Salta, Argentina

19th September – 21st September 2017

We were packed up and ready to leave Purmamarca at 9.30. We didn’t have very long to drive to get to Salta (about 160km) so we knew it was only a short drive day. About an hour into the journey, we passed Amber (who left at 9), who were already having a break; we found this strange because we don’t usually break that much. When there was about an hour left of the journey, Lars asked us all if we wanted a break or if we could just keep going to get to the hostel; none of wanted to stop, so we carried on and arrived in Salta at around 12.

The streets of Salta were very busy when we arrived and Sara couldn’t pull up outside the hotel, so she had to keep driving around in circles. We finally stopped and managed to unload our bags, only to learn that it was a ‘short’ walk to the hostel – it was more than a short walk and the weather was very hot!

After we checked in, we had the rest of the day to ourselves, to do what we liked. A few of us (me, Sabrina, William, Aaron and Sara) went for a walk to the main square to get cash out and get some lunch. The city of Salta was very pretty and I think the weather definitely helped to accent this. We got cash out and found a little café in the square to eat. Me, Sabrina, Aaron and Sara sat down (William had a little strop because he didn’t want to sit outside, so he had walked off at this point) and Aaron and Sara ordered some food – me and Sabrina had eaten some jam and bread when we first arrived in Salta, that was left over from breakfast, so we weren’t hungry.

After lunch, we walked back to the hostel and had some time to chill out for the afternoon. I really took advantage of this time to shower (in the world’s smallest bathroom where you were practically sat on the toilet while showering) and catch up on organising my things, before we met for dinner at 7.30.

Both groups met up in the reception area at 7.30 as we had booked a reservation together at El Viejo Jack’s. It was only a few blocks away, so we walked there but when we got there, we still had to sit in separate groups. The restaurant was a steak house and apparently Argentina is good for steaks, but the portions were massive, so six of us (me, Sabrina, Katie, Jack, Aaron and William) shared two sharing plates between us. The food was good but I wouldn’t say it was the best steak I’ve ever eaten, despite Sara saying it would be.

Once we had finished dinner, we walked back to the hotel. Some people went out for a drink on the way back but me, Sabrina, Katie and Jack went back to the hotel – we got called boring for this, but I don’t care.

When we got back, we sat in the indoor courtyard bit in the hostel and played a few games of cards, before going to bed – it was quite a late one.

My alarm confused me a lot when it went off to wake me up – I haven’t had that feeling in a long time! I wanted to get up early because I knew it would be a hot day and I wanted to do a little hike before it got too hot. Me and Sabrina met Katie for breakfast at about 8.30 and we were ready to leave at 9. The rest of the group had heard our plans the night before and wanted to come with us, which was fine but they weren’t ready on time so we had to wait.

When we left the hostel, me, Sabrina, William, Aaron and Lars decided to walk up to a viewpoint of the city; the rest of the group got the cable car up. We first of all had to walk to the start of the hiking path (which took about 20 minutes) before starting the 1070 step climb to the top! The sign at the bottom said that it should have taken 45 minutes but we managed to do it in 30.

At the top, we met up with the rest of the group and had a wander around. There was quite a bit to do at the top, but nothing was open when we were there, annoyingly. We had about half an hour at the top just wandering around, before walking back down.

The walk back down was only 5 minutes quicker but it was easier in some ways. William didn’t walk back down with us: he decided to get the cable car, so it was just the four of us.

After we reached the bottom of the path, we had to find our way to the main square. I checked the map and figured out the way but one road was completely shut, so we had to walk back up that street and round. On our walk to the square, Lars left us to go back to the hostel to do some work, so there were only 3 of us left.

We reached the squared and met the others again. We went to the same café as the previous day for lunch (the Van Gogh café) and I got a well-deserved lemonade – some people did get food though.

After the break, Sara, William and Aaron went back to the hostel too, so it was just me, Sabrina, Katie and Jack left. We wandered around the square and up and down some side streets, before finding an ice cream café. They had an offer on, which was 2 ice creams (with two scoops) for 60 Argentinean Pesos, so it was only 30 each (there are 22 Pesos in £1). I had two exciting flavours: dulce de leche and white chocolate, and it was one of the best ice creams I have ever had! When we had our ice creams, we sat in the main square and enjoyed them!

After ice cream, we went for a wander around the shops but soon realised that most things shut at 1 for the siesta, so we gradually made our way back to the hostel.

At the hostel, we chilled for about an hour before going back out again for cook group shopping. Only a few of us went, because we didn’t need everyone there to buy some food, it would have been more complicated; me and Katie represented our team and Sabrina and Jack represented theirs. We got almost everything we needed (and probably more from the excitement of being in a relatively large supermarket) and still managed to stay under budget. Lars paid for it all and we carried it back to the hostel.

Once we refrigerated the appropriate stuff, we had a little more time to chill before heading back out again at 5 to see if the shops had reopened – such a busy day of walking back and forth to the square.

Once we were out for shopping, we didn’t want to go back to come back out again, so we just stayed out to eat dinner and text Jack to come and meet us. We found a little café/ restaurant place on the corner of the square, so ate there. Me, Katie and Sabrina opted for pasta, for a change but my cannelloni was definitely wrapped in pancake and not pasta; Jack got a pizza as usual.

After dinner, we wandered slowly back to the hostel. We were all pretty tired for the late night and early start combination and we still had to pack up ready to move on again.

We got a little lie in on the morning we left Salta: we didn’t have to be at back locker until 9.45 because we only had a 90km drive ahead of us. I was woken up by the noisy group of Amber, dragging their bags down the stairs at 6.50 and noisily packing up and then noisily sat in the breakfast area, but I managed to fall back to sleep.

I got up just after 8, got dressed and ate my breakfast before finishing packing up. We were outside at back locker for 9.45 and left just before 10, ready to leave.

Salta was a beautiful place, with beautiful weather and definitely somewhere I could have spent a little longer, especially because there was a bed! We now have seven straight nights of camping, with seven nights of little to no connection with the outside world! I’ll be in touch when I can!

To travel is to live, Katie x