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So I thought going to the Brazilian side of the waterfalls was amazing...the Argentinian side managed to be even more impressive. However the day didn't start off too well as my so called waterproof coat wasn't so waterproof after all. Instead I invested into a good old tourist poncho! We had the opportunity to take a boat ride into the waterfalls so if I wasn't already wet enough the boat ride definitely gave me the fresh out of shower look! Oh and to make things worse, when I took my life jacket off, the strap of my top somehow managed to come down and I was left standing with my full left boob sticking to the see-through poncho...the 60 year old South American seemed to be quite happy as he walked past.
We've finally managed to try some typical food too. Empanadas, they are like little pastries which you can have with different fillings YUM! One night we opted to eat in at the hostel when we arrived in Argentina, thinking that it would be very basic, instead we were served with a three course meal with the best chorizo sausage I've ever tasted and a lush steak with lots of veg sooooo tasty! We were then faced with our 18 hour bus journey down to Buenos Aires, adopting a pet dog we named Forrest as he followed us until we had to get on the bus! The bus journey wasn't actually as bad as we thought...minus police coming on every now and then and Sarah attempting to have a conversation in spanish with the woman next to her, we had a pretty smooth ride.
We arrived at out hostel in Buenos Aires, dumped our stuff and went on our search to change our money. Everyone had told us on our way to change it on the streets as you get a much better rate! As we walked down the street we were stopped every 10 meters being asked if we wanted change. After Rhiannon's hard bargaining we managed to get a pretty good rate, the tiny room they took us into within a newsagent was pretty dodgy but saving some cash made it all worth it. We were then greeted by two Israeli guys in our hostel, who were sat in our room in just their boxers with washboard stomachs, playing the guitar...our room didn't seem so bad after all haa!
Buenos Aires felt so European it kind of felt familiar. We had a good few days chilling out, exploring the city and eating lots of amazing food...including the best burger ever with blue cheese, caramelised onions, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and mushroom, can't even put into words how good it was! We went on a bike tour of the north of the city which was really interesting as we also managed to visit the famous cemetery....which creeped me out as you got to see most of the coffins! I really enjoyed the tour, until my front tire burst, leaving one of the guys to walk back with my broken bike woooops!
Another one of my great ideas was to go out till half 7 in the morning and then get up at half 9 for a 6 hour walking tour on my own with randoms...I should have taken a leaf out of the girls book who slept till 1pm and then made their own empanadas, I will learn one day! The Aussie girls did a good job looking after me though, thanks gals! But I guess it was a good way to end our hostel life before starting our intense tour from Buenos Aires to Lima. We actually met one guy in our hostel, Amar, who was going to be on our tour....his way of saying hello was playing footsie with me in the morning as our beds were opposite ha and the tour hasn't even started yet! Maybe that's the reason I woke up with a message in my notes on my phone saying "help, I need help", who knows ha
After checking into our hotel for the start of our tour, we were quite apprehensive as to what the tour would be like in comparison to our hostel life. This opinion quickly changed after being able to actually have a nice shower and a DRY towel...life was feeling slightly normal again. We met our new "family" who we are going to travel with for the next month. To get to know each other we decided to get alcohol involved and the words "never have I ever" broke the ice pretty quick! I spent my last night out in Buenos Aires feeling quite emotional saying bye to everyone we met along the way but very excited for our next leg of the trip!
My first day started off very well by getting in at 5:20am and having to get up at 5:30 for a flight...when will I ever learn? We arrived in Salta where I thought I would be joining the girls on a wine tour but instead I spent the next two days ill in bed suffering from an infected throat and temperature, Vanessa our guide was an absolute life saver though and made sure I was well looked after. I did have the chance to go to a museum though and see a mummified body who had been sacrificed as part of a ritual...not sure if that made me feel better or worse.
We then made our way to San Pedro, still not feeling 100% we had to tackle the Chilean border which was a treat, as we soon realised that we were no longer at a normal altitude, instead we were at 4000 meters! We did all eventually recover as we got to the cutest hotel/hostel yet with our own little house which was soooo cute! The next day we decided to give Sandboarding a try...I am so glad we did, the views were incredible and I actually did pretty well, only falling once! However probably the worst fall, as I face planted the sand and ended up with sand in all sorts of places ha! But it think that's got to be one of the best early birthday presents THANKS Sarah! In the evening we got to experience the "valley of the moon" basically an incredible sun set view from within the mountains. We climbed through caves and got to climb some rocks but were all very amused by what Sarah described as a "hike". We were greeted at the top of our sun set spot with a "piscosour" which I think went straight to the top of our heads as we spent the rest of our sun set dancing and singing like idiots (and when I say we, I mainly mean Rhiannon who was shaking her arse like never before) haha. This then continued into the night as we got back to our little house where we experienced a full moon, not of the normal type, instead it was Rhiannon dancing round our room fully naked seeming to have the time of her life...leaving me and Sarah with quite an image I don't think we will forget any time soon pahahaha!
We then made our way to Bolivia, again having to get through the borders which at the Bolivian side seemed slightly more difficult as we were warned by Vanessa that they may or may not ask you for money, the majority of us however got through with no issues minus Vanessa ironically, being the only person who knew what she was doing, was actually told she had to practically sell her body to get through, but she somehow managed to get herself out of it thank god! We were then met on the other side by 4x4s who were about to take us on a 3 day tour through the desert. Our Bolivian driver who had no teeth, wearing a multicoloured hat and the funniest dance moves had us wondering what was to come.
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