I have now arrived in northern Argentina. Its a lot more typically South American that most of the places I have been until now. My 11 and a half hour overnight bus from Cordoba to Salta was full of 14 year old school kids. I got about two hours sleep in as they were so noisy! I arrived in Salta as the sun was rising. The city has a beautiful andean setting, the centre is bustling and full of impressive colonial buildings. The plaza here is the most beautiful plaza I have seen - its lined with pavement cafes and colourful churches and buildings of historical importance. I spent my first day here walking around the city before taking a cable car up a mountain for an amazing view of the city and the nearby Andes mountain range. The view from the top is so good that I can only cite Rio de Janeiro as having a better arial view. During the day I bumped into Niki (English guy who I have met on several occasions). On the first night we went to a Simpsons themed bar called Barny Gomez! There is a really cool framed cartoon of Bart Simpson swimming naked towards a one dollar note (Nirvana tribute I assume). I also met a Canadian girl and two Irish lads and between us we hired a Renault Scenic for three days so that we could explore the region at our own pace. The next three days were spent drivivg around the side of mountains on gravel roads with the added bonus of the regularly occuring blind bend with 100 foot drop! On the first day we went on an 8 hour round trip to a viaduct which is where you used to be able to take a train called 'train to the clouds'. On the way up to the viaduct, which is literally breathtaking at 4,200 metres above sea level, we stopped at a settlement called San Antonio de los Cobres. As we pulled up all the local kids surrounded the car and started trying to sell us everything from toy llamas to rocks which they had just picked up from the floor! Some kids were smarter than others, they would wait for their friend to quote 2 pesos before swooping in with the undercut! 1 peso, 1 peso! I bought a fairly useless piece of rock off one kid and then gave all my loose change to the other kids. Naturally they also talked us into paying them to look after our car until we returned from lunch. We went into the only restaurant in town and asked for the menu. We were swiftly informed that there was no menu and that we would be eating goat and chips followed by flan! It was actually quite tasty- much like dry, salty beef! We eventually reached the summit before turning around and returning to an altitude where you can actually breathe! On the second day we hopped back into the car for another long day of sightseeing from the window of our car! We went to a high altitude town called Cachi which is a beautifully quiet settlement with a tranquil plaza. We ate here before driving south on a 'road' to a place called Cafayate. The scenery on the journey was breathtaking - colourful rock formations etc. Along the journey we encountered a shephard hearding sheep along the road (lucky not to hit them). When I took control it was more like being on a rally! The 'road' was perfect for a fast but secure pace. Just as the sun was setting, I managed to beach the car before everyone got out and helped to push start it back to the road! We eventually arrived in Cafayate which you can read about on the next entry.