So we hopped on our bus from Uyuni, heading to Argentina (and we hoped some civiliasation!) Just before getting on the bus some lovely Bolivians who were sniggering at me from afar came across to ask me how I could wear leggingings in the freezing temperatures of Bolivia....luckily they had no camera to snap the evidence of the stupid westerner and this was to be our last communication with the lovely Bolivian folks...sad times! From here we took our over night bus which was pretty comfortable and we arrived in Vilazon in the early hours of the morning. From here we had to trek with beautiful backpacks to the Argentinian border where the queue was already about half a mile long! After a couple of hours of queing we bumped into Elma and Niall again who were with an older American lady, our two Irish amigos said hello and then went to the back of the line, the American lady however decided she would stand in front of me and Hel, cue much grumbling from me, claiming that some people need to witness the art of English manners and the queing system until eventually she asked if I wanted to stand in front of her and I shut my mouth! After about 4 hours we managed to meet with the Argentinian officials and request to see their stunning country, so stunning because the argentinian men look like bloody models...me and helen were not complaining! After walking to the bus station and booking a bus to Salta we tried our first Empanada (basically a cornish pasty!) and borded the bus. Here things got a bit hectic as in our naivety of all things Argentinian we had thrown our bags in the luggage compartment without paying so the bus driver was refusing to set off until we parted with some cash! This was a system that got very old very quickly as whichever local took off/put on your bags you had to tip to avoid having fishguts poured over your luggage! Anyway we made it to Salta at about 8pm and got a taxi to our hostel...the second one after the first being fully booked...and met a lovely hostel receptionist who convinced us to go to bbq that night at a different hostel. So me and hel along with a german girl we met had a walk (surprisingly feeling completely safe and carefree compared to our nights in Bolivia!) to the other hostel to sample our first bit of Argentinan steak and wine....amazing! This was followed by a band of young folk singers who entertained us with traditional Aregentinan songs and finished with the well known backstreet boys! All in all a good night and we slept pretty soundly in our beds after having a few glasses of vino! The next day I paid my dues and went to mass (what a good girl!) to check out the cathedral which was gorgeous, then me and Helen sat out in the main square which was stunning and read our books. After a few hours we went for a wander and ended up at an ice cream store and it was here, happily sitting with our tubs of calorie ridden ice cream that we were hounded by a drunk middle aged man who insisted on sitting with us, trying to converse with us through our spanish phrase book and then made us follow him to the lakeside! By this point helen was getting ready to protest particulally as the older man seemed to be staggering even worse now and was getting closer and closer to us...gross! Eventually we reaised that he was trying to show us a huge festival that was going on at the lake side and we very sadly 'lost' the old guy in the crowds! The festival was lovely with loads of markets and people celebrating by the lake so we stopped for a drink and watcheds family boating around some giant fish in the lake (Helen squealed many a time!) The next day we hopped on a bus to Puerto Iguazu (the home of the huge Iguazu waterfalls) and got ready for seeing one of the new eight wonders of the world! While we were here we bumped into a lovely English couple up had just retired and were spending the next few months travelling around south america, we had a few drinks with them and swapped horror stories and good places to go and the next day the hostel gave us a huge note pad of information they had written for us on where to go in South East Aisa, complete with instructions on when to wear a jumper! How sweet! After getting this we took a mini bus down to site of the water falls, with me and helen yabbering all the way as we were soooo excited! The waterfalls are set in the middle of jungle and there were lizards and were looking creatures running around all over the place....our idea of hell! We wandered around the vast area and saw some breathtaking waterfalls, you could barely hear yourself speak above the noise of the water...very cool! We were wandering around when this american guy stopped to have a chat and show us a massive spider which grossed us out but we still tried in vain to take a photo of it. After we snapped away Helen asked me if there was something in her hair- now Helen scares very very easily when it comes bugs and the like so I always take these questions with a pinch of salt...that was until I saw the bloody white poisonous looking spider perched on the top of her head. Unfortunately I could not remain calm and the look on my face along with my swearing had helen flapping like a head chicken screaming at the top of her lungs for me to get it off her! Obviously I was going nowhere bloody near the venomous beast so I flung my camera case at it and it dropped off somewhere and dissapeared from our view. We had definately created a scene as there was by now a group of about ten people stood around to watch our hysterics which did continue long into the day! Once we had spotted one spider, we could see hundreds, literally! Dangling around all over, which left my fidgeting throughout the day, asking helen to check every cm of me for alien bodies! Eventually though we got over it and went for a ride on the boat which takes you on a quick tour of the waterfalls. Basically for 5 minutes you are bounced under these huge rapids until you can't breath, fun stuff! I was laughing already when an old man's glasses were knocked off by a tiny wave but I soon stopped when we went under the waterfall and it felt like a bath full of freezing water was being thrown sideways at you. Very invigorating! Luckily it didn't take long for the 30 degree humid heat to dry us off and we went back to the hostel, very pleased with ourselves, ready to head to RIO!!!