Don't cry for me Argentina!

Córdoba, Córdoba Province & Salta, Salta Province
14-20th May (Mon-Sun) 


Woops, it's been a week since I've even thought about doing an update and such a busy week it was. I thought I wouldn't have any news of interest this week but I've done a lot more than I intended! I arrived into Córdoba on Monday morning after a 22 hour bus journey up from Bariloche and had organised to call into a language school to finish registering for a week of Spanish classes. I had done my research and picked a school and a hostel which were close to each other, which is most convenient when class is at 9am. Córdoba is a lovely university city. So far it's the only place where I've thought that I could actually live here, for a time anyways. Huge compliment. My hostel was in the 'new, young and hip' district just a few blocks south of the pedestrianized city center. It didn't take too long to explore the old town, home to a dozen lovely old colonial buildings and churches so most of my days I spent lazing about in the park, trying to take in a bit of the sun.

1) Playing with ISO - I spy men hanging out in the tower!

2) Playing with ISO

3) Playing with ISO

No seats?

Don't know what's worse - the fact that lunch was a pack of
crisps or that the teacher was stealing her lunch!

I'd quite a few bunches of different people coming and going from my hostel all week, some English gap year girls, Swiss kids my age and some older Australian guys who were just the most clueless travellers I've ever met. The hostel cooked some lovely family dinners for us, the night they had planned to cook an 'asado' BBQ was called off due to a lack of numbers but fortunately the big group of 5 Irish lads who I'd met first in Iguazu and then again in Buenos Aires had an asado in their hostel. Suited me perfectly as I've really grown to love the 'choripan' here - chorizo sausage in fresh bread with salad and chimmi churri salsa dressing. Asado meant all you cant eat of those and some delicious steak, with barbecued banana and dolche de leche for dessert! I checked out the next morning but other than a quick venture to the market I spent most of the day in hostel TV room with a few others watching the All-Irish Heineken Cup Final and then the Champions League Final. Shared a cab to the bus terminal with one of the Aussie's and made my way overnight up to Salta where I'd booked into the same hostel as Johnathan from home and his travel companions.

It didn't take long at all to discover Salta, it's a tiny quiet white wash town with a few museums. Most of what is to be seen from Salta is outside, so it's really just a base to sleep and go out. I made an attempt to see a museum made famous for it's controversial display of child sacrifices, unfortunately because it was the 20 de Mayo weekend all the museums in the town were free in. Unfortunate because this meant a queue of 400 people were lined up for that particular child sacrifice museum so it didn't take me long to leave the town center and join the boys lounging in the sun out the back of the hostel for some reading in the sun.

I made the call that night to leave with Jonny and Chris in the morning to get the bus to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. It was a tough call because I'd only been in Salta the day and felt like I was moving on too quickly however the problem lay in the fact that few buses leave from Salta to Chile (3 a week) so co-ordinating a bus time to catch them in San Pedro before they'd left for the Salt Flat tour in Bolivia would be impossible. It was either move on now or wait until possibly Friday to get to San Pedro as I'd have to wait until the Irish lads caught up with me and do the Salt Flats with them or else strangers (not ideal as I could be landed with 72 hours with creepers). I felt bad that I'd miss out on some sights, but after pricing the tours from Salta (and a long conversation with Mum) I realised I'd prefer to spend the money on the tours in San Pedro. Turns out my decision to leave the next morning was the right one because we'd an incredible 10 hour bus journey climbing into the Andes, through the cacti covered desert on a dodgy narrow road cuting in and out of the mountains and into Chile. Most importantly, I got to see the peculiar colourful mountains that Salta is famous for. Yay, I'd managed to not miss the only thing I'd really wanted to see in the Salta region!