And so the story continues...

Undeterred by our failure the previous day, without wifi, a bus or even a bed for the night, we got up at 6.30 to climb a mountain to see the sunrise on the seven coloured hills of Purmamarca, as the dedicated tourists we are! It was pitch black and after a rather treacherous walk over the shallow river bed and up a steep mountain path we made it. The view was relatively underwhelming compared to the day before, particularly because there was too much cloud to really illuminate the coloured hills. Our bad luck continued.

We headed back to the room, packed our bags, and walked to the bus stop. We were determined to either hitchhike our way to San Pedro (quite common in Argentina and Chile), or wait for the next bus to a big town where we could at least stay the next few nights without paying a small fortune. At that point however our luck turned.

At the bus stop we got speaking to a girl who was waiting for the full bus to San Pedro, which was supposed to have come over an hour before. It turned out her friend was meant to also be coming, but had dropped out. We decided to wait for the bus to see if there was another seat that hadn't turned up, and so two seats we could either buy or bribe the driver for. The bus came shortly after, and had another noshow seat! We bought the tickets (giving the drivers both a large tip to thank them for letting us) and got on our way!

As it happens, the bus ride from Salta to San Pedro is famous for being one of the most scenic, certainly in South America. The views were absolutely stunning, it was incredible and we were so lucky to be able to do it. Look at the pictures, all taken on the bus! And they really don't do it justice at all. Amazing.

And to top it all off, a mere hour at the border crossing. Practically unheard of.