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Steak, red wine, chocolate, pasta, cheese, dulce de leche….I’m not sure we will ever leave Argentina.
From Chile we travelled by bus across the border to Argentina with Julius and Solynka (the couple we met on the salt flats tour), who luckily didn’t seem to mind us tagging along with them. They both speak Spanish so it was so stress-free travelling with them. And after so long just by ourselves it was really fun having some friends around.
We got a bus to Juyjuy, where we picked up the rental car and drove an hour to Tilcara. It was dark by the time we got the rental car and Julius and Solynka didn’t even hire a GPS. This seemed quite shocking to us, they used a paper map and stopped people on the street to ask directions. There is no way Jolly and I would get anywhere in a foreign country if we had to rely on paper maps! Actually there is no way we would get anywhere in any country if we had to reply on a paper map.
We arrived and booked into a hostel and went straight out for dinner – homemade ravioli - So good. Who would have thought Argentina would have such good pasta.
Our first day in Tilcara, we drove to a cute hillside town called Urani. It was a long drive as we had to drive more almost 2 hours on an unpaved mountainous road. You can only get in Uyrani when the weather is good as part of the road you drive through a dry river bed which fills up if it rains. It’s a very small picturesque town, and after a quick walk around and a taking a few photos, we went to a local restaurant for a great lunch (this will become a theme of the next couple of days). That evening we had planned to head out to a local restaurant for dinner but just as we were about to leave, the owner of the hostel said they were cooking a traditional Argentinian BBQ and we could join in for 60 pesos (NZ$15). We hadn’t had good meat in a while so we went for it. I’m so glad we did it - there was SO much meat and it was so delicious (though we did have to wait until 10pm to eat as this is when Argentinians eat). I’m not sure how they cook it, but it was crispy on the outside and so tender in the middle. It was by far the best bbq either of us have eaten in our lives. There were about 15 of us in total, sitting on long tables outside gorging on amazing meat, washed down with local red wine. If you ever get an opportunity to eat a traditional Argentinian bbq – you must do it.
Day 2 we visited the tropic of Capricorn (Jolly had to have a photo here as this is his star sign!) and visited a couple of little towns. This part of Argentina is really dry and it looks like what I imagine the wild west looks like. Huge brown mountain ranges in every direction - it really is stunning. Again, we headed out for more steak for dinner (when in Argentina..)
On our last day we got up early and hiked to a pretty disappointing waterfall before breakfast. After 2 days of indulging it was a tough walk for me! I was exhausted by the end, so lucky we started our drive to Salta so I got to nap. We stopped by the hill of seven colours (see photos) and the cute little village of Purmamarca. It was Julius birthday, so we had a fancy 3 course lunch at a beautiful hotel in the village surrounded by stunning mountains. We drove for the rest of the afternoon and arrived in Salta just in time for Julies birthday dinner!
We stayed in Salta for 2 days and this is where we left Julius and Solyka. Salta is just a city and doesn’t have a lot of offer tourists, but it was nice to walk the wide tree line streets, do a bit of shopping and even visit a mall! We also had another great steak dinner for a change!
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