Waterfalls to Mountains, Gringo style!

29 Oct Tried to get on a trip today but it was fully booked so booked it for tomorrow. Went into town and booked buses and did our internet stuff. Was lashing rain so probably a good thing that we didn’t get on that tour. The hostel had a BBQ nite and a free tequila based cocktail (tequila, soda water, limes,sugar). I drank loads of them and was locked. I puked up outside my dorm in the hedges, licked my lips and went to bed. Good night though.

30 Oct Got picked up this morning to go on our day trip to the Haipu Dam in Brazil, the town of Ciudad del Este (CdE) in Paraguay and back into Brazil for the tour of the Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. The Dam is the biggest Hydroelectric dam in the world. Its 8km long, 200m high and generates 14,000 MW of electricity. That’s used to power all of Paraguay and 25% of Brazil, an area the size of India. It was colossal. We went to CdE which was a dump but had good shopping if one so required its goods. Back into Brazil and had an all you can eat buffet which was excellent before heading off to see the Iguazu falls from the Brazilian side. Although most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, they are best viewed from Brazil.

31 Oct Left Iguazu this morning bound for a town, on the West of Argentina, called Salta. It was to be a 25 hour journey but was extended by 2 hours due to the air conditioning breaking down. We were sweating like pigs in an abbatoir as these super a/c coaches have no opening windows. Finally it was fixed after hanging around a mechanics garage in some outback town. We enjoyed all the comforts en-route including meals, videos and big reclining seats and the 27 hours passed easy enough.

01 Nov Having celebrated Halloween on a bus and dressed up as a backpacker we finally arrived in Salta. Salta has a population of 450,000 so it’s a nice thriving city by Argentinian standards. Unfortunately I discovered that I lost my visa card and had to sort that out, had my debit card and no money had been taken out so thank god for that.
We had a look around town and went to this museum that had an Incan child (c.3000 years old) preserved in a -20C chamber. She had been found in a buried chamber on top of a mountain and was perfectly preserved (she was a live human sacrifice and had died of the cold).

02 Nov This morning we went to another Museum and saw old artifacts from bygone eras of Salta and Andean Argentina. In one section they had a transport museum full of wagons (like house on the prarie) , a child hearse, and a 1911 Renault Limo with an 8.5 litre engine. Seeing as it was a Sunday I thought a trip to the Cathedral would be a good idea to hear the choir etc. It wasn’t much good so we left. We went up the Gondala (cable car) to the Cerro san Bernardo, a hill overlooking Salta. It was a lovely cool spot and had lunch there.

03 Nov Went on a trip today to the Andean highlands. We reached a height of 4170 metres, practically at the altitude sickness height. To combat the ill effects we were advised to suck on a heap of coca leaves (felt like I had a cabbage in my mouth), it worked too. We followed Ruta del Nubes (road to the clouds) into the mountains. We saw remains of old villages, an old mining town called San Antonio des Cobres for Lunch. Fiachra tried Llama and it was shite, I had the beef. We stopped for coca tea and met some indigenous mountain folk, saw viaducts, canyons, valleys, giant Cactus which were as old as 400 years. We went to the massive salt flats (Salinas Grandes) where they harvest salt. Got some great photos and on the way home we saw 7 colour hill, a huge rock formation with lots of different rock types. The crowd were good craic and had a laugh with the guide, Mimi. Finished the trip at 10pm, about 14.5hrs in total. I pitied the driver but was a great day.