Week 24! Welcome to Argentina! Tilcara, Salta and Goucho Adventure!

Week 24. Half way through our adventures!

Tuesday. Today we visited a place known as the Hill of Seven Colors in the small town of Purmamarca. A destination recommended on various Internet sites but not in Lonely Planet. Getting there was easy - we only needed to catch a 30 minute bus ride from Tilcara.

The town was really pretty with a huge artisans market. We bought a few things to take back home and then walked for about an hour enjoying the views around us.

Feeling a little tired of eating out, I attempted to cook us dinner in our room. Cooking pasta in a kettle worked out better than expected! However I wouldn't rate the overall dish much - best to keep eating out!

Wednesday. We caught the 4 hour bus to Salta and arrived at our hotel (hotel Samka) at 5pm. We dumped our bags and had a little wonder around the town.

We were finding it difficult adjusting to the eating habits of the Argentineans. Typically they start the evening activities around 10pm!! By 7pm we were starving but hardly any restaurants were open. Luckily we found a nice Parrilla which was open and had a few other gringos feasting away on plates full of meat.

Sometimes I wish I had a dictionary when eating out as my Spanish isn't that great with regards to food. I ordered what I hoped to be a chunk of sirloin but instead what came out was a portion of cow rib (Asado de tira) - I am surprised that I still have teeth left as it was sooooo chewy! Major dissapointment!

Thursday. Another day wondering around Salta. The guide book raves about this city but I do not understand why. It's ok! There are lots of shops and restaurants but not much else. 2 days here was enough.

Highly recommended in the guide book is to try empanadas in Argentina - the best in South America. So with this in mind (and a budget to look after) we ate at an empanada restaurant near our hotel. 50 pesos served us 12 small empanadas filled with minced beef, chicken and cheese. They were delicious!

Friday to Monday.  It has been a dream of mine to stay at a ranch in Argentina and ride horses all day long. So this is what we did for my birthday weekend!

After a lot of research we chose SAYTA. This place was great and the charismatic Enrique welcomes you to his ranch as soon as you step out of the taxi with a huge cheeky grin. If you love food, wine, horses and beautiful countryside this place is perfect. 

Our private little home in the garden (not the caravan!)

We rode every day in the morning for about 2-3 hours and then stuffed ourselves with barbecued meat and red wine (very easy to drink!) for lunch. We then got back on the horses (a little merry!) and rode again for another 3 hours.

Lunch time with Enrique

Wine before lunch

Riding across a dried up river bed

Roland bonding with his horse

By the time we returned after the afternoon rides, we were knackered and a little sore! It was then time for tea and cake, followed by a nice relaxing siesta.

In the evening we sat and drank copious amounts of wine into the wee hours and ate even more delicious meat! 

On my actual birthday I was surprised with a lovely cake for breakfast and then rode into the mountains on an all day excursion. It was fantastic! However I wish I enjoyed myself a little less the night before as the thought of even more wine at lunch turned my stomach a little!

Birthday cake!!!

Just a little bit more wine ...

Attempting to catch the guide with a lasso - I did after 4th attempt!

We both had a really great time at SAYTA and would highly reccommend this place.

Cheaky Enrique!

Monday. We said goodbye to the lovely Enrique and made our way to Cafayate - a wine growing area in Argentine. The journey only took 4 hours and we stayed at Cafayate Backpacker - cheap place but not the nicest! Once we were settled in, we explored the town and visited a goats cheese factory our first Winery - El Testino.

Cheese!

Wine!!

Enjoying ´picada´ 

Week 23 La Paz, Salt Flats and getting to Argentina

Week 23

Thursday. Our last day in Peru and Cuzco.  We really loved Cuzco and could have quite easily stayed here a few more days as there are so many things you can do other than just the Inca trek to Machu Picchu. 

We stayed at Ukukus Hostelagain for the 3rd time and I cannot recommend this Hostel enough. Roni the owner was so helpful and even booked our bus tickets to La Paz whilst we were on the Inca Jungle trek.

