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We had booked onto a bus that would take us from Tarija at 3am in the morning, getting into Salta at 12pm. We waited in the cold for the bus but what turned up was a guy in a car. We were somewhat dubious when we saw this, given that between us we were carrying around $3,500 in cash! There was one other passenger though and she seemed quite happy to get into the car, so we followed. Through a combination of having a car rather than a bus and having a slightly mental Bolivian driver, we got to Salta around 10am. We checked into Coloria Hostel, where we knew Robyn and Stefi were staying.
That morning Stevo and I strolled around the old Colonial town. Salta is a beautiful city to walk in, with impressive churches, convents, government buildings etc. The main square was also one of the more beautiful I have seen and yet another place where I spent some time relaxing and watching the world go by. Stevo and I soon realised that whilst it was a beautiful town, there seemed to be very little that we could actually do. We spent the whole day walking and then met Robyn and Stefi for dinner. We headed to a place recommended by the hostel staff and we weren't disappointed. It was my first experience of steak in Argentina. The steak was gigantic and the flavour of the meat was incredible. No need for any kind of sauce, though I tried it with a little Chimichurri on Robyn's recommendation and it was very good. It turned out that the place we ate at was where the England rugby team ate whilst touring Argentina. After dinner we went to a couple of bars where we listened to some live music.
The following day, Stevo and I went on the hunt for some special trainers. We were looking for pairs like I had seen in Cusco which are patterned colourfully with traditional Incan style designs. We searched all over the city without any luck. Later in the day we hiked up a nearby hill to get a view of the whole city and watch the sunset, with a beer.
Robyn and Stefi had decided to move on to Cafayate the following day, whilst Stevo and I decided to get an early start and head two hours north to the village of Tilcara.
Once in Tilcara, we headed straight out to grab some food before getting stuck into the Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) hike. The scenery was once again beautiful. We walked through a valley that again had a slightly alien appearance, up to a viewpoint that looked down onto a riverbed. Unfortunately the winter sun had dried the riverbed and so the view wasn't quite as impressive as we had hoped. We had been told that the hike was a few hours each way but managed to get there and back in three. So, with our spare time we headed up to a nearby viewpoint. I had bought a bottle of wine in Tarija and this seemed as good a time as any to crack it open, so once we reached the top, we sat and took in the views whilst enjoying the view. We were able to look out onto a wide flat riverbed valley flanked by mountains of various colour. In front of us the mountains looked pitch black because of the position of the sun.
The following day we headed to the town of Purmamarca. Having spent hours in Salta looking for artisan shoes, Stevo and I were happy to see that the town was full of artisan shops. We hunted through numerous shops and finally found the shoes we were looking for. Having felt like we'd really achieved something, we headed out on the Montaña de Siete Colores (Mountain of Seven Colours) hike. As suggested by the name, we saw a multicoloured mountain, but we also managed to get some great views of the surrounding mountains and valleys.
After this hike, we headed to another viewpoint above the city where we tucked into some salami and cheese sandwiches and looked out over the town whilst taking in some sun.
That evening we headed back to Tilcara and set off early the next day for Cafayate.
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