Costs pp: bus La Quiaca to Tilcara 24p(there is a cheaper one for 20p also), stayed at a Hospedaje opposite the hospital in Tilcara - the street #439 but we forget the name of the family - cost 40p/night for us both.
6/Sept. We had no problems at the border except that they asked Carol if she used Coke! On the other side nothing was open except the bus terminal, it being sunday. So it was lucky that we had bought some pesos from another traveller in Bogota so had some cash to catch the bus.
The scenery was amazing from the border thru to Tilcara, it was a pity that we took the bus in the late afternoon as it was soon dark but we got to see the best of it we hope. We arrived in the dark and asked for help at a Hosteria that we couldn't afford and the lovely lady there directed us to the house we stayed at opposite the hospital just around the corner. A plain room with a comfy bed and YES! the 'C' on the tap stood for caliente (hot) and not 'cold'! There was even a bidet in the bathroom.
As usual we are having trouble adjusting to the different pricing and also the different ways of doing things. Always the first week in a country is adjustment time. We managed to find hamburgers in our budget, not small ones like the last two countries but big ones like the tortas in Mexico.
On Monday (Kents birthday) we went to the museum and discovered to our delight that that was the free day. Yippee! We did make a donation of course. The museum was small but interesting, it was all about a site called Pucara which we walked to which is the original settlement for the town. The site which is on a hill nearby is pre-Inca and was interesting with some of the houses having been restored. On our walk up there we crossed a bridge and met a large bus reversing and taking with it one of the electricity cables above the road. The cable hung over the bus and Kent went to look for a stick to lift it off but in the meantime a local guy decided that it was a tv cable and lifted it off with his hand. Luckily there was no power in it and he didn't die, we weren't looking forward to having to try our resusitation techniques!
They have great bread here! Next on to Salta in a convuluted way.
