I am afraid we didnt give Salta much of a chance. It was very cold sleeting a bit and we missed the wonderful desert. The first night there we went for the obligatory steak meal. We had the smallest one on the menu and it was still big enough to feed a family so I asked for a doggy bag. We had done this before and fed the strays in Cuba and now we were trawling the streets of
Salta freezing and looking for strays. We actually found a lot of them in them city centre and were very moved to find that some kind people had put fleeces on all of them. They were thrilled with their unexpected luck.

We booked to go to the Iguassu falls by overnight bus again but I persuaded my long suffering brother and sister that it would be nice to go horse riding in
Argentina. Almost as obligatory as the steak. So off we headed in the car with Diego a very handsome articulate young man who was their front man. He was the first of many charming Argentine men we met. They are very open and easy with one another and with aging foreigners who mangle their language. Thats me not Claire. The owner of the ranch was another charmer if a bit more obvious. He had 28 horses 3 or 4 gauchos to take the ride outs , Diego and 2 young Americans to translate for him. He ruled this kingdom from a farmhouse that was straight from that film Like water for chocolate. ? Our gaucho was riding a very highly strung horse. At one time we got entangled in bushes and he whirled past us whipping out his machete to cut the bushes back and whirled back into his position at the rear of the group in about two seconds. It was an awsome moment. The owner insisted we share a very large bottle of wine after the ride as he had experience of the Irish!!! We staggered on to the pus and recovered. This was even more comfortable as it was a cama(bed) bus so we lay down nearly flat for the journey. It was uninteresting scenery after the last bus journey going through quite green pampas and past enormous ranches. It looked as green and familiar as home at times until you saw the gauchos rounding up hundreds of cows.