closest I'm getting today, and at least it is in the right direction.
Another night on the bus, and I'm now 5days behind. I arrive in Tucuman, and luckily there is another bus to Salta in 1hour. Later that afternoon I find myself in sunny Salta. I head straight to the ticket offices, and when I ask, there is 1 space left to San Pedro the next day. I take it, not worth waiting any more, and I leave the terminal to find a bed for the night.
Salta itself is a lovely city, warm, dry, and popular with tourists from Argentina, not just abroad. There is a large park with a boating lake, the tallest buildings are churches, and no one seems in a particular hurry to go anywhere. It is the ideal city to relax a litle, and I spend the afternoon wandering around, getting a gondolar up the nearby mountain for the city views, and listening to man made waterfalls.
The next day I get up early to catch the 7am bus to San Pedro. After a torturous journey with a seat next to a very unpleasant smelling toilet along twisting roads through the mountains I arrive. Finally, 5pm, 1 week late, I am in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. I set off to find Zoe...
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