Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
From Salta we had originally planned to either cross the border into northen Chile or go back up into Bolivia again. However, we had heard from a lot of people that Chile was really expensive and if we went back up to Bolivia then we would have a lot of travelling to do to get back down to Santiago for the end of September. So eventually we decided we would head back down south in Argentina and make our way to the top of Patagonia, then cross into Chile for the last few days before our flight out of Santiago.
So from Salta we caught an overnight bus to La Rioja. We arrived very early on Monday 7th September, checked into a hotel which the lonely planet had quoted as ´nice and cheap´, but actually turned out to be double the price when we arrived!! Typical! We had a little nap as hadn´t managed much on the bus, and woke up late morning, then headed out to look around the city. La Rioja was pretty bland, there was nothing really to do. We booked our bus for the next day, then wandered around until dinner, had a nice meal at a parilla restaurant (the hotel had no kitchen facilities so didn´t have much choice but to eat out!) then went back to the hotel to watch a film before bed.
Our bus the next day left at 2pm. We were travelling to Rosario, but there had been no direct buses so we had to book one to Cordoba, then catch another bus which left 3hours later for Rosario. We arrived in Cordoba at 9pm, and because we had been before we knew a restaurant near the bus station which was an all you can eat buffet for £5!! After a scrummy meal, we caught our bus to Rosario, again arriving very early in the morning. We checked into our hostel and again went straight to bed!!
Wednesday afternoon, after our nap, we went for a walk around near our hostel. The main plaza was right near the river and was full of huge impressive monuments. There was also a park running alongside the river which was full of runners and people having picnics. We decided we would do this the next day ... the picnic obviously, not the running!! Our hostel was really cool, had a good kitchen and a really warm tv room, so that evening we spent chilling and watching a film. The next day we made our lunch and headed off to the river. The park ran the whole way along, so we walked right beside the river until lunch. We then made our way to a big shopping centre to do a spot of window shopping before heading back to the hostel to cook dinner.
From Rosario we wern´t really sure what we were going to do. We had been looking on the net for an estancia to go and stay on for a few days but all the ones we had found were really expensive. We had met a guy in Salta whose dad owned an estancia, and he had given us the website for it. We ended up emailing his dad asking for advice on any estancias that would be more within our price range. He messaged back saying we were welcome to stay at his estancia for a cheaper price, as long as we could bring our own food. So we jumped at the chance, and emailed back saying we would love to.
We booked our bus from Rosario for Friday evening. The estancia was most easily accessed from a tiny town called Tapalque. This meant we had to travel from Rosario to BA, then catch another bus from BA to Tapalque. Because we had to take all our own food with us we did a big shop in Rosario before we left which meant we had to do all the travelling not only with our backpacks, but massive bags of shopping as well!! Not so fun ... but in the end totally worth it!
- comments