House of Jasmines Salta

... else in Argentina, Spain and France everything stops at 1pm and starts up again at 5pm.  So our watching the gaucho proceedings meant we missed the opening of the baroque Cathedral and the San Francisco Church.  The kids were quite excited to hear the news so we ventured off to San Lorenzo for lunch. <br><br>San Lorenzo is only twelve minutes from Salta and is a summer vacation place for wealthy Salt&#8217; Arians.  The climate changes from hot and sticky to cool and breezy ...

... sweetened the deal.<br><br>Salta is a modest size city with a suprisingly bustling city center with a very European facade. Tourism is popular here. It is a nice destination for its parks, food, architecture and shopping while also providing a good jumping off point for trips to the desert, Chile, Bolivia, or smaller mountain towns nearby. In Salta, we enjoyed the crafts market, sitting by the duck-laden pond, taking the gondola to ...

... wine at one of the cafes. At only 15 pesos a bottle (2 pound 50) we didnt feel it was too extravagant!<br><br> <br><br>After red wine, we thought...what next? Steak of course! The local guy from our hostel had recommended a place called Viejo Jack which was a slight walk out of town but was totally worth it!!! Luke ordered the most expensive cut of meat (7 quid) and I ordered the second most (6 quid) and oh boy it was value for money! My steak was as ...

... to the hostel and met our room mates which happened to be an Irish couple, Karen who was from Tuam!! It was refreshing to hear a good old Galway accent!!! You can&#8217;t bet it!<br><br>The following day we were up bright an early to do a trip to Cachi, which is a village on Route 33 4,500 meters above sea level.<br>We left at 7.30am and did the rounds of picking up people, and met another guy, Will from Louisiana who we had also met in the hostel in Mendoza!<br>We saw the 2nd biggest ...

... slippery. At that point my extended foot slid off the rock and into the 2 foot drop in the water where my body continued to go. I was able to extend my left arm quick enough to break some of the fall, but in the mean time I smashed the left side of my face into the rock in from of me. It took me a second to realize what happened but after I snatched my sunglasses from the water I pulled myself out of the hole. It actually was nothing in the end, it could have been ...

... who was selfish and spoilt and as a result may not want me in their house so that was another family down. So just as I was starting to give up hope and wondering if I should start getting in contact with the boys at the ophanage in Córdoba, Grace informed me that she had a family all along but they were a sort of last resort. Desperate times called for desperate measures and so for the second Friday in a row my evening preparations included packing my bag for another move on Saturday ...

... horses and taught how to use the reins. Now, I haven't ridden since I was about 9 years old and it was always with two hands but in Argentina everything is done with one hand so you have a spare hand that you're never quite sure what to do with. So off we went, us and our gauchos. And then I discovered I had a problematic horse which insisted on travelling directly ( and I mean nose to ****) with one of the German girls horses, the gauchos tried to help me but I ...

... tunes and wicked scenery. Today being the day where i saw the most dramatic change in landscape. Starting at San Pedro we headed back up into the dry desert mountains around the 4000 metre mark, headed down into Argentina were the landscape became more fertile and green we travelled through massive canyons then back up mountains and onto flat valleys ...

... and pick it up. I have clean clothes again. I have been re-wearing my dirty clothes since Uyuni. I have a shower and put on my clean clothes. It feels great. One of the small thing in life suddenly becomes a major pleasure. I go out to have dinner but end up spending too much time on the Internet and miss it. When I get back to the Hostel a German girl and and Australian guy invite me out for a beer. It turns out the guy looking after the hostel also ...