After a great bus journey we arrived in the sprawling city of Salta. We had mixed feelings about this, we much prefer smaller, quieter places but Salta was a means to and end so we had little choice. We were delighted to find our digs was close to the central plaza and what a wonderful centre Salta has. Lots of grand colonial buildings, orange trees line the plaza, street artists, market stalls, a great choice of souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes. The only negative was my toothache. We found somewhere to eat on the plaza which we ended up going back to again and again. I struggled to eat knowing that once I had found a dentist I might be living off soup for a while. Donna had seen a dentist sign during the taxi ride from the bus station to our hotel and even though it was just after 9pm we thought we would find out exactly where it was in readiness to make an appointment the next morning. We were amazed to find it was open and after just a 10 minute wait the dentist was examining me. The problem was an abscess, he prescribed antibiotics and painkillers and told me to come back the next day. The dentist didn't actually speak much English and we don't speak much Spanish but the dentist's daughter was on hand to interpret! The chemist was still open at 10pm, so I got started on the pills without delay and had a good night's sleep. The next day we researched our options to explore the area west and south of Salta - the choices being organized excursions or hiring a car. Second appointment at the dentist, he cut open my abscess to empty it, fuc# me it hurt! We had decided to hire a car and secured the last car available with 'Cactus car hire'. That meant we had all next day to relax, enjoy Salta and buy some provisions for our 4 day car tour. Omelette for dinner, Donna came out in sympathy and also had an omelette. Late evening we received an email from Cactus to say they had made a mistake and hadn't got a car for us - back to square one. Next day we trawled the car hire agencies, it's a real mine field of what is and what isn't covered by their insurance. We eventually made a deal and it was all systems go for the next day. I was able to eat properly so we pushed the boat out and had an Argentinian speciality, a Parrilla meal - a hot plate piled high with an array of barbequed meat - oh bliss. Another good nights sleep.