Another Travel Blog

The walk to the top of the hill felt quite like doing sports (many locals were actually jogging up the stairs) and I think that I have been loosing some weight during the trip as well. The walk was supposed to be to be 1000+ steps. The view over the town was pretty nice and definitely well-earned after this steep walk.

Back in the town, I tried to sort out my camera problem (I forgot the USB to camera adapter at home and have been asking about every traveller if he/she has a Sony camera) The solution which a guy from the hostel came up with was to get a CD burned in the local photo store (which was quite expensive in the end) But – the computer here doesn’t have a CD-Rom and seems to be 10 years old.. Aaaagrh.

I met a French guy who has been travelling for years through India, Spain, Ireland and South America and is originally from Paris. He made me some really nice spaghetti! (the hostel has a nice kitchen but he was still hunting for salt for a while) In general, I seem to be currently on the long time travellers trail as I have met a few people who are travelling for a few months and started their trip in Ushuaia (southernmost city) But by far, the most people I have met so far were Israelis. The whole country seems to be into travelling.. The evening was nice, with a large BBQ and with two tango dancers. I will be leaving Salta with the nightbus at around midnight to the Bolivian border and arrive in Bolivia in the morning where I need to take another train to Uyuni which will arrive again during midnight. The distances are getting shorter, but I don’t feel like I need less time for travelling. I am currently already about 1500 kms away from Rio where it all started and all this in just about one week.

For the next day after my arrival in Argentina, I planned the waterfalls (they were supposed to be incredible) I passed over to the brazilian side, got my exit stamp, stayed in front of the customs officials 1 minute later to get my Brazil entry stamp again. I earned a few raised eyebrows but got my entry stamp and headed towards the waterfalls, which are only a short bus ride away from the border. The waterfalls were indeed incredible, the largest I have ever seen.

After my re-entry to Argentina, I bought tickets for the day after to Salta, which is in the northeast of Argentina. Another 26 hrs bus ride starting the next morning at 1100am. The approximity to Bolivia should be already noticeable in the Salta and Jujuy provinces, which are one of the northenmost ones in Argentina. The bus ride was incredible, I didnt’t see any civilisation apart from cattles and horses in the pasture for hours. During the middle of the night, the driver woke me up and told me to change the bus (I was told beforehand I don’t have to…) I arrived in Salta during the siesta time (1300 to 1700) and the city looked deserted. During siesta, no shops or cafes are open and it is very difficult to find anything. On top of that it was a sunday and most of the clothing stores were going to open only by the next day. I urgently needed some warm clothes though as the thermometer has been climbing upwards but not enough yet to wear shorts. And as I am heading towards the high Andes next, the climate won’t be getting any warmer. I used the siesta time to do my laundry (which immediately reminded me of Southeast Asia where I used to wash clothes in the beach bungalows) As the hostel did not have any laundry facilities, I did my laundry manually (when have you been doing your laundry last time manually?)

Salta is located in a nice valley and close to the hostel, there is a path to the top of the hills. I planned the daytrip to the hill for tomorrow as I felt like I have caught the cold and decided to have a rest for the day (of course with a nice beefsteak in the evening as I am heading to Bolivia soon and it would be one of the last opportunities to have such a great dinner!)