Our time in Salta was mostly spend exploring the city and the surrounds. Including a trip to the top of Cerro San Berndardo, a large hill overlooking the town.

The highlight of Salta for us was definitely our trip to Sayta Cabalgatas, where we went horse riding.

We were picked up at 9am from our hostel and driven roughly an hour to Cafayate, where the ranch was located. Upon arrival we were given breakfast, a bumbag for our possessions, an awesome hat and leg protectors (unsure of real name..).

We were each given a horse (mine was the biggest of course) and we set off. I was feeling a little (lots) nervous as it has been at least 10 years since I’ve ridden a horse and on that occasion the horse bolted with me on it, needless to say I was a tad scared. 

We set off on our 3 hour trail ride and right away upon leaving the ranch we quickly discovered that my horse was a tad peckish, stopping every 3 minutes or so for a quick snack along the road side. 

A few minutes after that we discovered that Samuel, the great gringo gaucho was allergic to horses… and couldn’t stop sneezing…. for the entire 3 hours. On the trail we navigated dirt roads, tobacco plantations, creek beds and various farm lands. We even galloped for a bit! 

The ride was really fun, made even better by the wine and BBQ lunch upon completion. (And the cessation of sneezing and itching for Sammy)

When we arrived back at the stables we were greeted with wine, wine and more wine. With the staff not letting your glass dip below 3/4 full everyone was sufficiently giggly come lunch. The wine was local, red, slightly sweet, cool and delicious. The BBQ was fantastic, with pork, beef, salads, potatoes, legumes, more meat, more salad, more sides and the list goes on.

The owner of the ranch, Enrique is super funny, charismatic and cheeky. He continuously made fun of all of us, especially one english girl who couldn’t speak a word of Spanish. He seemed to only speak naughty words in english but we’re pretty sure he understood everything that we said.

After the meal we were all incredibly satisfied and sleepy. Most of the other maniac guests at the ranch went for another ride, but we were taken back to our hostel where a nap was not only wanted, but needed.

Next stop…. San Pedro de Atacama, smack in the middle of the Atacama desert in northern Chile. Can’t wait.

More pictures are on the way! The internet is surprisingly temperamental in Latin America... Who would've thought?

Our first 2 days in Mendoza were full of wine, wine, a colourful bus, wine, a couple of bikes and more wine. 

We arrived early Thursday morning fresh off yet another 15 hour bus and headed for our hostel, Lagares. This hostel is great, so when you are in Mendoza... stay here. 

That afternoon we headed off on a half day wine tour where we visited 2 bodegas (vineyards) and an olive oil factory.
The vineyards were Vistandes and Don Arturo, and the olive oil factory was Pasrai. 

At the first vineyard, Vistandes we got a tour of their modern factory, complete with huge stainless steel drums to hold the wine during the first and main stage of fermentation - or in other words until it gets to that sweet groggy spot. We also got 2 glasses of wine here, both of which were okay but not our favourite.. To be honest the girl giving the tour seemed more excited to tell us about the electronic music at the night club she worked at on the weekends than the wine, however we learnt all the tricks to looking professional when tasting wine.

LOOKING PRO, QUICK TIPS:
- Hold your wine glass by the stem with 3 fingers around, and 2 underneath the glass.
- Smell wine
- Swirl wine around in a circle (you can do this on the table if it's too hard to evenly swirl in your hand)
- Smell wine AGAIN
- Sip
- Smell AGAIN
- Gulp
- Repeat with multiple products until satisfied/drunk

Our second stop was the olive oil factory, Pasrai. We learnt that it can take 6-8kg of olives to make just one litre of extra virgin olive oil - no wonder it's not cheap. They had some super tasty olive oils including a garlic one and a rosemary flavoured one. At this point we began to suspect that the hardest thing about Mendoza would be that we have really no space left in our bags to stock up on all the delicious goodies this area has to offer. 

At the last stop and second vineyard, Don Arturo we got 4 glasses of wine and a tour of their traditional style wine production. We loved the wine here, and it was cool to see wine being made in the same way it has been for almost one hundred years. 

The next post follows a full day biking around Maipu, a town full of many bodegas, distilleries, olive oil and liquor producers. 

We arrived in Buenos Aires after an 18 hour bus trip. On the bus we decided to purchase "Cama Ejecutivo” seats and thus our seats looked like recliners and were for the most part, super comfortable. Nonetheless it was still a bus, and buses suck so getting out was fantastic.

We made our way to our hostel, Milhouse Avenue and settled in. The hostel is really well known amongst travellers of the area and anyone who has looked at BA on hostel world, and we liked it.

In the afternoon we we met up with one of our friends from Uni (Hi Ness) who also happened to be in BA. After searching the streets until 10pm for a feed we found El Remanso. We got great steak (chicken for me), pasta and all you can eat salad for only $135 (more than our standard meal but not too bad... And for all you can eat salad… I was sold). 

