Salta and entering Bolivia

So far, we had seen an Argentina that was very dry, almost without vegetation and flat...leaving a green Chile that was green and became dryer to the north until turning into desert. Therefore we expected the same crossing the Andes again in Argentina..yet, we were surprised to see the exact opposite: while 50 kms west across the Andes lies the worlds driest desert The Atacama, Argentina suddenly became greener and humid...until we reached after 17 hours in bus the paradise of Salta.
The city is, due to its proximity to Bolivia, more Latin than other Argentinian cities. A rich colonial city from where we made a trip to the Humahuaca gorge, the highlight of northwest Argentina, slowly moving up to the Altiplano, to get a first glimpse of what will expect us for the next weeks.
We frankly regret not having spent more time in Salta 'la linda', because already at midnight, we boarded the bus to the northern border to the heartland of Latin america...Bolivia!

The midnight bus was a real backpacker experience: Stopping at every village, getting lights on and off, and everybody coming in, waking us up. At the border, waiting in line to leave Argentina and entering Bolivia over the border bridge (maybe for a European rather strange to see below the bridge, people moving goods over the small river from Argentina to Bolivia back and forth, with police and border patrol watching from the bridge but not seeing any reason to interfere)...well, seems we have really arrived in Latin america ;-)

After crossing the border we took a small minibus for 2,75 euro to Tupiza, to start exploring the almost primeval beauty of the Bolivian southwest!Read more