Argentina: #16

We’re in our 16th country - Argentina! Coming in from San Pedro Atacama in Chile - a charming but painfully expensive (especially when arriving from dirt cheap Bolivia) little town in the desert – Salta, Argentina was just what we needed. It’s modern yet charming, has quality services and food at very reasonable prices, lovely weather, all the western amenities and conveniences while retaining its Latin character. It’s like Europe… in South America.

Our sheets smelt like it came fresh from the laundry and we had high pressure real HOT water in the shower. which is way more than we’ve come to expect in many places. In some “hotels” in the other countries, you’ll be lucky if your pillowcase doesn’t have long strands of someone else’s hair on it, your bed doesn’t sink downwards even before you get into it, and the wooly blanket doesn’t cause you to have a 4-minute head-spinning sneezing fit.

Exploring Salta: First things first, Jem needed to get cleaned up. After the last few Bolivian weeks of having crazy hair and increasingly thickening facial growth, he couldn’t wait to have it shaved off… and since he would’ve had to invest in at least 6 Gillette blades and half a day to get it all off, we set off to a barber. Check it out!




The Transformation



Church in Salta- striking colors


Parque Central, Salta, after taking the teleferico (cable car) up to the Mirador and having the brilliant idea of WALKING down the 1200 steps. Legs still ache after 3 days.


Afternoon in San Lorenzo: Spent a lazy afternoon napping on a rock in the middle of a stream, collecting rocks of rainbow colors and wading in the refreshing icy water.


Sunrise from the bus: Salta-Tucuman-Mendoza