South America here we come!

Just wanted to start off with a shot of us with our backpacks (we're leaving our Salta hostel)

Well, you probably think we fell off the map, but actually we’ve been traveling across it! I know my last entry said we’d be back in a week or so, but we decided (spontaneously) to extend the trip a little more—approximately two weeks more.
Our friend, Melissa, was already out traveling and shot an email asking if anyone would like to join her, since Ame and I finished classes and no longer had visitors in BsAs, we said “porque no?” We purchased some backpacks, because we thought that our rollies wouldn’t cut it for this type of trip, and figured out the best route to Jujuy.
Since the bus ride to Jujuy is 22 hours (mas o menos), we decided to splurge and get cama suite seats through the company Flechabus. Cama suite means that you can lie down completely—like you’re in a bed! And the service was great: movies the whole ride (in English), decent food that was included in the price, and only so overall it was a really comfortable day long ride. Amy and I thought this was the good life, little did we know that from this point on the busses we would get drastically worse!

Amy all cozy on Flechabus on our way to Jujuy, AR.

Well we arrived in Jujuy, AR on September 1 and met up with Melissa! It was great to hear all about her travels and it basically cemented the idea in our heads that we were going to go on to Bolivia and Peru after Jujuy and Salta. Our first few days of traveling were great: we saw some incredible scenery and stopped at some really interesting pueblos throughout the province of Jujuy. We visited Humahuaca, Tilcara, Purmamarca and two more I cannot remember…too much traveling! Check out some photos below.

Day two we went to Cafayate, AR, the second largest wine region after Mendoza. Before getting to Cafayate, we got to stop at La Garganta de Diablo (Throat of the Devil) which is sort of like a canyon that was formed throughout the years by wind, water and erosion. We were told that it was once completely covered by the ocean and this is what was left—a really cool place for tourists to climb, and climb is what we did. It took us awhile to get over the first cliff, but after that it was smooth sailing. It was probably the most fun I had during the trip.

Amy and Melissa climbing up the throat of the devil!

View from the top of the throat.

When we finally arrived to Cafayate, we could immediately tell that it was an economically well off town, so obviously the wine had to be delicious and we obviously had to taste it for ourselves! We stopped at about 4 vineyards to taste their white and red. We learned the main grape of the region is the Torrontés- it is a really nice tasting grape. So before leaving, we purchased a really nice Malbec (I know not Torrontés, but the Malbec grape is also too good to be true over here) to enjoy when we arrived to our hostel; however, when we arrived at our hostel there was a huge sign that said alcohol is prohibited. Well, good thing we had the foresight to ask the vineyard to open the bottle before we left, because we drank the wine out of the bottle before dinner like we were freshman in college.

In front of a vineyard in Cafayate.

Day three we explored Salta, rode the teleferico, and ate some lunch. We then said our good-byes to Melissa. Melissa headed back to BsAs and Amy and I headed for the Bolivian border. We took a 4 hour ride to La Quiaca and were introduced for the first time to food people selling homemade foods on the bus. Basically, women come on the bus at the various stops to sell their goods. The women walk up and down the aisle yelling whatever good they are trying to sell, for example: ensalada de frutas and sandwich de jamon y queso. Amy at first did not realize what was happening, and being that the last lovely Flechabus gave us food for free she assumed that these ladies were giving out our snack. Fortunately, I was able to tip Amy off to the fact that she had to pay for the sandwich before she grabbed one from the woman’s tray. When we got to La Quiaca it was dark, I was scared, but fortunately Argentina has really great signs that show you whether or not you are going in the right direction. So we headed down Calle Belgrano towards some hostels and I swear to you, an angel was waiting for us at Hospedaje Frontera! He opened the door and we got a great meal of soup and tortilla de papas and then afterwards we were shown to our room where we were to retire for the evening. So for $12 each we got dinner, a room with TV (we were able to watch Dr. House), and we ate our leftovers for breakfast…best deal in town. I felt as though this was great start to our journey!

So on the fifth of September, after two bus rides and three hostels, we finally bid hasta luego to Argentina.

A view of our hotel room in La Quiaca-- looks sort of like a cell, no?