Road Trippin

Having had a taste of Argentina's lake district we decided to head further down south to Patagonia. After picking up the car (an impressive Chevrolet Corsa 1.4L, 5 door, 0-60 in at least 7.5 minutes) our first stop was the hippy town of El Bolson (or El Bonson as we seemed determined to call it) 2 hours south of Bariloche.

Mike, the nominated sole driver (to save the pennies and at least attempt to stick to the traveller's budget), got us on the way on the much lauded route 44, South America's answer to Route 66. It definitely lived up to this as we followed crystal clear lakes, in green forests with a backdrop of snow capped mountains. We arrived in El Bolson impressed, after sunset and were promptly chased down the dirt track to the hostel by a pack of stray dogs. Risking our lives was definitely worth it as we were rewarded with nice rooms and an open fire all to ourselves to enjoy some well earned drinks.

The next morning we had a look round the gardens of the hostel which had a stream running through them and the obligatory massive BBQ. Our first wrong turn of the trip (definitely no fault of the navigator) meant we missed a planned stop off to walk to one of the summits and view points. To make amends we decided to take the scenic route through Parque Nacional Los Alerces despite the warnings about unfinished roads and banditos (the tourist information guys clearly did not appreciate the Corsa or our driving/navigating abilities). The pretentious name was definitely justified as the road wound through the park and past blue and emerald lakes and lovely views. We tried to get down to the lake but couldn't because there were so many trees (made a note to feed this back to the park rangers that they should chop some trees down so we could get a decent view). Finally found a place to scramble/fall with style down the scree to the lake side and enjoy the sun and amazing view of the lakes and mountains. Nikki managed to get caught in the landslide and take another slight nick to her shin, although was very brave and barely mentioned it to any of us! Spurred on by the adrenaline 3/4's of the group braved the icy cold water and managed to destroy the serenity of the park making sure everyone knew just how cold it was in a 50km radius! After warming up in the sun we scrambled back up to the car and carried on through the park and onto the unfinished road, which meant a few hundred kilometres of gravel road with plenty of kamikaze wildlife trying to become our first road kill. We made it to our stop for the night with no blood on the bumpers, but not entirely sure where we were. Found the local accommodation Betty Jays (which was as ropey as the name suggests; think Psycho motel) and settled in for a very over priced night. Keen to get some sleep before another long day of navigating, I drew short straw with the stabby bed next to the door and the whole debacle was finished off by having to watch some rom-com on tv!

Next day we said our goodbyes to Betty Jays pleased to have both our respective kidneys intact and set of for Los Antiguous and the marble caves. Won't go on about the scenery but it continued to be amazing (see pics from the camera club). At one point we managed to come across a couple of wild ostriches in the road, one deciding to run off into the wilderness the other deciding to try and outrun the Corsa straight down the road in our direction. Cue 87 bhp of Chevrolet brute force and a few ruffled ostrich feathers, he managed a good few hundred metres and up to about 45 km/hr before following suite of his more intelligent mate and scarpering into the wilderness and again leaving us without a prized road kill scalp! Made it to Los Antiguous and found an amazing hotel with lake side views, sauna massage and tennis courts only to find it fully booked. Fearing another Betty Jays we went into the town and despite being tempted to sleep in what appeared to be a novelly converted mini-potakabin resembling a morgue we found a little Sound of Music-esqe cabin. Managed some late lunch in the sun before retiring for the night.

