Hi all, We´re in Argentina!! We waved goodbye to Brazil on Monday and got our exit stamps at the border. We moved from Foz do Iguazu to Puerto Iguazu, only twenty mins down the road. We checked into our hostel and loaded up with pesoes at the ATM, we´re dividing by five now rather than three, so everything seems really expensive! We saw the Argentinian side of the falls that afternoon, we spent all afternoon up there, you get much much closer, just incredible. The Devil´s Throat is pretty much the source of the biggest waterfall, and there was a viewing platform right at the top, the noise and spray was amazing. We booked a tour when we got there, so we got brought through the rainforest in a big 4x4 and dropped by the river, then into a speedboat which flew down towards the falls through rapids. We were told to put all our stuff into waterproof bags that they give to you, so we knew we were in for a soaking. We went right under one of the falls, the water was thundering down on us, we couldn`t even open our eyes to see it or catch our breath - totally exhilarating!! We were completely drenched, this was at 2pm or so, and we were still damp going home at seven. We got on a bus on Tuesday morning to Salta, in North West Argentina, we left at 11am and got in here at 10am yesterday morning. The bus was fine, it was a proper Argentinian double decker jobby, and we were the second from the front, great viewing seats! You can get semi cama or cama class on the buses here, semi cama is a slightly reclining seat, then cama goes back further and you get more leg room. We couldn`t get cama, but the semi cama was fine, like a good Brazilian bus! We were highly excited when we found out we`d be getting meals, and started fantasising about fancy plane food, not to be! We got a little ham and plastic cheese sandwich for lunch, then dinner was a piece of cold breaded steak, beetroot and carrots (I managed to get beetroot all over myself). Breakfast was hilarious, two types of unbelievably sweet biscuts and some crackers. Thankfully the bus stopped every five hours, but as they were giving us food, they only waited five mins at the station, rather than the half hour we were used to in Brazil. So I came back from my loo break/food stockup to see Jay waving frantically as the bus was about to drive off without me, oops! We ran out of stuff to read on the bus, so we did our Brazil Oscars to pass the time - so we need to get them up online. The massive highlights were Lencois and Boipeba, but we´ll stick them up, just need to remember to bring my travel journal with me and try decipher the bumpy-bus scribbles... Salta is gorgeous, it´s surrounded by mountains and is a really nice size to get around. There`s a central plaza with lots of cafes and shops, and pretty multi-coloured houses. We had lunch in the square and realised how huuuuge Arg portions are.. we practically rolled back to the hostel! Our hostel is cool, we have our own room and there´s a big kitchen and eating area for you to do your own food. There´s a pool too (we´re getting used to this!) and a cool bar area. We hit the pool yesterday afternoon and nearly fried ourselves alive - it`s surrounded by walls, so was literally like being in a concrete microwave. So we had to give up claiming heat exhaustion, so not much tanning done yesterday! We hit the shops last night, our first shopping trip since being away. It´s really really cheap here, so I picked up fab pinkest pink Havianas for a fiver. Jay set his sights on John Foos runners, like Converse, but no shops had shoes big enough for him, ah! The people here are very Andean looking, so short, dark straight hair, almond shaped eyes. It really has been amazing seeing the different appearances people have in the different places we´ve visited. As we go south through Argentina, they`ll get more European looking. Still can`t get over the sheer scale of the country. We had dinner in the hostel then, there was a bbq organised, but dinner is included too (a first!), so we put our names down for just the normal dinner just after our fat lunch. So we sat on the ´poor table´with about five others, when everyone around us devoured the hugest, juiciest steaks... aagh!! I was secretly delighted with ours though, chicken and rice salad, as was probably one of the healthiest meals we´ve had so far! The hostel laid on traditional dancers and musicians after dinner, which was great to see. Then a big group of us headed out to a bar down the road. Pretty much everyone in our hostel is English/Irish/Scottish, so it`s waaay easier to meet people; all through Brazil we were the only English-speaking backpackers in the hostels! We had a late night, so were delighted not to have to face dorms and people getting up at the crack of dawn. Jay brought breakfast back to the room... oh dear God, really don`t know how Args survive on their diet. This was breakfast: super strong orange squash and sweet croissants filled with dulce de leche (caramel, that they use for everything), then annihalated with icing sugar. Was climbing the walls with the sugar rush!!! We had an Ultimate Tourist day today - we wandered around the city, hired a pedalo on the lake and got a cable car up to the top of a mountain for the fab views. You can walk up either, all 4,000 or something feet of it.. thank GOD we didn´t do that. We walked back down at around 6pm, but even then the people walking up looked fit to drop. Nikki, am seriously impressed you did it!! We´re having dinner in the hostel again tonight, then we´re going to head up to the strip where all the nightlife is and have a glass of wine. We haven`t had any since we got here, so dying to try some proper Argentinian whte tonight. We´re going to see some of the museums and churches tomorrow, then we have another bus to Mendoza that leaves tomorrow night, 18 hours away. We couldn´t get cama again... so we`re roughing it in semi cama! We´ll probably spend a good bit of time there, there´s lots of adventure things like trekking and rafting in the Andes, and obviously the vineyards..... Hope everyone is really well, sending lots of sunshine, love, steak and sugar from Argentina! PS: massive thanks to Michael and Nikki for looking after our Oz Box!