After I left the internet cafe last time, we stopped by the hotel and found out that we would be getting a public bus again the next day as Ewan wanted to stay in town and wait for a spare part just in case and he would catch up with us again. That night, I bought a beautiful alpaca poncho that is so soft and so cheap. Had a nice dinner again before curling up in the lovely cold hotel.

So the bus was meant to pick us up at 7am. 8.30am it finally turned up and we loaded on. A few minutes after we started driving, we could hear the question 'Why are we going into the bus station'? So the private bus that Ross had booked, wasn't so private. He went down and had a few words with them and they said that the bus we were meant to be on was stuck on the side of a road somewhere because it couldn't do a river crossing so they had given us this bigger bus but they had to take on other passengers aswell. Nothing Ross could do, these people had bought tickets and they were getting on. This is Bolivian business practices.

There were 3 of us on the backseat (including Ross) and one of the guys came down and begged us to move as there was a group of people that wanted 4 seats together. Also, the tickets the passengers had bought had seat numbers on them, and of course we had all spread out since we had paid for the bus. He begged and begged and Ross just kept telling him 'No, we booked a private bus'. The guys gave up. So off we headed, a source of much conversation amongst the locals I am sure, as we kept hearing the word 'gringo'.

It was meant to be a 6hr drive on another crappy unsealed road. Well, it would have been 6 hrs if they had remembered to put petrol in the tank. That's right, we ran out of petrol. There was other things wrong with that bus aswell because he was not driving fast enough for a South American driver. Once they got some petrol out to us, it then took about 4 of them to figure out how to get it in the tank. Oh well, we eventually arrived in the town about 5.30pm. It was a long, long day. So, instead of the bush camp, we actually stayed in a hotel which was a relief to most people.

So on NYE morning, we were finally able to load back into the truck, which everyone was glad about. Had about 3hrs of crappy road before we made it to the border with Argentina. Our passports were stamped with exit stamps from Bolivia and then stamped into Argentina. We did need to get our bags out for them to be searched before they allowed us in. It was then 6hrs of bliss on sealed roads to our destination of Salta. Such a huge difference here with sealed roads, really nice cars and even the scenery is different.

We are camping here in Salta. We had read there was a huge pool here. Well, there is a huge pool, but it has no water. We put our tents up and then had a few drinks before getting ready. A group of us had dinner booked for 10pm (Argentina style) at a steak house where we had been told the steaks were absolutely amazing and they were. Me and Irish Ross shared a vege grill and steak (most meals are for 2 people). It was incredible. The steak just melted in your mouth, you wouldn't have needed teeth to eat it. No one could stop talking about how good it was. At midnight, fireworks started going off and they really haven't stopped since. We walked to the bar/club street and had a few more drinks. I think I headed home about 4am to crawl into my tent, only coming out about 9.30am because it was so hot inside.

So yesterday was a lovely day of absolutely nothing. Slept and read. I actually just finished The Kite Runner which is a fab book for anyone looking for a recommendation. This arvo I am going horse riding. A group went this morning and then we are all meeting for an included steak BBQ and wine before a group of us ride this arvo, however it is drizzly with rain outside, can only hope it clears up.
Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and all the best for the New Year. Can you believe it is 2009!!!