Buenos Aires - Iguazu - Salta

Hello again

Our trip started out quite univentfully with a 4 hour wait in the Chilean PDI (Policia de Investigaciones) to have our visas OKed to leave the country. We arrived at the bus station in Santiago to find out we were about a week late on our visas and couldn´t be sold a bus ticket out of the country. So we missed our original morning bus and had to catch a bus at 3:30 in the afternoon that arrived in Mendoza, Argentina at 10pm. We had only planned to spend about 10 minutes in Mendoza looking for another bus to BsAs but we were informed that when we got there we would be SOL until the next day. However this was not so! We arrived in Mendoza at 9:57 and were told a bus was leaving at 10 so Bree sprinted to the ticket stand while I lugged both of our giant bags to the bus to tell them to wait. Great start to the trip.

We arrived in Buenos Aires and settled in our hostel which came highly reccomended. It was a monsterous hostel which was very clean but the people who stayed there were not exactly friendly. We spent a few days exploring BsAs which is an absolutely beautiful city. We ate the best steak we have ever had at a place called La Cabrera (which served free champaigne while you wait for your table) and took in some tango street performances and even had a lesson ourselves. All in all a very awesome city which I would love to spend more time in. I think this annecdote describes the difference between Buenos Aires and Santiago pretty well: in Santiago we were trying to get some vaccinations for traveling and after spending about a week researching and calling hospitals we were told we would first need a doctor`s referal which would cost us 30,000 pesos ($60) and then we would have to go to the Clinica and buy the injection which would cost us another 30,000 pesos. In Buenos Aires we walked to the center for Fiebre de Amarillo (yellow fever), handed our passports, waited 5 minutes, and then recieved the vaccination for free. We also met a very nice dude who was traveling the world playing violin in an orchestra. He told us to check out a free show they were having at one of the monuments in the city and then look for him backstage. We got to the show and there were probably 1 million people in the streets here to see them for free as apparently his conductor is world renowned and the orchestra is incredibly talented. We managed to spot our friend on stage but had no chance of trying to find him afterwards through the mobs of people.

After BsAs we went north on a 19 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The Parque Nacional de Iguazu is one of the most beautiful places I`ve ever been. The waterfalls there are incredible and even though it is crowded with tourists it is extremely peaceful. You will have to wait for some photos because it`s amazing. We ended up traveling with a few people we had met in Buenos Aires and had a very relaxing few days there.

Now we are here in Salta, Argentina in the Northwestern part of Argentina after a 23 hour bus ride. Originally we had planned to spend only a few days here and then take off through Chile up to Peru but plans have changed. The surrounding areas here in Salta are allegedly incredible and very much worth our visit. We have been traveling with some friends we met in Buenos Aires who are on the same path as us for now. Together we all decided that the best way to visit the whole area, which is pretty huge, is to rent a car and spend the week trekking around the whole area. ROOOOOOAAADDDD TRRRRIIIIPPPPPPP!! So we are heading, for those with maps, from Salta - Cachi - Cafayate - Talapampa - San Antonion de Los Cobres - JuJuy - Humahuaca - Salta. Lots of driving through dirt roads and deserts and salt flats and mountains and all sorts of beautiful terrain. We also are saving ourselves probably $1000 by renting a car and doing it ourselves. So we are heading out now and I`ll update again when I get back.