Even
though we were up before breakfast was supposed to begin supplies had already
been delivered so we could fortify ourselves for the long journey ahead.
The
first couple of hours saw us on long, long, straight roads – no motorways or
highways this time but to be honest there isn’t a great deal of traffic
around. The scenery was marginally more
interesting and we actually drove over the odd hillock and got glimpses of
hills on the horizon. We could only hope
the journey would improve and once again we were bathed in bright sunshine. In actual fact it was so low in the sky it
was blinding us so we decided to delve into the phrase book in the hope that
next time we’re listening to someone at least a few words might sound familiar. I’m not sure how much we’re retaining!
As
we rolled on towards noon the scenery greatly improved; we’d left farmland
behind and were travelling through natural scrub with lots of birds fluttering
around. We even went through a low lying
range of hills but unfortunately dropped down out of them after 100kms or
so. We’d just started to enjoy the
journey when the TV went on and we were subjected to a montage of very bad
1980’s hits. To be honest we’ve noticed
that pop music is in a serious time warp over here – I’ve not hear Aha so much
in decades! Once that DVD had finished
it was a never ending stream of action films which we annoyingly in English –
hey ho!
On
the plus side our Andesmar bus was very comfortable and we had loads of
room. They make regular stops to
dispatch and collect passengers with slightly longer stops strategically timed
for handy loo breaks. To our surprise
not long after midday we were all given a packed lunch – simple fare but tasty
and very welcome. Later on we were given
a brew kit containing sachets galore but we were never presented with a cup or
hot water – hmm!
About
45kms from Salta we were asked to switch onto another coach as the one we’d
been on all day was shooting off further north.
In the end we had a private coach to town and within minutes we were in
a taxi and headed for El Argentino Hostel.
We’ve definitely come down a notch in terms of quality now that we’ve
dropped down to the US$30 range. We
decided it was wiser to use our sleeping bags so I extracted them from the
bottom of the rucsac, spread them on the bed and we crawled in. It had been a long day – 14 hours and over
1000kms – goodnight!
Despite
our room not being the best and annoyingly located right off the communal area and
therefore noisiest, we slept right the way through. For once fellow guests were up earlier than
us and it was just as well as we couldn’t get out of the room. I’d struggled to lock the door the previous
evening and jokingly said we wouldn’t be able to get out in the morning. This proved to be prophetic and we had to
pass the key under the door for the early risers to let us out. I told you we’d gone down a notch!
Unfortunately
the weather has taken a turn for the worse and although it is still dry it is
much colder and the skies are grey and cloudy.
We didn’t really expect to see any sunshine until much later in the trip
so the first week was an added bonus.
Today’s activities included the now seemingly ubiquitous wander around
town but there’s an added bonus to Salta.
This is still a big city at almost half a million people but the old
area where we’re located is near the outskirts.
And, on the outskirts of the city a hill called Cerro San Bernardo is to
be found. What are hills for? Answer? Walking up for views of the city and
surrounding area – in theory. We could
see the city alright and realised just how far and wide it spread out. A few of the nearer hills could be glimpsed
through the gloom but we couldn’t see beyond to the mountains. Maybe it’s best we don’t see what’s coming up
next until we’re there.
Salta
has turned out to be by far the most touristy place we’ve visited and to be
fair there are loads of lovely old buildings to gawp at and photograph. We declared the main square namely, Plaza 9
de Julio, the best we’ve seen yet as it was surrounded by impressive buildings
from a range of eras. It would have been
lovely to sit and have a brew but it was way too cold and we realised that most
places hadn’t opened – well it was only just approaching 10 o’clock! Later in the day we found Parque San Martin
in which to have our picnic but it was way too cold to be sitting around so
decided to make our way back to the hostel.
On the way we took in another impressive church and had a quick potter
around the market. There were loads of vegetables,
herbs and spices on sale so why haven’t they learnt to put them in their food
yet? We’re already craving rice and
spice and I’d love to have a veggie meal!
For
saying I’ve not given this hostel a favourable write-up you may be surprised to
read that we’ve chosen to spend time here.
Well I think you’ve got the message about the outdoor ambient
temperature plus hostels are usually mercifully quiet during the afternoon. We’ve got the place to place to ourselves to
make brews, write journals and catch up with e-mails. Other than a bus trip to the border tomorrow
morning this is our last day in Argentina.
So we decided pikey brews in the hostel left us with more money to enjoy
a good meal and bottle of wine(?) later.
For
saying this road trip through Argentina wasn’t part of the original plans we’re
glad the airline went bust as we’ve enjoyed experiencing more of the
country. Capital cities never give an
accurate picture of the rest of the country and this way we feel we’ve had a
proper taster. We’ve found the people to
be very friendly, polite and honest and would be more than happy to explore
this country further in the future should the opportunity arise.
Gracias Argentina! Next stop Bolivia.