The next morning we were all excited to be heading over the border into Chile in search of the marble caves (caves you guessed it; made out of marble). This was a big pre trip favourite and something of a big dog in the South American attractions for us. We managed to get a bus over the border (another stamp on the passport) and into the imaginatively named Chile Chico to find a ghost town and to cut a long story short (which involved being in the 'chintziest' caravan ever, speaking to some wide boy american from Miami, ringing and pleading with the car rental company and knocking on random house doors trying to find another car to rent) no chance of getting to the marble caves. We decided to cut our losses and head back to Argentina, console ourselves with another passport stamp and then promptly set off to completely cross Argentina for our first view of the Atlantic in Comodoria Rivadavia. This was no mean feat and Mike was probably starting to regret being the driver although presumably this job was made much easier with flawless navigating. We made it to Comodorio and despite not having booked anywhere managed to find a hostel not before Caz managed to lock out a guy at another hostel after he had got out of bed to let her in (probably didn't help the travel karma). Despite again getting stabby bed I was content to watch American football and drink beer in bed after another long day, I had seriously underestimated this navigating lark! Gutted about not seeing the caves (bet they would have been rubbish anyway) but next stop whale and penguin land!

We seemed to have woken up on national get-money-out-the-bank-day so couldn't get any cash out but set off regardless after coffees and pastries to Puerto Madrin, the penguin and whale capital of the world (not strictly true but need to keep you interested). Broke up the tiresome navigating by playing the old road trip favourite petrol-roulette. For those unfamiliar with this mainstay of road trip amusement it involves driving hundreds of kilometres (preferable on unfamiliar roads) without knowing where the next petrol station (or gas station for our American readers) whilst slowly watching the petrol gauge go down. Our travelling karma was obviously paying off though and we found an ice cream selling petrol (gas) station and a cash machine before reaching the penguins, not before the driver shafted the navigator by getting him to drive the 'last bit' (2 hours on awful roads) while he ate his ice cream! Nevertheless we made it in one piece and got to see all the penguins in the reserve, very cool as we got to walk in and amongst them and see all their nests and eggs and, true to form Nikki got told off by one of the rangers for walking off the path. Last drive for the day took us to Puerto Madrin and a lovely hostel where we promptly headed out for tea and our first real seafood. Cold scallops tested our fish tolerance but the paella and wine eased us in after that. Keen for a few more we headed on to the recommended Margarita bar and in true Brit style managed a good play on the swings and monkey bars in the childrens play area on the way.
Drove onto the peninsula from Puerto Madryn the next day in search of whales. Lots of companies to choose from but all seemed to offer the same thing so settled on one and headed out accompanied by a middle aged Argentinian stag party (cue singing, cigars, man with broken foot and hammered bloke we saw slumped in the bar last night). The tour was a definite highlight though, as we managed to get in the middle of four or five mother and baby pairings of Right Whales and close enough to get splashed by them. Even the stag do was impressed and we stayed out longer than planned as the guide and driver were that engrossed. All the hours in the car and missing the caves were forgotten as we made our way back to shore with grins on our faces, good pictures for the camera club and definitely a little humbled after our whale experience.

The next day we decided to have a stroll around PM before doing the marathon return leg to Bariloche in one stint so we could explore a little further with our last day of the car the next day. Highlights of the day being finding Malibu to keep Nikki happy and driving through volcanic ash clouds, low point being on the road for nearly 11 hours straight.

Next stop Buenos Aires.

Love Rich x

Barriloche

The 20 hour bus journey went much quicker than anticipated- helped by snacks, monopoly, good scenery and no snoring men! We arrived in Bariloche, at 5:30pm and were greeted by the blazing sun. This place still had its ski resort vibe despite it being the summer time of the southern hemisphere, with it's surrounding snow capped mountains, wooden chalet buildings and abundance of chocolate, cafes and ski wear shops. Periko hostel was very pretty with the cleanest kitchen and a sparkling oven and best of all we had double rooms. Having been in 4 bedded dorms often with bunk beds for nearly two weeks this was a luxury. We headed out armed with two for one beer vouchers provided by Marco (works in the hostel and apparently learnt his fluent English from you tube!) To celebrate Halloween we dressed in typical English style- as ourselves we headed to Antares bar. The boys drunk a few pints of home made Kelsh beer, Caz two halves of honey beer and myself...Sticking to what I know- A bottle of white wine. Not only was the quantity I drunk a lot more but we have recently found out that wine produced at high altitude, has a higher alcohol percentage and also is Argentian wine is often higher than it states on the bottle to avoid paying the next level of tax! we ended up eating at this bar, (good job for me) then stubbled upon the lost Vikings pub. Caz and I overly excited to find Malibu on the shelve! We met a couple of 30 year old englishmen walking for cancer research all over south America, averaging 15miles per day with their rucksacks, and camping gear on their backs for an entire year. Puts our "travelling" to shame. Now well oiled, we eventually found our way home - rich running back to give the guys 100 pesos. Telling them that even if they ended up spending it on beers they deserved it!

