Hosteria de las Nubes Salta

... East of Argentina about 1500 and for a change we had booked our digs in advance so got a free taxi pick up from the bus station. Stayed in a place called backpacker soul, though it was distinctly lacking in that department. The staff were curteous but not particularly forthcoming with help, we got stuck with bunkbeds which had sheets about 1 foot too short, and the telly didn't work. By thios time we were tired and cranky so when we were told the free dinner was to be at 10pm we were ...

... car arrived just after nine and it was alot better than I had hoped - a VW Gol with CD/mp3 reader, air con etc - which would prove to make our journey alot more comfortable. We named him Carlos. After getting some fresh pastries from the pasteleria (my first full conversation in Spanish!), and some flavoured sweeties to make the coca taste less like the bunch of foul leaves they are, we headed off to our first stop, San Antonio Los Cobres.

To begin with, the road was ...

... the only complication we might face would be the threat of altitude sickness as we would be driving so high in the mountains. We asked one of the hostel workers what to do and he, like many of the blogs we read online, recommended we buy some coca leaves to chew during the drive. We had already seen lots of shops selling it, but had assumed it was for more dubious purposes.

The next morning we researched our driving route a ...

... Polo) and were really scared of ruining the car - our average speed was about 45 km/h while driving through the desert.

There was a few nice things there to see like llamas, a hill cemetary and small adovbe houses in the middle of nowhere but after about 30 min or so we were kind of sick of the road already coz it was so dusty and bumpy and no fun driving on..

Then we finally made it to the ...

... up with some brits playing a drinking game, then some girl who lives on Valencia/ 19th in my neighborhood in SF so got to chatting and drinking and didnt get to be until almost 3. Had a 7am p/u so slept hard for 3.5 hours, but since i had the room to myslef i was able to sprawl and wory about locking everything. Of course at 7, breakfast is not served yet, and (of course) the kid wouldn´t give me change for the coffee ...

... par notre guide et on a eu toute les explication du guide sur l'extraction du sel . Il y avait aussi une maison en sel. Et le meilleur c'est que nous étions les seuls ! Cela n'a pas de pris ! on a vraiment bien fait de ne pas prendre le bus ! Les paysages sont encore une fois très différents et grandioses ! Super choix ! Quelle aventure ! Nous nous sommes aussi arrêtés à Sucre un tout petit ...

... the main agricultural products of the area. I was able to buy five bags of the amazing smelling and fresh spices for only ARS5 (less than USD2)! We made our way to a tiny chili pepper growing village for lunch and I walked amongs the ahi/tomato fields and dried pimentos. Speaking with some of these farmers and watching them toil over their small pieces of land, I once again thought of how ridiculous rich-world farm subsidies are. Many ...

... provinces. Kirchner's government severely downplayed the dengue fever epidemic until it became a public health disaster. Only belatedly was a state of emergency declared in the region. I would liken the Argentine government's ambivalence towards the NW and the dengue fever epidemic to the US government's bungled handling of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and general disregard for the people of New Orleans and ...

... pas de problèmes, je sens juste que j'ai le souffle un peu plus court que d'habitude. Le bus me dépose vers midi au village, j'achète immédiatement mon billet de retour pour le soir et pars me restaurer. Il n'y a pas beaucoup de commerces ouverts. En fait il n'y a pas beaucoup de commerces du tout. Les quelques personnes que je croise dans les rues, notamment des enfants, sont tout débraillés comme des ...