Well i'm clearly writing this from jolly old england, but i'm adamant on recording what i went through because i've been home for a month now and it's already starting to feel like a dream. In conversation i'm terribly wary of turning into the i the ponce who starts all her sentences with 'well...when i was in argentina, haw haw haw" blurgh.
Anyhoo, i left u last at Salta, a smallish colonial town in the north of argy, that's impossible to dislike, probably because the weather's great it's super pretty and they have the best steak and ice cream (not together, obviously) i have ever had!
Came into salta on the bus from atacama, and was seated next to a girl from colorado, who i admit, i judged immediately, becuse she sounded just like one of those loud airhead blonde california girls that the tv loves to stereotype. Since the journey was 10 hours long, i decided to embrace the situation, and got to know her and it turns out i was pretty much wrtong about her in every way. The deciding factors were a. she got the incredibly sexy guy from boston on the bus to say 'paark the caar' for me in a southie accent (sooo hot) and we share the same favourite book... To be honest, if you love the Fountainhead, or the West Wing, ur immediately ok by me. Shallow in an intellectual sort of way really, how ridiculous.
So i spent the first night in Salta schlepping around with liz trying to find a hostel, finally settling for a geriatric residence, where we barely made a dent in the average age of 60+. We escaped immediately for some steak and wine with some girls we met at the bus station. Delish! They were all blonde and the local guys were going nuts for them. Some lads ina 4x4 actually raced round the block and caught up with us again just for a second round of oggling and cat calling, and we got invited to a random party in the burbs of argy... tempting, but...no.
The next day, liz pushed off to BA, and i went looking for another, more age-appropriate hostel, adamant not to succumb to lonely planet hostels and wanting to meet new ppl, i found a random one behind some ominous looking giant doors on a quiet street. I settled in, met lovely aussie couple called Jack and Anisha, who, like most of the couples i'd met travelling, were definitely feeling the strain of a 6 month intensive travel session together. As a couple travelling, you basically experience years worth of relationship stuff in mere months, because of the random situations you constantly find yourself in, robbed, or rained on, tired from a 40 hour bus journey, or constant food poisoning...you have to be a super-couple to not let some of that stuff get you down.
This hostel, is where i first met Jan. The likelihood of Jan reading this blog is pretty low, so i will say, that he was one of the more hyper and therefore irritating ppl on my travels. 19 and full of beans and far too much excitement for every situation, he had a habit of not listening and somehow wearing out your will to live, just by chattering away and being his usual sunny self. Poor jan, or poor us i should say, because Jan was oblivious, and did well with the local ladies, which was so perplexing, the boys got reeally pissed off...
After i had chatted a bit, i went to the kitchen, and guess who should be there, completely by chance, it was Chris, from Bariloche. We'd gone separate ways for 2 or 3 weeks, and yet somehow arrived at the same hostel on the same day. Pretty standard for backpacking coincidence, but it never failed to amaze me. So that was cool, cos i wasn't even sure i'd see him again. And it was nice to have a friendly face.
Chris just being Chris : )
That night was spent drinking a LOT of wine, and i managed to get myself drunk before everyone even went out, and conked out by midnight. Cue much ribbing from Chris. Managed to stay up long enough to chew off new friend Greg's ear on my views on education (sorry greg) i was a teensy bit out of order that night (i think they bring it out in me)
Afore-mentioned Canyony Mountainy Things
Surprisingly the next day, Chris Greg and 19 year old Sophie, (travelling by herself before uni, i couldn't have done it then i don't think) all rented a car and drove off around the mountains of northern Argy. brilliant daytrip, plus we stopped for some lunch and vino, scrambled up mountains and into canyons, and i got to drive breakneck speed round the mountains, occasionally forgetting i was supposed to be on the right side of the road. oops. Just as i handed the wheel back to Chris, who was the licenced driver, we got pulled over by the police, close shave, and sophie and i used our expert spanish to explain that It was the broken down car in front of us who forced us to break the law. Somehow, they bought it, yey, not before asking me where i was from as usual, and looking like they had solved some interesting mystery, when they heard India. Illumination. By then, Chris was more than used to hearing locals ask me this question, never satisfied when i told them i was english.
Greg Bringing Down the Tone as Usual
We spent a few days in Salta, just enjoying the vibe of the place, then Chris, Greg, Jan (yey) and I, all headed North, across the border at La Quiaca, to the maaaagical land of...Boliiiviaaa...
Border Shenanigans
