I'M IN SALTA, northern Argentina, which means... JUMP!

THE RETURN OF TRAVEL TOP TRUMPS - THE SOUTH AMERICA EDITION...

Buenos Aires - Puerto Iguazu, Door-to-door - 21 hrs, Distance - 1067 Km aprox, Food - 8 (steak dinner!), MP3 player reliability - 0 (disaster), Films - 6, Luxury factor - 7, Sleep quality - 8 (best night's sleep I had had so far in S.Am).

So yes indeed buses in South America are something else. I actually felt like I was flying business class! It's sometimes worth it to pay the extra 10quid for the 'cama' super seats if its a long journey. VERY different from my Asian night bus experiences. The trouble is in Arg at the moment the prices are three times as high as the Lonely Planet says. The travel bible has failed me in this, alas. I think it has something to do with it being the summer holidays for the locals and inflation. Budget busted.

Arrived in Puerto Iguazu the following day. The sun was, well, hotter than the sun. I think it was about 37 degrees that day. It's a very small town, so I easily found the hostel I had booked and was ecsatic to see it had a pool. Bliss. The next day it was off to see the famous Cataratas de Iguazu; massive waterfalls that bridge the border of Arg and Brazil. Caught the local bus and bumped into a guy in the queue from my hostel in BA. It's a small world eh? (Even smaller when I realised he was friends with a guy I met in Sydney!) So me and Uri from Sydney teamed up for a day of wonderment and awe at the waterfalls. They really are breathtaking. So, so much water. It sent me completely giddy at the sight of it. And I've seen Niagara Falls, and yes it's better! There's nothing I can really say to describe how amazing they are; words abandon me. We took the boat round the bottom of the falls and got totally drenched and exhilarated. Spotted many exciting local wildlife like Coaties (picture a racoon crossed with a badger crossed with a possum). We also adopted a canadian girl in a hilarious case of mistaken identity. Rounded of the day with debatably cold beers, 2am snacks at the 24 hour bakery and my adopted stray dog; Diego. Faithful hound! Parted ways with my tempory team (always sad!) but it was onwards to Salta with my new team-mate Willie (Villie!) from Holland, who I found was headed the same way as me.

Puerto Iguazu - Salta, Door-to-door time - 24 hrs, Distance - 1094 Km, Grumpyness of staff - 9 (V.high), Police checkpoints - 2, Sleep - 5 (poor), Food - 3 (dreadful), Horrifically huge spiderwebs witnessed - 10 (seriously, as tall as telegraph poles!)

So not all that impressed with this company compared to the last, seeming as it was more expensive(?!) but got there in one piece which is the main thing. Dragged our tired selves across Salta to the hostel, which is lovely. It is alot less humid here, so not as uncomfortable as before. Salta is a lovely place, I like it very much here. It has a beautiful central square with outdoor cafes and restaurants, it's laid back and surrounded on all sides by hills. In the distance you can see the Andes... this is what I'm talking about! Around the Salta area there are some cool things to see and do, but without your own transport they are difficult to get to, so it was with some trepidation that I booked onto two tours with Willie. You know I'm not a great fan of the Tour-tourism, but it had to be done, and they were cheap...

DAY 1 - It seemed that we had been bundled in with the Argentinian retirees - jubliados! Such a better word in spanish... and our tour guide Ariel did his best with some English, bless him, but this was a good day for practising mi Espanol. He also seemed to have a range of addictions which needed contast feeding... Mate (Ma-tay, a local herbal drink I'll tell you about), smoking and coffee. We went north to Pumapunamcacacaca or something, to see the 7 Coloured Mountain. It really is 7 colours (maybe 6?) and very impressive indeed. Took in some cute provincial-type places with many photo-ops and then always back to the bus to be serenaded by panpipe music. Up and up we went through incredible desert-mountains. To a mini-macchu pichu from Inca times, also very interesting. We reached Humahuacacacaca at an altitude of 3000 metres at lunch. Felt quite light-headed and tired, got a bit giggley whilst wandering around - lack of oxygen you know. But no other bad effects. Ariel had decided he was my future husband-to-be, and was trying his best to impress me with his local knowledge at every moment, much to Willie's amusement (he was 40 plus!). We arrived back in Salta late and were totally exhausted. Quick Super-Pancho (massive street-hotdog!) and bed was in order.

DAY 2 - This time we were with the international crowd, so got a lovely young guide called Jorge, who was hilarious in both spanish and english, and very cool. This time we were south-bound for the valleys and gorges of Quebrada (I think?) and a town called Cafayate with lots and lots of vineyards... excellent news, I thought. Learnt some fasinating things about how all the rocks got their pretty colours from mineral deposits millions of years ago, and about how the Nazca and Brasilia tectonic plates are crunching together to form the Andes chain and the amazing formations we were seeing. It was a game of spot-the-rock that morning - we passed The Titanic, The Rabbit-with-no-ears, The Priest and many more interesting shaped rocks. Seriously though, the landscape is like nothing I've ever seen. Completely vast and dramatic to the max. I was reeeeally excited to see Condors circling overhead. They are a really important symbol of Argentina and the famous Route 40, which I will take south to Patagonia. Yes, it is the one that Che took :) The wine tasting was a little rushed and there wasn't enough for my liking.. but apparently that's not the idea... tasty wine none-the-less. Little Cafayate was a lovely, sleepy little town with another beautiful central square. Then back on the bus...sigh. This is the problem I have with 'tours'; too much time spent on buses and taking pictures and rushing about. I like a more sedentry approach to things, to take time to explore the wonders around me. However, alot of distance had to be covered, so I had to make an exception this time. Jorge was great on the way back and explained a fasinating tradition of the little cairns you see around - which I will share with you... When the Incas used to send out runners 100s of miles around from Cusco to reach the far-off provences they would often become lonely, sad and despairing in the cold, harsh desert. At times like these, they would pick up a stone and press it to their chest, allowing the great Pacha Mama (mother-earth) to soak away their sadness into the rock. They would place it on the ground, and in time small piles of sad-rocks grew. It brought them great comfort to see that others had been before them, with similar feelings. Nowadays, people still have great respect for these small shrines (they could be ancient!) and leave offerings of coca leaves, alcohol and cigerettes (the most obvious choice for offerings, don't you think?) to show their thanks to Pacha Mama and the lonely messengers. I liked that.

Today I have been up the Cerro de San Bernado (possilbly? Sorry, I'm not doing well with remembering the names of things in this post!) in a cable car that was made in Switzerland. Of course! Great views from the top right across Salta and the hills. Wandered back down the mountain, but it is super hot today, so it's siesta time. It's so massively like Spain, sometimes I forget where I really am. Tried some yummy local food recently - the empañadas that are predominant throughout Arg, tasty chicken pie thing, and Huminatas - like ground corn cooked in the leaves, it's really nice and very autentic northern food. The sky is a permanant perfect blue. Couldn't ask for nicer weather really, the tan is coming on beautifully. At night Salta comes alive, like so much of South America. People flood the streets to do their shopping, meet friends and have dinner. It's such a great atmosphere and way of life. Yeah, I'm feeling pretty content with things here, can you tell?

Tomorrow I hit the 6 month mark. Incredibley. To be honest I'm starting feeling it, seem to be perpetually exhuasted. Things are taking their toll, but It'll sort itself out. Also means I have only 4 months left... I feel under pressure to get a move on, but I still have 4 weeks in Arg. I'm eager to go north to Bolivia and beyond, everyone I meet raves about them. But my Patagonian dreams must be realised first. The long journey south starts tomorrow...

Thanks for reading guys, miss you all

Els x