Our second day we awoke to find people walking the streets with face masks on when we looked out our windows. A volcano nearby had erupted in july and was still going the recent wind change had caused the ash to become much worse. Until we stepped outside we didn't realise just how dusty and painful the ash (which felt more like sand) whipping around us was, not to mention it preventing the warmth of the sun either. It did not take long before we took cover in a cafe shop, an excuse to eat again. A chilled out evening at the hostel ready for our next excursion- rafting!


mike and Caz debated with rafting, saying it would be too cold but decided to go ahead with it as not wanting to miss out. Thet were not disappointed! We were picked up and headed up into the mountains, stopping for our second free breafast of the day in a little cabin on the river. Mike was gutted as he was hoping for some eggs but once again it was bread, jam and dulce de Leche. Into our wrestler looking wet suits, making rich's legs looking skinner then ever, and my boobs popping out either side. A few body slams' a safety talk and we were in our raft, the boys at the front, Caz and I at the back. We had 10 rapids ahead of us. I was nearly was thrown out the boat down 'deep throat' and the whole boat nearly flipped down rapid 'relax'. About 1.5 hrs later we had numb feet from the splashes into the boat and only one rapid left to survive. Our guide advised us all to sit at the back of the raft while we were in calm waters. Doing some sneaky bouncing action and pulling a rope that was attached to the front he caused the entire boat to fall into the freezing water apart from Caz and I -wahooo!!! The boys were pulled back into the raft teeth chattering. We then breezed the last rapid and had a BBQ lunch back at the cabin and headed home buzzing.

The next morning we got up early and decided to rent a car for a week to explore the rest of Argentina. We booked it for 6pm that evening. So go fill our day we decided to catch a bus to Puerto Panoelos (about 45m out of town). This proved slightly difficult we first of all didnt realuse we needed a ticket before we got on then could find where to purchase it from! Eventually we got there though and took ourselves for a walk through a 'petrified' forest which seemed to be attacking us. Branches grabbing mike's hair and I managed to lodge a rather large piece of wood into my shin (no sympathy from rich). We found a beautiful clear lake, but only brave enough to paddle up to our knees as the water was sooo cold. On the way back we stopped off a a view point. Having got confidence in ourselves from walking all those steps in salta we stuck our noses up a the stair lift and decided to walk, I mean climb it! Error. Very hot and sweaty and Caz not impressed she chose to wear her Birkenstocks that day. As ways it was worth it though for the view. A noodle take away and we began our first leg of our road trip- first stop el bonson.

Dozy Mendoza

We`re finally catching upon the last few weeks blogs. BTW i`ve added some pics to the Salta blog foranyone who wants to see.


So...here goes. Our next stop after Cordoba was Mendoza in Argentina, our third city in a row and responsible for making 70% ofwine from the region. Feeling ready to be educated on wines but alsofeeling my parents should be here too (there`s a deep love for allthings alcohol!) we arrive at 7:30am in the pretty city of wide treelined streets and an abundance of plazas everywhere. According to ourtravel bible The Lonely Planet this is due to a massive earthquake in1861. The rebuild designed wide streets for the rubble to fall into andplazas for people to gather in incase of evacuations, but has alsocreated a really beautiful city as a result.


