It happened at the start of Australia and at the start of New Zealand, so I should have seen it coming here... Emma has got herself in a right muddle about how to travel onwards through South America! It seemed like a good idea to head north through Argentina, rather than Chile, but in hindsight, a little more planning was required!
I arrived in Salta on Friday morning after a 21 hour journey from Mendoza. It was alright, but to be honest, I would have expected better, given the rave reports I´d heard about the buses over here. I didn´t even have a blanket and pillow this time, despite it being an overnight journey, so it was rather cold in the aircon! Lunch and dinner were ham and cheese sandwiches, again fine, but only just enough. Anyway, there were 4 films to watch, 3 of which were dubbed into Spanish, and the fourth was one I had already seen! The main thing is, I made it in one piece!
View of Salta
After a considerable walk from the bus terminal to my hostel, I was able to pop my bag into storage and wait for my room to be ready. The gentleman at the hostel was lovely and soon I could check in. Once settled, I was ready to explore. However, I had arrived on May 1st, which is Labor Day, a national holiday and so everything was shut! I managed to find a little cafe that served empanadas and they were delicious! That afternoon, I thought I would use the time to make a plan for my journey towards Bolivia. I couldn´t decide and so I gave up for the day, and that´s where my stress started!
To cut an
- Went to tourist information
- Back to hostel to stress
- Went to tourist information
- Back to hostel to stress
- Got T.I to phone Pullman bus company, no tickets for Sunday
- Walked to bus terminal to talk to Geminis bus company, no tickets for Sunday
- Back to hostel to stress
- Made decision to go to San Pedro de Atacama on Tuesday
- Got out only 40 pesos from ATM (around £8)
- Went back to bus terminal
- Thought I should double check about Sunday with Pullmans while I was there but didn't as they said there were no tickets left on the phone
- Bought ticket from Geminis for Tuesday
- Met Allison (US) and decided to book a tour to Cachi to kill one of my extra days in Salta
- Went around different agencies to get best deal
- Picked one but needed more money so back to ATM
- "You have reached your daily limit" - £8?????
- Tried different ATM - "You have reached your daily limit"
- Used (expensive) Mastercard to withdraw enough money for the tour
- Back to hostel to try to calm down
- Met guy who bought a ticket for Sunday from Pullmans on SUNDAY an HOUR AFTER me as they actually had NINE LEFT!!!
- Tried not to lose the will to live (or kill him)
Anyway, that was Saturday! I'm getting better, but I'm still a liability on occasions! That night though, I went out and had my first Argentinian steak and it was absolutely amazing, tender, juicy, well seasoned and cooked to perfection! Exactly worth all the fuss! On Sunday, I took the tour to Cachi. It was quite a drive to get there and back and the town itself, although very pretty, is really just a church and a plaza, but the scenery was amazing and I got some great photos! That night, I managed to squeeze in a visit to M.A.A.M. - the Museum of High Altitude Archaeology where the controversial Children of Llullaillaco mummies are displayed and then a walk around the Sunday market. I was also given a free Kinder bar by a kiosko vendor who'd taken a shine to me and invited my out on his moped the following day. I politely declined; safety first, not because he looked 40 even though he said he was 30!
En route to Cachi
On Monday, I actually had my first opportunity to explore Salta even though it was the fourth day that I had been there! I had loads to organise as well before leaving for Chile, so I...
- Put my laundry in
- Bought some socks
- Hand-washed my knickers
- Changed some traveller's cheques into US dollars
- Bought some malaria tablets
- Researched altitude sickness tablets
- Had empanadas for lunch
- Chatted to the restaurant owner in Spanish for about 30 minutes (sort of)
- Took the cable car up to the top of San Bernardo Hill
- Walked down again
- Collected my laundry
- Collected the rest of the malaria tablets and bought the altitude sickness ones
- Repacked my bag
- Threw my Merrell sandals away (it was quite a wrench)
- Uploaded my photos
- Went back to the little cafe and bought all of the sandwiches that were left
- Finally went to bed!
I had meant to get an early night but to no avail. I wasn't looking forward to getting up at 5.30am on Tuesday morning, but onwards to San Pedro de Atacama I had to go... and back over the Andes into Chile once again!
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