Well, since Monday morning we've been on the move. We left Tupiza by train and headed for the Argentinian border. The train brought us as far as Villazon, where we crossed over into Argentina.

From there we hopped on an afternoon bus to Salta. Unfortunately, the man who sold us our tickets was not the most honest. As a result, instead of arriving in Salta at 11pm like we had hoped, we had to switch buses in a smaller city, Jujuy, and that bus left at 11pm! We arrived in Salta just before 1am - quite a longer day of traveling that we had expected! We did make a friend with an Irish traveler - Alan, who spent most of the day with us. He is following the same travel path as Mark and I, and almost the same time frame!

We checked into a hostel in Salta that we found in the lonely planet guide. It would do well enough for one night but there was definitely a bit of a cockroach presence there. Ugh! First time for everything I guess....

Despite this, we all slept well and decided to pack up and head out the next day. We bought bus tickets for a night bus to Cordoba and then had the day to just wander around Salta. A much more metropolitan city than we've seen in a long time, it felt like being in Europe more so than South American. Salta had big plazas with side walk cafes and lots of pedestrian streets. While in Salta, we discovered that the Argentinian cuisine might not be quite as wholesome as in Peru and Bolivia - the red meat and fried aspect of our options got old after only one meal.

Our night bus to Cordoba was great - comfy and smooth. Made for a good sleep. Cordoba is the second biggest city in Argentina (behind Buenos Aires). Again, feels very European. We checked into a hostel and Mark and I set out to find a vegetarian restaurant so we could get at least some vegetables into our systems!

Cordoba is a very modern, and therefore quite expensive city so the four of us decided to get groceries last night and make our own dinner at the hostel. We had a great veggie/bean salad and veggie pasta in last night and then headed out for some gourmet Cordoba ice cream.

This morning we are packing up and heading to the bus station again after breakfast. Although we've been traveling a lot, we've seen enough of the city and are ready to make a break for the mountains again. We are heading either to Neuquen or if we can stomach it, a 20 hour ride all the way to our destination city, Bariloche, right in the lakes district of Argentina.