Salta, Argentina!

The night I left Uyuni was a good day. This was not my favorite town and wanted to leave instantly. It reminded me of that great Will Farrell movie where he is some soccer coach. I got on this less than perfect local bus to head to Villazon. Villazon was the border town for Bolivia and Argentina. Got on the bus and we headed out into some 4x4 offroad dirt course for the next 6 hours. I mean dirt road, not gravel road. Most of the trip the bus would be moving front, back and side-to-side. Sometimes feeling like a rollercoaster and others like a bungee jump. It was extreme enough where the driver and his minions had to get out of the car and add rocks to certain areas just so we could get up a hill. After the massage like motion put me to sleep, we arrived at Villazon at 5:30 am. This was the part I didn’t know where to go from. Two other kids on the bus seemed like they were in the same situation and asked them if they wanted to travel together to Salta. They agreed. These were two 18 and 19 kids from England. We walked across some bridge (every border has a bridge) and ended up in Argentina. Since I had to pay $160 for my 10 year entry fee, the number clicking into the computer system was much longer than everyone else’s. Sorry. Later on some woman checked my bags and boom, I was at the one and only country called Argentina. I was extremely excited. The first sign you see was a distance sign to the bottom to Patagonia. It said something like 5, 250 km! We walked for about 1 km. into the next town of La Quica to find a bus to Salta. Exchanged some US dollars 7-1 and all felt rich. Hoped onto some bus and 8 hours later arrived in Salta after a long stop in Ju Juy.

In Salta and already had a hostel to stay at. I told Tom and Alex about the hostel, then some random lady popped up asking if we needed a hostel and free taxi ride! We said yes like idiots. We arrived at this Backpackers hostel, wide open, painted white and ridiculous vinyl circles on the wall. The hostel was also empty. For some reason, we all agreed to stay here, mainly because we were tired. The manager was a complete d-hole and we still stayed.

Next day walked around this incredible city. Salta was truly my first introduction to Argentina and it did well. The people talked way too fast and made me feel like I didn’t speak any Spanish (which I mainly don’t). The food blew my mind and the city itself was breathtaking. It had the European colonial city feel with a posh statement. The markets sold specific foods and a normal large park reminded me of San Diego. It had similar trees of Balboa Park with the exception of random trees I’ve never seen. Surrounding this park was a large hill that had a gondola that brought you to the top. Outside this park was the city center where everyone just people watched all day, including me. Wine and steak are extremely cheap and empanadas have started to take over my life.

Besides this beauty of just walking around all of the locals drive these old vintage cars. Cars I have never seen in my life and think they are all bad ass. I’m not sure if they think the same (maybe its poverty) but if these cars were in the states you would be some really cool hipster setting the par for the next level. Another weird situation is eating dinner at 11 pm and going to the bars at 2 am. Then not coming home until 10 am and sleeping all day. This is new for me.

Two days into this crappy hostel we finally move to my original hostel. This hostel had a more local, group feel to it and instantly liked it. I stayed for another two days here while my other friends left for Buenos Aires.

The 10 am party on Saturday night was one hell of a night. Made lots of friends that night and a few dream girls I made friends with that once again slipped away.

I’m now on a 24 hour bus to Mendoza to meet some previous friends I met in Panama. They should be showing me a great time in there town. Can’t wait!