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Hello there everyone
As I write this kirst and I have just started what will probably be a very bad journey. We have started what promised to be a 23 hour direct executive service bus journey with waiters and the like. Even before starting the bus has been downgraded and we will have to change twice to reach salta; the second of these will be at 4:45am. In short, buses continue to be mainly evil (though at least in south America the devil prefers to ride in some comfort... At least until Bolivia or so we hear).
Anyway since the last post we have traversed some of chile, Argentina and unexpectedly, Uruguay. From Santiago we travelled to valparaiso and vina del mar on the Chilean coast. The former is a bohemian arty town with a sideline in petty crime whilst the later is a sort of small Chilean version of Miami or something similar. We really liked both: lovely people with lots of friendly advice such as "don't be round here at nightfall or you,ll get robbed" and an uncanny ability to produce a round of pisco sour at any time with no provocation whatsoever. Valparaiso in particular is a very colourful and characterfull place, even though some of the characters are perhaps best avoided.
From here we basically got a bus through the Andes to Mendoza on what was one of the most spectalur journeys through the area where strangely, they filmed "seven years in Tibet". The thing to do in Mendoza is drink wine as the area produces about 70% of Argentinas total produce. The popular way of doing this is by bike though it is fair to say that as our palettes matured and became more educated, the bikes got a little bit swervy.
Next, on to buenos aires, the highlight of which was watching the locals tango in the piaza whilst sadly not having the skills to join in. Argentina is perhaps not ready for the shapes that meyer and Monaghan throw! from here we made an unexpected road trip through Uruguay in an effort to save money. An 80's soundtrack to our road trip echoed out of shops and restaurants along the way with unerring regularity. First we arrived in the small old smuggler port of colonia del sacremento: shortly after the tune of bonnie tyler, total eclipse of the heart echoed into the streets. We spent the afternoon and evening wandering the cobbled streets and sitting in the sunshine with a bottle of wine before watching the sunset. Very peaceful compared to BA. The following day the road trip continued to Montevideo (what a feeling/theme from flash dance) from where we did an about turn due to onward bus issues and headed for salto to get back into Argentina (rio, duran duran).
A three hour delay and a 13 hour bus ride later we got to iguazu. Go there, that's an order. Basically, nature at its best shoeing it can out do anything we build with just some water and a cliff.
That brings us to salta which as I finish this blog is gearing up for a religous festival with about 500,000 people.
Which is nice......
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