Salta

Salta is a pretty cool place and a welcome retreat after the carnage of BA. It´s quite close to the Bolivian border, about 7 hours I think, and the first thing we noticed was the change in climate as it was bloody roasting hot. Not a lot was achieved in Salta but I just took the time to chill out for a while after finding the main square, 9 de Julio. The square was smattered with cool little cafes and restaurants surrounding a leafy square with monuments and water features. Most cafes had wifi so I spent most of my time drinking coffee, catching up with my emails and skpying some of my friends and family that I hadn´t spoken with in ages. I didn´t exactly party too much in Salta, Kev did and he found a vibrant area of town with a good party scene, but I couldn´t be arsed. I found a gym and a decent supermarket and had a healthy few days although we did manage another couple of massive steaks and bottles of vino tinto too! But it was just what I needed, some time to relax and take in the town just like a local would. I got up early, headed to the square and watched the town kick into life. I really enjoyed Salta and I would love to go back, I could have easily stayed there for longer but we had to move on to Bolivia.

Towards to end of our Salta visit, Kev and I had to make plans to go separate ways as Ol had decided to come to visit us for Christmas. We were planning to be in Cuzco, Peru for Christmas and New Year and the only way we could work it would be if I went straight to Cuzco to meet Ol while Kev ticked off some of his things to do in Bolivia. My plan was to spend some time in Cuzco and go back to Bolivia to visit the salt flats, Sucre and La Paz although my plans have changed loads now and I´ll have to come back another time to tick Bolivia off my list although I did manage to pay the most mental country a flying visit. So we had a bus ticket bought to get us to La Quiaca, the border town with Bolivia and from that point on we didn´t really know what to expect other than expect anything, it is Bolivia we´re talking about. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about Bolivia after a hundred horror stories from other travellers such as muggings, kidnappings, stolen luggage on trains and police corruption. Fortunately, just like most of the horror stories about South America, these claims proved to be unfounded. Maybe we were just lucky or maybe most of the horror stories come from really unlucky people or dimwits taking too many risks.

After a 7 hour bus journey, we were in La Quiaca, 1km away from the Bolivian border and about to cross into a different world, Bolivian territory!