I arrived in Salta on Thursday and checked into hostel Terra Oculta. I was very tired after my 20 hour bus ride so I slept for abit and then had a look around the city.

The main plaza is called Plaza 9 de Julio and it ios beautiful! It is surrounded by grand buildings and a cathedral and looks very pretty at night when it is all lit up. On Friday I had a look round a museum which is dedicated to the discovery of 3 inca children on the top of a mountain in the andes. It was apparently an inca ritual to sacrifice children who were deemed to be perfect in appearance. It was a great honour to be chosen and the children would be given over to gods by being buried on mountain peaks as this was deemed to be closest to the gods. Due to the cold temperatures and lack of oxygen at 7000m the bodies of three children were discovered in almost perfect condition! The museum displays the artefacts that were buried with them to represent their lives but you can also see one of the bodies as well!! It was a pretty erie sight but very interesting at the same time, especially as I´m heading on to Peru where the incas lived.

On friday, two girls who I had met in mendoza arrived. We had agreed to meet up again in salta as we are all going on the same route through bolivia and peru.

We went on a tour to Cafayate, a town south of Salta on saturday. We left at 7am and it was sooo cold! The van had no heating and although we had been assured we would have an english speaking guide, he said he spoke very little english! Luckily for me the two girls (Heather and Lauren) speak spanish and were able to translate! We stopped at a number of sights along the way and the scenery was beautiful! We passed by huge mountains all in different colours. There was also a spot called garganta del diablo (the devil´s throat) which is a place where the mountain has been eroded by wind and rain to create a sort of sink hole. It was an amazing sight.

When we got to cafayate we had lunch and I sampled some wine icecream which was very nice. There cant be that many places in the world that sell it and this place claimed to be the first place to sell it so i thought i had better try it!

On saturday night there was a bbq at the hostel which was really fun and the food was great. we then headed into the city centre with a few others from the hostel. We went to Bar21 which was really fun.

Yesterday and today have been chill out days. It has actually been very warm during the day which makes a welcome change so I have spent a good few hours reading in the park and on the hostel balcony!

Tomorrow we are off to huamahueca which is a town north of salta. To get there you pass through a beautiful valley and past the seven colour mountains so im looking forward to that! We will then head onto Bolivia where beth and sarah will be! Need to buy some more jumpes though a si have been warned of the cold there!