Our bus from San Pedro was one of the nicest buses that we had yet to ride on. We lucked out and got the seats by the emergency exit window, with a little extra leg room. The bus was packed with tourists on their way out of Chile. We left San Pedro and Chilean customs without incident, and made our way out onto the highway into Argentina. The rode cut back up the steep hill that we descended on our way out of Bolivia. We passed by the Bolivian frontier once again before setting a course for the Argentinian border.
Formalities at the Argentinian border were long and arduous. Many people were crossing the border from buses and private vehicles, a long line of people wound its way out of the customs office into the glaring sun. We waited for almost an hour, with several people going in and out of the office infront of us with different forms. At long last our passports gained another stamp from the officials, and we were on our way into Argentina. We climbed further into the mountains, and then began to descend a long, winding road cut through a mountain valley. This was one of the most amazing roads I have ever been on. Timb longed to have his longboard to sail through the many hairpin bends. [Editor´s note: It was sweet!] We descended into the night, and arrived in the Salta bus terminal to a dark, rainy night.
The next day we awoke to find the rain still flowing vehemently. Despite Salta´s lovely architecture and leafy streets, we decided to leave that evening to escape the endless rain. We walked over to the bus station to purchase our tickets, and on the way picked up a following of stray dogs. We started with one, and then as we walked through the park, another one joined. It was funny, because we couldn´t get them to leave us alone. They just trailed after us until we went into the bus station, at which point we lost them. We bought our tickets to Iguazu, via Resistencia, and headed back into town to check out of our hostel.
We stowed our bags safely in the hostel, and set out to find a suitable cafe in which to spend the rainy afternoon. We walked along the pedestrian streets, bustling with activity, and found a nice cafe overlooking the main plaza. We spent a couple of hours here, enjoying the Argentinian cafe cortados, watching the foot traffic of the plaza out of the window. After a while, the rain let up a bit, and we decided to go out and explore the city a bit more. We discovered a free exhibit of pre-Columbian artifacts at one of the old buildings around the square. It was an interesting exhibit, in a darkened room with magnificent architectural details. We lingered there for a while, and then headed to find a internet cafe to do some photo downloading and trip planning.
Two hours later we were on an overnight bus bound for Resistencia, where we hoped to take a break for the day and catch another overnight bus to Iguazu. The rain flowed heavily as we pulled out of the bus station. We seemed to circle Salta, as we travelled between small towns picking up more passengers. At each bus terminal individuals selling food products to the travellers would call up the stairs of the bus, attempting to entice us into a sale. At one stop Timb and I purchased our first onboard cuisine, two carne empanadas, that I mention here because they were the best ones that we had on the trip thus far. We munched happily on them as the bus pulled away from the station and towards the highway.
The bus journey from Salta felt excruciatingly long. We seemed to stop in every little town along the way, winding through its streets to the bus terminal, and waiting with the interior lights blaring in your eyes as you tried to sleep. It was not one of our best bus journeys.We arrived in Resistencia quite exhausted, and decided to forgo our planned trip into the town and head straight on to Puerto Iguazu. We purchased our tickets, resupplied our snacks and beverages, and waited for our next bus to arrive.
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