We arrive at hostel Conflencia feeling dazed andRich wanting a little snooze. In another shared dorm that looked likethe three bears bedroom, he rested while we laid out inthe living room. We met an English guy there who was travelling alonecalled Anthony. He was a white 35yr old with dreads that were fallingout as he receded, but seemed very friendly and wanted to meet us laterfor drinks. We headed out for brunch to a street cafe where we satin the sun and ordered toasted sardines, OJ and coffee, which turned out to be teeny toast and butter. Note to self...must take phrase book out more! Feeling a bit more awakeit was now midday, we decided to book the wine tour. We'd read about afew companies and ended up going with Ampour. It was our most expensiveday trip so far so were hopeful it would be good.

Pleased with our limited productivity for the day we retired on themassive concrete roof terrace we had discovered earlier at the hostel. A massivebonus for £15 a night! Armed with Tia Maria and beers (Malibu is scarcein SA!) we sat in the sun and played cards. After a while we gotchatting about the next step of our trip. It was a cross roads where weneeded to decide how much time we wanted to spend in each place. Pen andpaper out and a few drinks down Nikki and I get plotting while the boyscontinued with cards and a second beer run. A zillion bus journeycalculations later, some home made calendars and pro / con debates, wehad an outline of the rest of our journey. It was looking good andpacked with so many amazing places still to see, but Mike wasdisappointed we had abandoned Santiago in the decision process, as hestill had Chilean Pesos to spend! Plan sorted we had a few more drinksas the sun went down and quick showers, then Anthony came to meet us onthe roof. The boys had spotted an `Asado` type BBQ (the Argentinian meatfeast) down the road so we planned to head there. We then found out ournew friend was a veggie..eek! Mike and Rich not impressed at thethought of missing the all you can eat we went anyway, Anthony reassuredus it was fine and it was YUM! We got veggies we'd been craving as veghas been scarce so far, and they did a delicious roasted squash withcheese. Nik also had her aubergine fix and the lads OD'd on cow,chicken, blaackpudding sausages, trout (which is on every menu in SA)pork......etc etc! Rich won the record with five plates, Mike a closesecond and I won the desserts as usual, with two helpings of crepes conDulce de Leche and ice cream. Truly delicious, though I made everyoneshare the second helping to ease my miss piggy guilt. Loaded with food,beers and anthony full on his plate of veggies, we finish the night inhysterics at our flashing light bulb in the bedroom. Mike unscrewed itto stop the flashing, only for the flash to transfer into the next bulb,and the next. To our amusement but slight worry at the electrics, weclose our eyes and left the disco going.

Nextdaywe had an early start with the pick up for our wine tasting tour. Aquick breakie down (and finally I found some form of tea bags! Hurrah!)we were on the mini bus heading out. Our tour was in the Mai Pu regionstarting at the first winery Palo Alto. A beautiful family run winerywhere we had our first glass of Malbec at 9:40am. On our tour were twoCanadians and two New Yorkers Joe and Pamela..a writer and lecturer.We've since googled them and found out on Wikipedia they are famous NewYork academics! Our next winery was Flinca Flinchman (you may see thelogo in Tesco) which was a more industrial and mass scale vineyard. Theoldest bottle of wine was from 1947! We didn't get to taste it. Thelastplace we visited was where we were going for lunch. We didn`t knowmuch about what was planned but it turned out to be an 18centuryArgentinian home called Luis Segundo Correa. It was stunning and wereshown around by the grand daughter of the current owner. We learnt overthe next few hours it was a very famous house and family in the region.When we got there we had more wine of course, feeling pretty pissednow,and they were preparing to serve us lunch on the porch of this houseoverlooking the gardens. It was beautiful. Out came a massive platterof meats, cheese, breads, olives etc. We were then shown a hugebeautifully set table and given a plate to take to the BBQ. We walkedthrough part of the garden to find a man cooking a massive array ofmeats. Another Asado but this time is was a real one at a family homecooked exactly as Argentinans eat it (well done). This was it. Finally the Argentinian steak we'd been dreaming of and itdidn't disappoint. It melted in the mouth and we all went back formore, washed down with more Malbec and our most expensive wine of theday at $189. It poured freely and they only made 3000 bottles!

