Hola!

A little later than planned I have finally got the opportunity to write my next blog!
We arrived in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires the day before yesterday but I will leave our first impression and experiences here until the end of the entry!

So, back to San Pedro, Chile. The first of the tours that I had mentioned that we were going to do was a visit to the El Tatio Geysers which we did at 5am one morning. We arrived before dawn and the geysers and the surrounding area looked like something out of a sci- fi film, it was other worldly with massive holes in the ground bubbling to the surface and large plumes of smoke hovering above them. It was absolutely freezing outside so it was hard to take pictures and after a small walk around we retreated to the warmth of the bus!

The next tour we did, the following evening was a trip to the Lake Cejar which is renowned for being one of the most beautiful places on earth for watching the sun set due to the colours it makes on the lake and the red mountains behind. First we went to swim in a salt lake which was heated by the rocks below! It was freezing at first but our tour guide convinced us that as you got further in it got warmer, we didn´t believe him at first but he turned out to be true and it was a cool experience floating in the water! Next we went to visit the Ojos which were two freshwater lakes that give you a perfect reflection of yourself when you look in. And last but not least, we drove up by the Lake Cejar in time for the sunset and the view was incredible. Within the 20 minutes of the sun setting the lake and the surrounding area changed to pretty much every colour of the spectrum- deep blue to bright orange and everything in between. It was stunning. We had snacks and Pisco Sours to accompany the experience which made it that much better!

The following morning we set off by ourselves to walk to some ruins which were about an hours walk out of town. We picked up one of the many stray dogs along the way and he ended up staying with us for the whole morning and climbing with us to the top of the mountain and back! I am going to buy a USB connecter hopefully in the next couple of days so that I can upload some of pictures from the trip so far so you can see them! In the afternoon we took our final tour to the Val de Lunes. We climbed up a massive sand dune to get to the ridge of the valley which stretched like a dinasours spine through either side of the valley. The views in every direction were beautiful and watching the sunset turn the edge of the mountains bright red was another special experience.

We left San Pedro the following morning and took a 12 hour bus to Salta, Argentina. We arrived quite late and took a taxi straight to the hostel- Terra Oculta where we were greeted by a warm dorm, what luxury! The next day we had the best meal of the trip so far at a famous local restaurant. I had the best steak I have ever had in my life and a delicious glass of wine! Que perfecto! Then we all took the cable car up to the top of the mountain to get a good view of the city and had a walk around the main plaza. It was a really pretty city, much more developed than anywhere we had been so far. We went out for a drink at a local bar with traditional Argentinian dancing and singing and by the time we left the bar it was snowing outside! We couldn´t believe it and neither could the locals it seemed as we later found out that it hadn´t snowed in Salta for the past 10 years! We then went to a club called XXI for dancing and cocktails which was fun!

The next morning we decided to leave Salta and get a bus to the wine region which was 4 hours South of Salta- a place called Cafayate. We spent the day here visiting all the local Bodega´s, finding out how they made the wine and most importantly tasting it! I wish I could have bought some back but unfortunately I don´t think the bottles would have survived the backpacking experience! Unfortunately Katie spent the day in bed (with what we now know is Bronchitis after spending yesterday in hospital here in Buenos Aires and having chest Xrays). Because of the snow all buses heading South were cancelled and so we had to go back to Salta and catch a 22 hour bus to Buenos Aires. We took the last 3 tickets which we were surprised to find out were for the Executive Cama class which is the most luxurious one they do. It was great- big leather seats that fully reclined to make a bed and we got served meals and drinks on the bus. Kind of surreal but very cool!

We are staying in a big party hostel here called Millhouse which is currently packed with Brazilians on winter break. Its great fun and theres always something going on! Poor Katie has been bed bound for the past few days which has been miserable for her but Chloe and I have been making the most of the free tango lessons and parties! We can now do the basic tango steps and are hoping to go to see a proper tango show in the next week! First impressions of Buenos Aires are that it is BEAUTIFUL, its quite like Paris and definetly has a strong European feel to it compared to other places we have been to so far. The people look much more European too and there are some wonderful shops and restaurants! I cant wait to explore all the different parts of the city. Tomorrow we are going to go on a tour to the La Boca neighbourhood with its coloured houses and is home to the the Boca Juniors stadium which is one of Argentinas most famous football teams. The sun is shining which is great but it is still very cold.

Hopefully I will find somehwere to buy my USB cable either this afternoon or tomorrow so I can start uploading some photos. Hope everyone is well and more to come soon! xxx