The bus that took us to Salta had to be seen to be believed- it was incredible! Definitely worth the extra 16 euro! When we turned up we were floored- we had opted for the panoramic seats which meant we were on the top floor of the bus atthe front and had a clear view of the scenery. Not so great at night but we figured it would be pretty amazing the next day. We also had chairs that converted into lie down beds, our own tvs with a selection of movies and attendents to bring us meals and drinks throughout the trip. Talk about luxury! We spent the first 15 minutes or so taking pictures and playing with the seats before deciding to be a little more grown-up and settle down. The meals were approximately 90 percent sugar which was interesting (biscuits and lollies for breakfast anyone?) but the bus itself more than made up for them- and to be honest I wasn't expecting to be fed anyway. There was one interesting hour when we were forced to sit on the side of the highway and just watch the other traffic pass us by- I still have no idea why, but we entertained ourselves with thoughts of our driver running away across the hills being pursued by the local police. Apparently that wasn't the case though as after an hour or so we were permitted to move again.
Salta itself was lovely, and much more manageable than Buenos Aires. We explored the Alpine Mountain Museum, which centred around the discovery of 3 Incan children who were sacrificed at the top of Llullialaco Volcano and discovered a few years ago perfectly preserved. They only show one child at a time and when we were there it was 'the boy' ('El Nino') who was nearly 7 years old when he was sacrificed. The level of preservation was amazing- you could see teh skin on the back of his neck and the expression on his face. Afterwards we wandered through the room containing the 'Queen of the Mountain' who was, quite frankly, terrifying and then it was off for a wander through town.
The following day we explored one of the local park/forrest areas which was quite lovely. Nothing spectacular but we figured it was a decent walk, pleasant enough and good practice for upcoming adventure in the cloud forest, which is where we were setting off to the following day.
