Continental Salta

... that border Chile on the other. There were a few settlements, with llama, vicuna, and goats grazing.<br><br>We had planned on staying the night at San Antonio de la Cobres, a Puna settlement and former mining town, but we made better time than planned, so decided to head down the hill to Salta, basically gaining a day to use elsewhere. <br><br>On first impressions, we were glad not to be staying in San Antonio. It was dusty and sparse, with little ...

... I asked one guy where my bus company was. His response was not encouraging - my company`s buses did not leave from La Quiaca. I went to the information desk and the woman there said the exact same thing. I asked her if she could call the company for me, but owing to her strenuous non-existent workload she couldn`t be bothered to help the traveller in difficulty and instead gestured to the telephone place next door. I called the "office" in Villazon, and there was ...

Although sweaty and dishevelled, Tiago and I were incredibly relieved to have made the bus and were happy to be on our way to Salta. Salta is a large town in the northwest of Argentina, some 12 hours away, and so we had another overnight bus journey ahead. Unlike previous journeys, this one was quite irritating as there were a few stops in the wee hours and we were woken up lots. We also had to change buses at seven in the morning. As ...

... It´s a shame the same cannot be said of our illustrious leader, the Gap tour guide, who on first appearances sadly seemed to lack every virtue I would have expected of a tour guide. I will be reserved in my opinion as it´s early days but I am doubtful this chubby, beady-eyed Brazilian whose English and local knowledge are both somewhat below par will add much value to our trip other than holder of our plane tickets and insurance details. Perhaps I ...

... van de bus konden opwarmen. Later op de dag werd het wat aangenamer, maar wel even een mental note opgeschreven. Als je op een bewolkte dag de bergen ingaat geen slippers aan. Het hoogtepunt van de tour was het Parque Nacional de Cardones met haar mega cactussen, zoals je ze altijd in de westerfilms ziet met twee handen omhoog. Tja, dan kun je het natuurlijk niet laten om even je Beavis ´n´ Butthead imitatie van Cornholio uit te voeren. I NEED T.P. FOR MY BUNGHOLE! Het ...

... and contains trees that are typically 20-30m high, is verdant and green, and contains lots of jungle animals (such as pumas/jaguars, birds, and reptiles) and very little flowers (because little light reaches through the canopy to the floor). The second level, which we spent a large amount of time traversing through, is the Montana Yunga at 1,000-2,300m, and contains tons of grass and small bushy trees, weeds, flowers and cactus. The ...

... or is this some form of deep-seated narcissisum? At the outset of my journey in September, I would have emphatically said that the passage was both true and false. True in that travel writing and an extended journey would reveal a lot about myself and what I desired in life and what direction I needed to take to get there. False in that I was on a journey around-the-world that would lead me to a small ...

... mine over forgetting that I had used it to store some odd currency in. As it was passed to the policeman a five peso note (approx. £1.50) fluttered out and onto the street. Cue policeman doing comedy jump away from it. You'd have thought I'd tried to spray him with mace. I then had to explain that I wasn't trying to make one of the crappest bribery attempts ever to calm him down. He eyed me suspiciously from then on. Further odd ...

... Farben. Dass die Sonne aber eigentlich nicht hinter einem aufgeht, wenn man nach Sueden faehrt, faellt uns dann leider erst eine lange Weile spaeter auf, als wir letztlich doch mal an ein paar Schildern vorbeikommen, und keinen der Orte darauf identifizieren koennen. Da sind wir schon fast in Chile... Naja, was soll's, drehen wir also um und fahren zurueck nach San Antonio, wo wir so gegen 9 Uhr wieder an unserer Unterkunft vorbeifahren. Wir denken kurz daran, wie gut wir ...

... it was only about $30 for each of us. It´s nice to take overnight buses because you don´t have to pay for a room and you sleep through the whole trip. We woke up in Salta around 7am and got a couple of cafe con leches (coffee and milk) and a couple of media lunas (half moons, or croissants). After a few hours of wandering around Salta lost, looking for the bus our Lonely Planet guide has listed as the one that is ...