Río Arenales

After short hop to the boarder and minimal fuss we were in Argentina, country number 13. Almost immediately you feel like you are back in the modern world, with good roads and clear signage its a big change from the past 18 months - you could even be driving in America.

We found an entry on the iOverlander app claiming to have the best empanadas (mini cornish pasties) in the country, so obviously we had to stop and we weren't disappointed. A few hours later we were in the city of Salta, staying at a municipal country on the edge of town. It's a bit of a revelation to have multiple camp sites to choose from, let alone municipal ones.

We spent a few days enjoying the town and its wonderful restaurants. The highlight was definitely Viejo (Old) Jack's for Sam's birthday where the waiter cut our steak with a spoon!! Honourable mention goes to the real ale house where happy hour ran from 7 until 9pm so a decent american style IPA only cost 2 bucks, and they served incredible loaded chips. We even visited Barny Gómez, a legendary bar we got drunk at 13 years ago although frustratingly I couldn't replace my long since disintegrated t-shirt.

At this point I should probably explain the Argentinan schedule, as its quite unlike anything we've come across. The day starts at 9am as usual, but runs until 12 when everything bar the restaurants shut down. The siesta time lasts until 4 or 5 when the day resumes and continues until 7, 8 or 9. Prime eating time is around 10pm and some bars don't even open until midnight. It's all very strange and we become slightly nocturnal (this is helped by the fact we're on a Buenos Aires timezone so it doesn't get light until 8am) but it's actually a bit of nightmare for overlanding life when you lose the afternoon and it's chilly in the morning so you stay in bed until the sun warms things up. Still Argentina has a lot of things going for it so I think we're going to enjoy our time here.

Unfortunately I came down with a bad bout of man flu, which laid me low for a few days. When we came to leave Jo even drove for the first time since America, and it was one of the nicest drives we've ever done!Read more