Laterback at the hostel feeling sleepy we got the last bit of sun on theterrace. We went out with Anthony again later that night as he hadstayed the day especially. We wandered to the markets we'd read aboutbut they were closing up so we headed to a taco bar for some light bitesand beers. Early hours we ended the night back on the roof whereAnthony opened up about his end of the world 2012 predictions and hisspiritual guide called Yummi, plus his 11:11 phenomena he was a part(google it!). Slightly weirder out and trying to count exactly how manybeers we had drank, we got to bed to the disco lights about 4am.

Thirdday after a slight lie in and recounting the previous nights strangeconversation, we decided to chill out today. We walked to the bus asusual to get tickets for our next journey and had lunch in a busy streetlined with cafes where we ate toasties and Rich caught up with hisfolks on Skype. Heading home we decided to cook our own steaks andsalads after the success we had in Cordoba. They were delicious againand finished with a mc flurry and watched Anchor Man at the hostel. Aslow day but was nice to recharge.

For our last day wedecided to go get supplies to make lunch for the pending 20hr busjourney down to Barriloche. We found an indoor food market which wasbuzzing with locals and served us loads of treats including honeypeanuts, meats, cheeses, and breads. For our sarnies Nikki and Richopting for a floury bap while Mike and I opt for a crusty roll. Wewalked to the park in the afternoon which was massive, had a huge lakethrough the middle and really nice roses everywhere plus a family fiestathat was banging out the tunes all day. It wasn't long before we'd allfallen asleep then played a bit of frisbee, had ice creams and slowlywandered back later in the afternoon. We had a quick tea stop before wegot our night bus. Nikki and Rich were served up the worlds biggestburgers while mike and I shared a well below average pizza. Food envyaside we headed back to the hostel to make our sardines for the bus.Unfortunately Rich discovered there bread was covered in mould spots,which later led to some teasing about our beautiful crusty rolls,evening out the food envy scales again.

All in allMendoza was lovely, slow, relaxing, laid back with the definitehighlight being the wine tour and the roof terrace that was home to manycard games during our stay.

Next stop..the lake district!

Love Caz xx

White bod catching rays on roof terrace

All you can eat Asado

Us and our veggie mate Antony

Winery number one

Add caption

First glass of the day!!

Our first sit down tasting..gran reserva was delicious!

beautiful house for lunch

starter platter

Just finioshed our lovely lunch and have very full bellies.

Mendoza park

Leaving Mendoza on ANOTHER bus!

Cordoba

We arrived in Cordoba, Argentina's secondest largest city at 9am. The day had not got off to a good start as I was kept awake on the overnight bus by a snoring Argentinian man (even my iPod on max volume could not drown him out!). We then were split up into 2 taxis as the taxi men refused to take all 4 of us with our rucksacks, day bags and the CAnson's extra plastic bags (by the way Natalie, Caz is suggesting you're the reason for the excess clothes she has!).

We all managed to arrive at Link hostel-which had a great rooftop terrace we had to ourselves, provided our best free breakfasts (the usual bread, cereal extra but with a baked peanut butter sponge cake every morning)! Jayne- I have made a U turn on the road to skinny ville! We then headed out to explore a bit of the city and to grab a bite to eat. The heavens opened and down came our first taste of rain since our treking to Machu Picchu 3 weeks earlier. We trenched through what we found out over the next few days was the ugliest part of the city but was saved by a cafe serving submarinos (an excellent hot cholate = hot milk with a melting flake of real cholate). The rain continued so we headed back to Link hostel armed with beers and Tia Maria, which we had to sneak in as it was prohibited, a way to get us to buy alcohol from them. But having been brought up to sneak gin and tonics and boddys into the cinema -this was no test!

