Above: Salta Cathedral; we were happy to arrive at Salta after a night and day of travel.
We arrived into Villazon about half hour late at 0630. It was just getting light but still very cold outside. We took a taxi to the border and joined the immigration queue. It was another 20 mins or so till opening so I was glad the train wasn’t on time since I hadn’t seen any cafes to take refuge in.
While waiting, I noticed that there were no shops on the Argentina side whereas the Bolivian side was built up all the way to the check-point. I walked back a short distance to change all Bolivianos to Pesos.
The immigration queue started moving. One Bolivian window was open and two Argentine. It was all very easy with a few simple questions asked on the Argentine side. Our bags were inspected briefly too.
From there we walked down a ramp to the taxi rank which took us to the bus station at La Quaiaca. There were two bus touts at the station. We went with one who said the price was AR$215 but the price soon jumped to AR$350. It then came down to $320 but the trust was lost so we went to another agent which quoted $350. So we returned to the $320 who ticketed us then didn’t want to give change and said the balance was “for the food included”.
Walking away I noticed the ticketed price was $295 and talking to another couple from the train, they had only paid $295 from the bus company counter located out the outside rather than an agent. Kim went back to our agent putting on a rage and got $50 back per person.
The double decker left shortly after at 0900 (0800 Bolivia time). An hour later, we were subjected to a road check where we had to unload our luggage too. There was another check-point later but the guards only boarded to look at the passengers briefly.
The scenery started off with beautiful canyons which was I later realised was the Quebrada de Humahuaca, a highlight of Argentina. The orangey canyons with their spectacular formations were quite a treat but it was hard to take pictures from the moving bus.
As the journey progressed, the scenery became more flat and dryish-green. There was corn and sugar being cultivated. We saw tobacco drying shed but saw no evidence ot the plants so assumed that they had been harvested already.
Once we got to Jujuy I thought we’d be on the home run as there appeared to be good motorway joining the two cities. Wrong! We did a large circuit around Jujuy dropping off at various suburban stations then took the back road to Salta.We eventually arrived at 1630 some 7h30 after boarding. And a lot longer since we left Uyuni on the night train.
It was a very short taxi ride to Hostal Salamanca by San Martin park. Carrying our luggage up the stairs, we were pleased to be on relative lowland (with some humidity).
It was a short pleasant walk to the town square where we had some empanadas and a wine. Restaurants don’t start dinner till 2000 (and shops close for siesta even in the cold weather in the afternoon and reopen around 1700). We didn’t want to stay out and up till that late so opted for some bad food around 1830: a bad hot dog and a good milanesa sandwich. We had a much needed early night.