Bonjour,

After a horrible bus journey up to Salta we eventually arrived at 18.30, there are massive strikes going on right now and the farmers are blocking roads, petrol is not as readily available as usual so our bus company decided to merge our bus with the one that was running 30mins before it to save money.

After sitting on the bus for around 2hrs we stopped to let other people get on, the conducter boy came up to us and told us we had to move upstairs to the cheap seats (we booked the good seats as it was a 20hr bus journey), we pretty much had to move because the guy wanted to put 2 locals on our seats, worried we might get turfed out in the middle of no-where we decided to go up to the cheap seats, go pretty much no sleep and felt like crap when we arrived in Salta, the guy baltently didnt care that we had payed for the expensive seats. Was best pleased with the bus company but they wouldnt care if you complained(even if we did speak spanish)

Arrived in Salta and took a taxi to the hostel, we taxi driver took us to the other end of town, while we were thinking that everyone in Argertina was an idiot we realised we´d given him ther wrong address, oops!!

Stayed at the backpackers Hostel and on first impressions it looked pretty dodgy, 2other guys in the room who might have been deaf mutes as they didnt talk or respond to us.It was pasta night so we signed up and the was pretty good, had 2 massive portions of bolognase and so did brid. Cost like 2quid i think. Met up with a finnish girl we met in Mendoza and had a couple of drinks in the bar that was part of the hostel.

Got up quite late the next day and te 2 deaf mutes have checked out, bonus.Spoke to the guy at reception and he suggested and city tour, started off at the cable cars which was quite good but nothing amazing. Nothing really exciting to look at in the town,Argentina seems to be the grafitti capital of the world, everywhere we´ve been has be sprayed, there was a jesus thing at the top of the hill and someone even wrote all over that, in the crappy zoo in Mendoza some dafty had even spend ages grafitting a cactus!!

We decided to walk down the hill as there was a Gaucho monument at the bottom, it was further that we thought and we were both pretty knackered. Walked through the town and stopped for some lunch. Stopped in past the supermarket to pick up some supplies. Most people in Argentina seem to have no manners and would quite happoly shoulder barge you to get to the fruit isle. We have tried shoulder barging them back and they dont even care, no escuse me or nothing!!

Decided to stay at the hostel that night for the asado(BBQ), it was an all you can eat night, probably didnt eat as much as we should have we had a fair go at it. Met a couple, one was a fellow tattie mucher from Glaway so brid and her was chatting away about random irish things, the boy was from Melbourne but had been staying in Edinburgh for ages, had a conversation about stovies!! After speaking to them for a good while we found out they were also in Mendoza and had met a couple who had also bumped into the randon guy from belgium, turns out he has a lonely planet thread dedicated to him, so Guy from Belgium GTF, i hope you get bitten by a rabbid dog!!

Next day we decided to book one of the tours from the hostel to Cafayete, set of at half 7 seven feeling pretty tired, luckily we got to sleep in the mini bus for a wee bit.

Drove up into the andeas and stopped at old waterfalls, and got to climb up some pretty big rocks. The scenery good and the guide was a good laugh. Got to feed some llames which weren´t as stinky as i first imagined they would be. Couple more wineyards, i still dont like wine even though i have been to 4 wineyards. Headed to the town of Carayete next for some lunch order stuff we had no idea about but it turned out to be good, have some wierd cheese and honey for desert. A cool looking dog decided to follow us about the whole time in Cafayete, but i was to scared to touch it incase it was like Kujo(watch the film if you havent seen it). Got back to the hostel and went for dinner with the irish and ozzie folk. Went to a traditional gaucho restaurant, there was a decent band on and some gaucho dancing, which is quite similar to morris dancing but not as gay. The receptionist guy from the hostel was leaving today to head of to germany and then Holland to play football, he is signing for some 1st division dutch team, cant remember the name, i told him if he becomes the next maradona he better sign for Aberdeen. It was a 2day guacho festival so none of the bars were open so we just headed home.

Next day was washing day, and i was strangely excited. my washing bag was pretty potent at this point, i tried to have a big waft but it was even to bad for me, Brids bag wasnt better and one off her tops stank so much i almost puked when i smelt the pit!! Bought a termal top as the temp on the salt flats are gonna be about minus-20 at night, cant wait!! Decided to cook out own food tonight as we were fed up eating out, make some veggie soup, and shared it with the finnish girl who had come back from horse riding. Like a couple of old farts we sat outdside in the sun and read our books, have a late siesta beside the fire and then headed up to the bar for a couple of light ales. There was some more gaucho dancing and brid got up to dance with the gaucho boy. I think the woman could see that my magic feet would put her to shame so luckily(for her) i didnt have to dance, i dont think she could have have handled the tiger feet. Headed to bed pretty late, some people went to a bar with the staff but we haver to get up in the moring to chekc out so we politly declined.

Next day we decided to do nothing, booked the bus to the Argentina/Bolivia border, its not till 1o clock in the morning though, had another wander around town before making some sarnies for lunch. Am just away to finish up here as the football is away to start.

Will hopefully have plenty of internet access in Bolivia but im not to sure,if there are heaps of spelling mistakes its because i am writing on a keyboard with no letters. it harder than you think!!

Toodlepip