We spent most of the day wondering around the San Blas area, purchasing some artworks to take back home. At 10pm we caught our bus to La Paz in Bolivia.

View of Cuzco from San Blas area

Loved the recycled bike theme of this little cafe

Friday.  The border crossing from Peru into Bolivia was fine. We worked out that there were 2 lines which you had to queue in. The first to get the immigration paperwork and the second to get your stamps - it took about 30 minutes in total. We then jumped back on the bus and arrived in La Paz at 12pm.

Hectic border town

Hello Bolivia!

We stayed at a really nice hostel La Posada De La Abuela Obdulia which had the best hot shower ever! The last time I came here, 11 years ago, I remember the showers giving me electric shocks (this was in a different hostel)!!! After settling in, we ate at the restaurant downstairs and had the most amazing burger! Yum yum yum!!

We then went out to explore the Witches markets searching for souvenirs to take back home! One of the disturbing things you see for sale here are dried up lama foetuses! They are everywhere! I asked one of the sellers what they are used for - they are burnt and then the ashes are sprinkled over their homes for good luck! There is also a weird smell wherever you walk around these streets and I couldn't help but think that it was all the dead lamas causing it!

Ew!!

.

Central Plaza

Government building

Old town

Saturday. Today was a 'job' day and our last day in La Paz. We didn't actually do that much except do a lot of research in the Internet to plan our itinerary for our next destination - Argentina! This kept us busy until will caught our bus to Uyuni at 7pm (Panasur bus 240BOb).

Sunday. Our bus arrived at 6am which was a little inconvenient as our tour was not leaving until 11am!  Plenty of time to grab and coffee (or 3) and wonder around the town. Uyuni us a little bit of a dump, and I am pleased that we made the decision not to stay here.

Peruvian dog - no hair!!!

At 11 am we were picked up by a Jeep and headed out to the train cemetery. We were sharing the tour with 5 other people - all from Chili (we must attract them!)

Made out of salt

After we spent the rest of the time cruising around the salt flats trying to take amusing pictures with some props. The salt flats are my favourite destination in Bolivia! Visually beautiful and unique!

The tour was meant to finish around 4pm, but the driver was keen to keep the enthusiastic Chileans happy by visiting an area of the flats still covered in water, which turn the salt flats into a massive mirror, and witnessing hundreds of pink flamingos fly across it (annoyingly my camera ran out of batteries so couldn't take any photos of this!).  This resulted in the guide driving like a maniac to try and get us back into Uyuni - once he realised that we had to catch the 7:30pm bus Villazon!

We got back to the office at 7:20pm and was greeted by the office (where our bags were stored) locked with no one in sight to open it! I ran to the bus station to hold up the bus while Roland stayed with the guide to get our bags. The plan worked and we managed to get on the bus OK.

Monday. The ride to Villazon was the bumpiest yet and resulting in us both not sleeping very well. So when we arrived at 3:30am (border not opening until 7am) the idea of roughing it on the streets for 3.3 hours did not appeal to us, and neither to Oliver a guy also from the UK making his way to Argentina. We all decided to find a cheap hotel, sleep a few hours and then make our way to the border.

This border crossing had to be the worst yet in terms of time wasted  cueing!  We arrived at 9:15 and and finally got our entry stamps into Argentina 11:45am! We then walked to the bus station and caught the bus to Tilcara!

By the time we reached Tilcara (4 hour bus ride) and to our hostel, La Morada, we were absolutely knackered! We quickly made the decision to stay there 2 nights instead of 1.

We were both excited to be in Argentina (finally decent food and more importantly wine!) and after searching on TripAdvisor we decided to eat at the most recommended restaurant in the town - El Nuevo Progreso. 

Everything about this place deserved top marks! The food was amazing, the wine delicious and the meal was a complete bargain! Steaks, bottle of wine, and chocolate mousse costing only £25!