The next day we went on an afternoon Buenos Aires Free Walking Tour. This tour was similar to the ones we did in Chile, such that you pay whatever you think the tour is worth (they make their money off tips).

The tour visited some of the local historical sites around Plaza de Mayo. It was good however it was stinking hot, and thus we were all happy when it ended and we could seek some shelter from the sun. After the tour we raced back to the hostel, grabbed some money and hopped on the subtle (subway) to Palermo to meet a couple we met at Iguazu Falls for dinner. 

In Palermo we went to La Cabrera, a boutique restaurant well known for it’s huge steaks. Between 7 and 8 you get 40% off your meal and thus Sean ordered the largest steak there was, 800g whilst myself, Sammy and Rach all got 400g steaks. I of course couldn’t finish mine (I’m not mad about meat) and so Sean helped, meaning he ate AT LEAST 1kg of steak that evening.

After the meal we went and had a couple of bottles of red wine at a bar/restaurant in Palermo Soho.

The next day we did another walking tour, this time in the morning. The tour again took us around some of the well known areas in the city’s north. After the tour Sean, Sammy and I headed back to our hostel (about a 3km walk) and managed to get lost. HOWEVER upon getting lost we found a delicious and cheap bakery, and we did eventually find our way back.

That night we had drinks at our hostel (snuck a bottle of red wine in) and headed over to the other Milhouse hostel where there was happy hour and a party. From the other hostel we hopped on a minibus and got taken to a big club in the area, Terrazes.
We headed home around 4, it was fun but nothing to write home about. 

Sunday we headed to the markets of San Telmo. We again met up with Ness and explored for a few hours. The markets were full of cute little trinkets and other touristy stuff. We didn’t buy much however Sean got a new (much needed as he had been using a ziplock bag) wallet for AR$40.

On the way home from the markets we visited Cafe Tortoni, BA’s oldest cafe. Established in 1858 the cafe has been maintained in its original condition. It was beautiful inside (and very old school). That evening we met Ness and co for a last dinner. We went to Rico’s Tacos in Palermo. 

Monday morning Rach flew home, and thus the pack became 3. That day we adventured around town, got a buffet lunch and visited an amazing ice creamery (Argentineans brag that their ice cream is better than anywhere in the world).

Tuesday we were meant to do a walking tour in La Boca, however it was pouring so this was cancelled… Instead we did a “Cook & Booze” class where we got to drink wine and make our own empanadas!

The class turned out to be lots of fun! We made 3 empanadas each, 2 traditional ones and one we designed ourselves (I won a t-shirt for my wine bottle design) as well as making a pastille, a sweet pastry filled with quince paste.

On our last day we visited La Boca. Here there are many colourful houses and stores and of course the Boca Jnr Stadium. We got all the standard tourist photos in the town and headed to the stadium for a short self guided tour.

From La Boca we returned to the hostel, had lunch, gathered our things and headed for the Bus station.

Next stop Mendoza, I can already taste the Malbec! 

We ended up taking a taxi across the border in the afternoon after seeing the Brazilian side of the falls. We had planned on getting a bus across but heard that one that morning had been held up at gunpoint. Needless to say, change of plans.
The cab was insanely easy and literally took us from the front door of our hostel in Brazil to our one in Argentina. We only had to get out of the car once to get our passports stamped out of Brazil, and when we entered Argentina all we had to do was hand our passports into a little booth and take our sunnies off without getting out of the car.

In Puerto Iguazu - the Argentinian town - we stayed in Garden Stone Hostel, which had clean rooms and a bright open outside kitchen right next to a pool. We cooled off in the pool on the first arvo and got an early dinner and nights sleep before heading to the falls again on the next day.

The Argentinian side of the falls was reachable by a private bus company - $100 Pesos for a return trip - and buses ran every 20 minutes or so. The park entry cost $260 pesos for international visitors. We got to the park and walked towards the first of 3 mini railway stations which were used to ferry people towards the Argentine side of “The Devils Throat.” We missed the first train because the line was too long, but found out we could walk to the second station anyway. Our impatient little crew walked to the second station and despite being caught behind a big crowd of people and a pack of those dastardly coatis, managed to beat the train.

At the second station we had to wait for a solid 40 minutes to head up to the 3rd and last station at the devil’s throat, and walking was not an option here as the road was closed for safety. Once arriving we walked for a good 500m or so along some amazing manmade catwalks stretched out across the little islands on the Iguazu river above the falls. We ended up at the Devil’s Throat lookout and stood in awe for the 2nd time in as many days. 

From here we headed back via train to the lower trails. Again these were amazing and had 100's of view points from above, below and the middle of the falls. After lunch and 1 million photos we went on a fast boat trip. For $270 Argentinean Pesos (Roughly $40 AUD) we got into a quick boat and were taken UNDERNEATH the falls. The water was moving so fast and everyone was screaming, it was insane! 

Again, words don’t really do it justice, so look at some pictures and videos. Any questions... Just ask!

P.s. We're headed to Buenos Aires next, another 18 hour bus ride. Joy!