Salta, Argentina

Oh dear I´ve missed you civilisation! While Bolivia was great and the Salar De Uyuni was out of this world, its good to be back in a country where proper personal hygiene is a given and the internet is fast, both of which were terribly lacking in Bolivia!

So, I got into Salta today at about 4pm after leaving at 4am Bolivian time last night (Argentina is - 4 hours, where as Bolivia is -5 hours behind GMT). We had to get a 2 hour bus from Tupiza to the border town of Villazon, which was ok. We crossed the border without any problems, although the officer left his office while we were at the window to go salute the flag as it was being raised!

From there, we walked about 2km to the bus station, or so we thought. A local pointed us in the wrong direction to the bus station. When we got there, we found out we were wrong, so just hopped in a taxi. We got a bus from La Quica (the border town on the Argentine side) to Jujuy (answers on a postcard to the usual address for the proper pronunciation!) which was about 5 hours and then onto Salta which was another 2 hours. All in all a very tiring day, but worth is as I´m back in the wonderful Argentina.

Yesterday was pretty much a recovery day where Billy and I, as well as Joke (Belgian) and Michelle (English) relaxed after 4 days in the Salar sleeping in the freezing cold and driving in a jeep all day. We just wandered around the town yesterday, went on slow internet and got a massage. It only cost 50Bs, which is €5 for 45 minutes! It was actually really good and I got to practice my Spanish with her too.

After that, Billy and I played table tennis, where I showed him how the game is really played (may not be true!) We then went for dinner and packed out bags for our early bus back to civilisation.

I don´t know how long I´ll stay here in Salta, but we´ll probably leave for Cordoba, Argentina on Friday, stay there for the weekend and then on to Mendoza, before we go to Santiago on Thursday probably. We just researched flights and they cost absolute peanuts. Salta - Cordoba, which is a 12 hour bus journey costing $40 Pesos, only costs $117 for a flight. I´ve been labelled a "Flash-Packer" before, instead of a true "roughing-it-on-a-22-hour-bus-with-chickens" backpacker!

Anyway, Argentine steak calls! We´re off to a all you can eat BBQ at the hostel.