After an afternoon of drinking we decided to treat ourselves to a good bit of Argentinian steak. We were recommended a place and were quite hopeful. Considering it was not a cheap meal, the steak was very average and the vegetables were boiled so much the carrots were the same colour as the broccoli. Having not been very impressed with the food or our service Rich refused to pay the tip which was included on the bill by telling them he wanted to pay it in cash. Once they had refunded the money for the tip we legged it- only leaving a tooth pick to represent our appreciation. A few days later the money came out of Rich's bank account- it was not as expensive as we thought, £70 for all four of us including drinks! Tight gits!

For our second day in Cordoba we headed to the park,very pretty with a central lake and found some concrete sun beds. As uncomfortable as they sound rich still managed to fall asleep (see photo). We played some frisbee and watched a girl practice trapeze acts on a ribbon she tied to a tree. The funniest part of the day was us all getting thrown out of a taxi when Rich pushed the reset button before we had set off as it was already logging 6 pesos (equivalent of £1). We were then bundled into the taxi behind and rich immediately caused another commotion by trying to push his faulty seat back. The second taxi obviously had seen us get thrown out the first and did not seem impressed with us at all. Especially with us 3 giggling away in back.

That night the boys managed to BBQ some steak and sausages. Caz and I were on salads and chimi churi making (it helps when you have the right ingredients -parsley does not make a good coriander substitute).

Our last day was spent wandering the more beautiful streets, meandering along the river side road and discovering some little boutique shops. Caz and I had a great take away-a huge burrito, the boys holding out for chicken and chips they has spotted earlier that day but ended up with a sandwich, 6:30pm is apparently not tea time in Argentina! It was time to leave for Mendoza on another over night bus. Wanting to get our own back on the taxi men Rich flagged one off the street while the rest of hid around the corner with all our bags. Before the taxi man could say anything Caz and I were in the back with the boys packing our bags in around us. It would have been a squeeze anyway but Rich had managed to call a taxi with no boot. Hysterical laughter from Caz and I drowned out the taxi man's Spanish protest and soon he was laughing with us. Caz and I had steams of tears the whole way to the station, which was fuelled by mike declaring his claustrophobia. We provided entertainment to some locals as we piled out of the small fiat punto, bag after bag like a magician's hat. Next stop- Mendoza, wine capital of Argentina.
Ps more photos added to last blog (salta as requested) and entries more to come very soon

Salta the beautiful

The bus journey from San Pedro is listed on google as one of the wolds greatest drives and it had our undivided attention. We were top, front of the bus too so a good seat to watch the world go by. As soon as we left San Pedro we had a border crossing into Argentina. Learning our lesson from our last crossing into Chile, we almost took it a step too far the other way and tried to get tuna sardines and nikki's mangos over. Unfortunately the mangoes didn't make it (see last blog pic) but the tuna sardines did! Hurah!

We arrive 11hrs later at 9pm in Salta. Mike has become our unofficial hostel booker and this time came up trumps with Prisa Mata. Greeted by Damian-a fit Argentinian Johnny Depp look a like, hammocks, outside areas, funky tunes, fairy lights everywhere, and a massive kitchen, we were looking forward to seeing it in the morning. Little did we know over the next few days this hostel would feel like home, and we would make friends while staying here.

