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Paul, Jill and I had been discussing jumping ship for the Salta section of the trip because Dragoman weren't going back into Chile to the Atacama Desert - excluding the Antarctica, it was the driest place on Earth.
At Jesus Maria, Paul got off the truck and went to catch a bus to Salta, Jill and I stayed on so she could organise her stuff and also because we'd made the decision to catch a shuttle to Tucaman and spend a night there, before heading to Salta to meet Paul.
About five mins after Paul got off Amber, she broke down, this was the second time that day, the first being even before we left the estancia. I didn't think we would ever make it out of Jesus Marie.
Eventually we got going again, and spent the day driving. I still wasn't feeling 100% and occasionally the desire to vomit would wash over me. It may be a bad idea to get off the truck, but I'm sure that the illness would eventually pass.
We arrive at Monteros just before dusk. It's a basic campsite surrounded by mosquito infested sugar cane and rivers. Jill sorts her stuff and we say our farewells to everyone.
To get to Tucaman we have to get a shuttle from Monteros, somewhere a long the road. Jill and I couldn't find a bus stop per say, so we made our own at the intersection that we thought led to Tucaman.
After several buses, trucks, various random strangers offering us rides (or possibly just wanting the chance to talk to two blondes on the side of a road) and about a half hour, a bus to Tucaman came along and we did our uttermost to wave it down. The nice man stopped for us and we were on our way.
Once we were in Tucaman, we jumped into a taxi to find a hotel. Luckily Jill had to make a cigarette stop prior to the taxi so we fortunately missed out on the first taxi that was walked up the taxi rank - who needs engines when you can just push your own car?!?!?
Considering the accommodation that we'd been in recently, we thought we might upgrade to something with a tv and towels.
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