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Alex and I were excited about returning to Argentina. Bolivia is probably the most beautiful country in South America, and definitely different to home, but it is exhausting and unhygienic. From the moment I entered the country I had been varying levels of unwell and life had progressed into pringles, snickers and TV in bed, which we had mostly resisted before in our travels.
Today is our 18th semanniversary. Despite our later-than-planned bedtime, we were down at breakfast at its commencement at 7am... only to find nothing out ready. We finished off our bags and took them back down with us, determined to stick to our target to be on a bus by 8am. Oddly the pancakes were still stone cold?!
We walked to the collectivo stand nextdoor to the bus station and here we were obscenely hounded by 10 collectivo drivers who bombarded us more than any others to date. We refused to cooperate with any of them until they backed off, but one clever man just got in his car and pulled up with two spaces left, so we got in and met a nice British couple - Sam and Emily - inside. The drive to Villazon was really comfortable and scenic. We got dropped off in town and had to walk 4 blocks to the border, on the way struggling to find bottles of water to drink - probably because they´re legal, unlike the various contraband on offer at the masses of stalls lining the road.
The border crossing was very straightforward, and when I told the Argentinian Immigration Officer that we were going to Salta he said it was ´muy linda´. We bumped into Samily again at the immigration window and so decided to share a taxi to the La Quiaca bus terminal. Here we were greeted by a group of nice, helpful men to sell us bus tickets to Salta. The bus was leaving in 10 minutes and when we asked if there was a toilet on board, the response was "of course there is, this is Argentina!". No so, it seems. When we got on the bus we found a sign saying ´No funcionar´ on it, and not only that but the driver informed us we´d have to transfer buses to get to Salta. I thought it didn´t seem that different to Bolivia yet!
The 4 hours to San Salvador de Jujuy were spectacular - gaucho territory with herds of llamas, tethered and healthy-looking horses, cacti and mountains with really remarkable strata. Not only that, but the road was smooth and comfortable! We arrived at Jujuy at 3:45pm Argentinian time just as our connecting bus to Salta was about to depart. The driver urged me to get on and then noticed my ticket didn´t have much of the requisite information and then turned really mean. He drove us and the next bus that our tickets were valid for was in an hour and a half. So the four of us sat in a tiny, greasy spoon cafe and had a really good coffee - the first since we left Argentina, with the exception of the one Federico gave us in our office in Bogota. Time passed quickly, including a trip to the loo where the little old man behind the desk had to ask if I was a tourist or not.
We got on the next bus to Salta, and south of Jujuy we noticed the scenery change markedly from Bolivian to Argentinian, although it was much less beautiful. At Salta we arrived in the rain, said bye to Samily and took a taxi to Hostel Sol Huasi, which is a really cool, yet stifling hot hostel in the middle of the city. Compared to the staff in Bolivia, everything was so relaxed and easy. As it was 8pm we went to the main square to enjoy a 3 course meal featuring pumpkin tart, steak, malbec and ice cream sat out on the square. Soon after arriving the bellringers commenced an abrasive noise that went on for ages and sounded like a car alarm. The cool bit was that you could see them doing it in the Cathedral tower.
Part into our meal 2 x half German, half Guatemalens sat by us and started to tell us that talent was recently thought to be more due to nurture rather than nature, although they lost my attention when they referred to Tiger Woods as an athlete. After the meal, just as we were about to leave, it started to pour with rain and after waiting some time in the arches, decided to run for it. We returned to the hostel and put the kettle on while 2 x frenchmen harmonised while cooking beef in the kitchen.
Day 127 - The hostel provides free breakfast, but when we emerged in the morning the ´dining room´ was dominated by french people and it became a very intimidating affair for so early on in the morning. Instead we decided to go out for breakfast, although it didn´t take long to remind ourselves that breakfast in Argentina is never more than two small pastries. We found somewhere that could offer me a cheese and ham tostada - just about substantial enough! We spent the morning catching up online, which was a bit of a blessing after Bolivian internet. By the time we left for lunch we could hear snoring and saw a man lying on his back across three chairs in the internet cafe asleep!
Outside the entire town was shut up and deserted - siesta is alive and well in Argentina (as is the mullet, incidentally), but we managed to locate a restaurant on the main plaza that was open and able to serve us salad and sandwiches.... because the tap water is safe here! Horray! After lunch we walked the 30 minutes or so to the bus station to by onward bus tickets to Cordoba, and then sauntered back. Near to our hostel we happened upon a really cool gaucho shop that sold everything a gaucho would need, including ponchos and saddles, so we each bought ourselves a belt to give us a legitimate reason to go in!
We nipped in a supermarket to buy some milk for tea, and found 4 British lads standing out at the cashier because the lady would only let them buy one bottle of beer each, and they were clearly trying to buy more! We met them in the hostel: Dan, George, Liam and James, and ended up hanging out with them in the evening. Alex went out again to buy provisions: pasta and wine, and then we stayed up until 1:30am playing cards. As we were going to bed, Liam took us to the door of the room so that we could hear Dan´s snoring, but I could hear it way before then! It was incredible. After weeks of this poor Liam was in need of a good night´s sleep, so came and slept in one of the bunks in our room!
Day 128 - Checked out at 10am and had breakfast at the hostel as there were less people about this time! A lot of today was spent trying to arrange an online money transfer so that we could get a better rate of exchange... essentially the Argentinian economy is so unstable that if you take pesos directly from an ATM you get a rate of 9:1, but if you transfer money and collect it, the rate increases to 14:1, which is effectively the difference between a bus being expensive or cheap. With that business done, Alex and I drank a juice in the main square watching worker men working on the worst Christmas tree we have ever seen, and a nasty brat next to us pick up unsuspecting pigeons by their wings.
For lunch we headed to the mercado central, which is a real labyrinth of stalls and eateries. We found a nice little place that did delicious empanadas and were amazed by the number of independent sellers roaming the tables trying to make a deal with anyone who would give them time of day. We left the market just as siesta was taking effect and walked to the teleferico, buying a one-way ticket up. At the top we went straight for ice creams and sat down to admire the view. After 10 minutes the lads happen to show up, so we sat with them until it was time to start making our way back down (they had return tickets because they were lazy and were even thinking of then taking a taxi from the teleferico back to the hostel). The walk down was nice, and on the way we bumped into Alastair (who we met doing the WMDR and in Tupiza since), who left Bolivia a day after us but managed to get caught up in two road blocks on his way out of Tupiza!
Back in the centro we went in search of dinner before our nightbus, but despite scouring the city, nowhere was open or was likely to open before 8pm! Sodding siesta! In the end we found a trendy bar near to our hostel that was serving light meals and we both had a really good salad with fresh breadsticks. All of a sudden pressed for time we went back to the hostel to collect our things and say bye to the lads, and then took a taxi (that happened to be playing `Eiffel 65` very loudly) to the bus station. On the bus we were sat right at the front of the top deck; apparently they played two films in english, but I wouldn´t know because the moment I sat down I was pretty much asleep!
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