So our first morning here we woke to a naff breakie of mini toast and jam. The lonely planet had told is of a walk up to the city viewpoint which we decided to head out to. We wandered around the city for a bit first, and didn't really see anything nice. Tacky shops and dirty street, we headed out for the viewpoint pretty quickly. 1070 steps awaited us to the top (or a cable car but thats cheating) so despite the heat and tired feet we sun creamed up and set off. I counted the steps as we went giving frequent updates to the others as we neared the top. By my calculations we walked 1170 but what a view! Sweaty and thirsty we had some well earner overpriced bevvies at the top and sat for a while as time passed us by. We decided to face the walk back down. On our return Prisa Mata was a hive of activity. Italians, Aussies, Germans all buzzing around. We stayed and swung in the hammocks for a while chatting away swapping stories. (It was also time for Rich's first tash trim.) We learnt on Fridays Damians friend Maxi, the friedly rasta, cooked for the hostel. It was cheap and smelled amazing, but we were looking forward to the night we had planned at a restaurant we'd read about on trip advisor. La Casona Del Molino. After a few hours wandering around the city and discovering many new areas including the Argentinian benedorm, and asking many locals for directions, we realized we were going in circles and ended up back at the hostel to book a taxi. We were miles away, but ended up at a house in the middle of no where, each room converted and packed to the rafters. We managed to scramble for a tiny table and awaited a waiter. It was full of locals busily chatting and was difficult to know what was going on. It was a chaotic place but with great energy and good smells wafting through the many rooms. The table next to us soon realized our foreign roots and the proud father introduced his daughter who spoke great English. She was lovely, and enjoyed chatting through the night giving us tips of what to order...bonus as the Spanish menu was a minefield. They even gave us one of their tables when our food came. Everyone is so friendly. Out came the Empanadas. A local finger food, basically like a pastie but nicer. Amazing! On our new friends top advice we ordered three each, and a corn type sweet side that was steamed in leaves. It was great food and good to eat some new local dishes. As soon as we finished our food the night began. One of the tables in the room was full of local men and women, who whipped out guitars, tambourines, drums, recorders, all sorts. This was what we'd read about! They burst into song so loud you can't talk and everyone had a huge sing along. When we picked our jaws off the tables we were soon clapping and tapping along out of time to the tunes. One lady did a solo with a beautiful voice. Each room was having it's own entertainment with beats coming from every corner. We left about 4am, ears still ringing we left them still in full swing. What a place.

Day two Mike and I woke early and walked to the local supermarket for breakie to take back for a sleeping Rich and Nikki. Chocolate toe nails and yoghurt has become a firm favorite of our trip. Today we planned to walk to the bus station to book our next destination, stopping on the way at a local market for some more Empanadas. We're converted and sat in the park to eat our way through them. When we got back to Prisa Mata Damian and the rasta Maxi were taking his little boy Benjamin to some of their favorite hideaways by the river and offered to take us, our new friend Andrew the ozzy and the Italian lady with them, so we piled into their cars and off we go. Mike and I with Damian, Nik and Rich with Maxi, who's car horm involuntarily beeped each time he turned his wheels. Benjamin was sat on Maxi's knee (no car seats) and soon nodded off sprawled over Rich until we got to our first stop. It was a small walk when we got to a hidden water pool with a mini waterfall. We pile into the freezing water and chill out for a while by the water. As the sun started to get lower we head to their second hot spot by the river. It was lovely. Very quiet, in the middle of no where. We stayed there a while, watched the sun go down, and Maxi got a fire going. They were cooking for the hostel again that night and so we headed back about 9pm. More people had arrived when we got back and so a party began with everyone getting to know each other further. We met Mollys lookalike, and had our first asado - an argentinian BBQ. It was a meat feast but still not the Argentinean steak we've been dreaming of.

Our third day we chilled out. Pretty tired and due another big bus journey to Cordoba ahead, it was also elections so alot of places were closed. I had itchy feet and wanted some retail therapy, so headed to the small mall we'd passed a few days earlier. Mike decided to come with me, urged on by the promise of a macdonalds coffee, and it was so nice to feel a sense of normality after weeks of trips, treks and tours. I bought a dress, and went back to the hostel triumphant of my little day out. Rich and Nikki's hungry bellies urged them out of the hostel mid afternoon to the same mall. I went with them and stayed with Nikki while she shopped also. Two dresses later she was equally as happy with her purchases and we left Salta later that night, with farewells to our new friends and adios to our favorite hostel so far.

Love Caz xx