Salta
The next day we transferred to a cheaper hostel and explored the city. Salta is a really nice little town with a beautiful town square and a modern mall. We found some cool little markets and bought some presents. The hostel had a cool vibe and we met some cool people. We spent the next couple of days eating empanadas, visiting the casino, watching soccer and hanging out with 2 Aussie twins Adam and Lucas who were loose as. The twins introduced us to the game of sting pong whereby you play table tennis but if you miss your shot your opponents get a free serve at your back with your tshirt pulled up. Funny stuff. It wasn’t long before my back was covered in table tennis ball sized welts. On the second night the hostel put on a massive BBQ which was amazing. We headed out afterwards with a crew from the hostel and went to this Simpsons themed bar called Barney Gomez. From there we headed to a nightclub called 21 which was pretty cool. We bumped into Benny, Wif and Jordan who we last saw in Cusco and weren’t expecting to see again! Small world!
Woke up feeling pretty seedy so went for a lomito (steak sandwich) in the main square. We went to the archaeological museum which was really interesting. They found some ancient children high in the Andes and their bodies had been preserved due to the altitude and temperature.
Buenos Aires
Our overnight bus ride to Buenos Aires was the last of our journey and was pure luxury. We arrived in BA at about 11am and made out way to the Milhouse hostel. It was meant to be a party hostel so we thought we’d go out with a bang. Haha.
We walked around the main square and the weather was much better than our first visit which made it a much more enjoyable experience. We had signed up for a 5 a side soccer comp at the hostel so caught the tube to the soccer fields. We had an Aussie, Irish and a yank on our team and ended up coming third. I got taken out by a bloke and ended up winded and with a graze down my leg.
The next day we walked to Ricoleta to check out the famous cemetery. There must be some seriously rich and famous people buried there as some of the graves are so elaborate. We saw Evita’s grave which was interesting.
That afternoon we met up with Lucas who we had met on our Inca trail trek. We went for a couple of beers on the waterfront then to an all you can eat restaurant called La Bisteca which had been recommended to me by a work colleague (Christian). It was amazing. I had 5 plates of food and a dessert and it came to about $30AUS each.
We got a taxi to a cool pub in Palmero where we met up with some other Argentinians from our inca trail trek. Good times.
I booked a bike tour for my last day in BA. It was pretty good. We rode down the waterfront and then to La Boca which was cool. Got back to the hostel at about 5pm and bumped into Mark McDonald (a mate from Nelson Bay) who I knew was going to be in town. Mark, Clarkey and I went to our favourite steak restaurant for some dinner and a few beers. We went back to the hostel and met some other randoms at the hostel bar. From there we kicked on at a nightclub down the street and I got home at about 7am, just in time to get the 10am shuttle bus to the airport.
Awesome times!
