After travelling through Bolivia for the last month or so it was a nice suprise to arrive in Argentina. It is a stark but welcome change almost as soon as you cross the border. The bus we finally managed to get on was modern and the axles were not hanging off due to the fact that the roads in Argentina are paved with asphalt rather than being honed from solid rock as we had come to expect from Bolivia. Our smooth overnight bus whisked us silently into Salta. Upon arrival the place had the feel of a European city with recognisable shops and brands. The weather had become 10 degrees warmer to a nice 28 degrees with a cooling breeze so as not to make it too uncomfortable. Salta itself as a city is typically South American with the centre set around a main plaza surrounded by the main church and government buildings. Everthing is of course a lot more expensive here in comparison to the last few countries we have visited but you can still get a comfortable double room and have a slap up steak dinner and still have enough change from our tight budget for the bus fare home. On our third day in the town we were booking our onward travel at the bus station to the Paraguayan border when we ran into Rodney and Anna who we had climbed Huyana Potosi with the previous month. After swappng stories over a couple drinks in the square they had to get on their bus and us, only having a few hours before our night bus, we decided to chill out in the park, in the sun and feed the rather over aggresive ducks. All in all Argentina seems a more relaxed and comfortable place in comparison to the other countries in South America. Even if the prices are a bit higher than we are used to, we still like it. Lets see what our brief excursion into Paraguay is going to be like...