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Alan's Assorted Travels
-Ok I´m a bit behind so I´m copying this from my journal in Potosi, Bolivia. Will try to update more soon.
Salta was never going to be the most exciting stop on our trip. The main reason we were stopping there was its convenient location for meeting up with Rob, Tim and Jason. It did however have its high points and in the end it was a much more worthwhile stop than I had expected .
The first day was uneventful to say the least. We arrived after a very comfortable bus trip, we checked into the hostel, we walked to the main square, had dinner and went to sleep. I was a little disappointed by the lack of a bar in the hostel especially when there was a sign saying ´Bar' over a hallway that led to a few tables and a luggage store. The hostel made up for it (partially) by providing dinner and saving us a few pesos.
The second day Rob, Jason and Tim flew in from Buenos Aires enlarging our party to six. Again our energy levels required a lazy day but I did manage to get my hands on one last huge Argentine steak and a little more exploration of the town was achieved.
The third and fourth days were much more eventful. Salta has a large hill that overlooks the city which has a gondola system to take people to the top. Being keen and just a little bit cheap we took the hard mans option and walked the 1000 or so steps to the top instead. We were rewarded when we reached the top with rather unimpressive panoramic views of the city and by an ice block. I´m still not sure which was the greater reward after the hot climb up there.
On our final day Jason, Tim, Rob and I took a tour out of the city. We drove up through the hills to the west of the city, winding through landscapes that changed rapidly with our ascent. From Salta at around 1000m above sea level up to 3300m then down to the plateau town of Cachi at around 2000-2500m we went from green trees to dry cactus desert. On the way in we were lucky enough to see several condors gliding on the thermals rising from the cliffs around us. Even far in the distance we could tell that they were huge birds and when we got closer they were an impressive sight. Also impressive were the cacti of Los Cardones national park, over 300,000 of them spread across an area with little to no other vegetation. Cachi was an amazing little town. Only 5000 people there is not much there but it felt old. The streets are colonial cobbles with raised footpaths on each side and the church in the centre of town was mostly built from cactus wood (90% of it!) in the seventeenth century. Except for the cars and the warehouse full of coca cola the town looked like it hadn´t changed in the last 300 years.
As we drove back down we passed a desert plateau of endless nothing that continued off to the horizon where the snow capped foothills of the Andes could be seen before clouds closed in blocking off the view. From there back to the hostel the ride was uneventful save for a tyre blowing out at 3000m which was quickly replaced.
Here we said goodbye to Salta. Our bus for Bolivia left at midnight and was to take us to La Quiaca on the border where we would walk through to Villazon in Bolivia and a country even more alien than Argentina
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