Salta and surroundings

After another 12 hours busride we arrived in Salta. We enjoyed Salta’s wonderful climate and attractive colonial architecture. We took the gondola up to the Cerro San Bernardo, where we had a spectacular view of Salta. One of Salta's main attraction is the train to the clouds (tren a las nubes), which makes countless switchbacks and spirals up to 4220m (14067 feet) above sea level.

Unfortunately, the train is not working at the moment and this means you need a guided tour. In our opinion it is too expensive. A 4 days tour costs over 350USD per person. (Remember we are still in South America). Therefore we rented a car for 7 days. Compared to the tour we paid only a little bit more than half ot the tour price and we had 3 more days to spend.

The road from Salta to Cafayate slices through the red, yellow and brown colored Quebrada de Cafayate. There we could see distinctive sandstone landforms like the Devil’s Throat, the Amphitheater and the Obelisk. We found a perfect place to stay in Cafayate on 1700m (5667 feet) above sea level. Its dry and sunny climate is responsible for producing some of Argentina’s best wine. The valley with its town and vineyards are surrounded by peaks which makes it really nice and gives this area a lovely charm. Therefore we visited some wineries on the next day on foot.

On the way further north we passed by on houses made of claybriks and dry farmland. The colourful sandstone peaks are breathtaking. Unbelivable, but some people can survive in that dry condition. We saw a lot of goats, sheep and fields where they dry paprica. We spent a night in Cachi which lies on 2880m (9600 feet) above sea level. It is a worthwile stopover with its colonial architecure. We rarly could understand the people because almost everybody chews coca leaves.

Next day we went further descending through moonlandscape and fields of cactuses down the valley. The ascent road goes upwards almost next to the train track up to 3773m (12575 feet) above sea level. Close to the town is a magnificent engineering archievment at 4220m (14067 feet) above sea level, the train viaduct crosses a broad desert canyon. San Antonio de los Cobres is a indigenous town. The hostels there were cold and had bad beds, therefore we headed to the Quebrada de Humahuaca.

Next day we saw the colourful hills right behind our Hostel. We enjoyed the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a painter’s palette of color on barren hillsides, and the little towns. In the morning was a colourful flee market around the main plaza.

We spent a night in San Salvador de Jujuy which is the capital of one of Argentina’s poorest province. We drove back north to the saltlake “Salina Grandes” which lies on 3500m (11666 feet) above sea level. There it was 17 degrees C (65F) and down in the valley only 9 degrees C (48F).

Our impression after 109 days in Argentina and 21 days in Chile is very positiv. Apart from, for Argentina, overpriced tourist attractions and the fact that people tried to cheat us 3 to 4 times, we enjoyed the time here very much. Argentina offers everything for travellers. The diversity of the landscape with its beaches, mountains, glaciers, tropic forests, pampa and desert meets everybody's gusto. The kindness of the people and the european flair gave us always a good feeling and we always felt safe as well. Argentina has a bright culinary diversity. We enjoyed the great meat and the awesome wine.

We are feeling sad to leave Argentina, on the other hand there are new adventures waiting for us in Bolivia and Peru.

Cordoba

After 3 1/2 months travelling, getting used to the new environment, pack and unpack our backpackers, organising the next journey etc. we finally have arrived in Cordoba, where we have spent one month. Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina. Originally we didn't plan to visit this University-Town. However we came here to improve our "castellano" (spanish).

We catched the Bus "Rapido" from Mendoza to Cordoba. This trip really was rapido. Almost an hour earlier we arrived alive at the Hostel "La Casona". www.lacasonahostel.com.ar http://www.lacasonahostel.com.ar/ We had to spend the first night in a dorm again. The following day we checked out some spanish schools and luckely found a independent argentine school in the heart of Cordoba.



We enrolled for a semi privat course for 4 weeks. 3 hours a day doesn't sound much, it was very exhausting though. However it was worth to do it. We improved a lot. We studied past forms an started with a new subject "Subjuntivo". The subjuntive does not excist in english and german neither. This makes it more difficult.

We got used to the "Cordoban" live quickly. Here, dinner starts around 10pm. Afterwards we spent time with chatting (in spanish of course) and playing carts. We already are champions in the games "Chingchong" und "15". Usually we didn't go to bed before 3am.

The "Nationaldrink" in Cordoba is Fernet Branca with CocaCola. We knew this dark and bitter Schnaps from home, but only for "medical" reasons, for stomach ache etc. Argentines drink almost 80% of the entire italian production. We guess about 3/4 of the imported bottles are consumed in Cordoba. Unbelievable, but almost everybody drinks "Fernet con Coca" at every occasion, in the meantime we as well.

We feel comfortable in the Hostel "La Casona". We have our own room with TV (incl. american broadcasts, what a luxury). The owners of the hostel, Carlos and Willy are really nice and helpful. They not only help us with our spanish. Because of Willys heartiness and Carlos excuisit cooking, we felt like at home here. For the delicious Asados (Barbeque), Paella and Milaneses (argentinines Wienerschnitzel) we payed it back with a real Swiss Cheese Fondue. (Sounds familiar for some of you, doesn't it).

We spent some great days here with Martin from Buenos Aires. He invited us to the Pre-Qualification Worldcup-Rally in Cordoba. Over 45,000 people attended this spectacle in the stadion of Cordoba. The following day we left very early for the "real" rally in the sierra. It was incredable how fast the race cars speed through the surrounding mountains of Cordoba. It was awesome.

Soon we are heading north for Salta. We like to thank Willy, Carlos, Martin, Isabel, Karina, Valeria, Mariano for the good time in Cordoba.