Trough the north of Argentina

Travelmates

Our plan that we made with Debbie and Manuela the night we arrived in Salta sounded actually quite good, we get up the next morning and organize some Argentine money on the „Blue Market“. But we know how it is with plans, first, it is different, and secondly – well, you know…

„Sometimes you have to go
to see who is following you.“

We were woken up by loud crackling and were wondering why there was so much noise at our hostelat 7am. Of course Andi could not wait and risked a look outside. At Tina’s surprise he disappeared the same moment and she saw that Andi, the hostel owner and other guests tried to fight against the water moderation. This just came through each hole and every crack in the roof and threatened to flood the courtyard of the hostel. The weather phenomenon „El Niño“ caused heavy rains that all intersections were flooded knee-deepin a short time that morning.

After it had stopped raining, we ventured to travel to the Plaza de Armasby taxi. Here we wanted to change our USD into Argis. It sounds a bit shady for us, but because of the economic situation of Argentina all locals try to swap their money in a safe currency and so we had a significant better exchange rate than if you go to the bank. The problem with Argentinean money is that you get a very nice chunk of bills for 700 USD. It does not contribute to the feeling of security when you have to walk with wads through the area.

We said goodbye to Debbie and Manuela once more and boarded our bus to Iguazu.
Dear reader, please close your eyes now and imagine you sit in a German bus and have to drive around26 hours. Sounds kind of gruesome, but with the buses in South America that is not so bad.

Having arrived in Iguazu we organized our visit ofthe Iguazu Falls for the next daysafter having checked in.

You can read more about this spectacle here:
https://anti-itchyfeet.com/portfolio/iguazu/

Because we felt like crazy when we had a look at a menu card, we asked our bus ticket seller for a local place with good and cheap food. After dinner we went to him againto say thanks for this tip!

Itchy Feet Insider: The „Feirinha“ is not a specific restaurant but rather a market where you can buy delicacies. From olives to cheese, salami and cake you can take home everything in huge quantities or eat in the small restaurantsdirectly. We liked it here so much that we went to eat here on the second night again. (Address: Av. Brasil)

After the hot and humid climate in the far north of Argentina it should go for us to our last stop before the big Patagonia tour now. In Buenos Aires we chose the hostel „Portal del Sur“, a central and priced reasonable accommodation with super roof terrace. We explored the cityfrom here.

During the first day we were given a very nice message of Debbie and Manuela: „Now wegoon the bus to Buenos Aires, look for a good steakhouse for tonight.“ What’s it like to travel, the plans of the two have changed and they decided to have a few days with us to spend in Buenos Aires. We were very pleased and started with the research.

Itchy Feet Insider: If we marched in Germany with flip flops and backpacker clothes in a very classy looking restaurant, the guests would look at us obliquely and with wrinkled nose. In „The New Brighton“, however, the older menstood up at the sight of three ladies and greeted us with a smile and a few kind words. After this warm welcome we took the complimentary champagne happily and ordered each a 400g beef fillet steak. Without negligible the excellent sweet potatoes, we can say without much to think that this piece of meat was the best steak that we have ever eaten in our lives.

After these last days we went by plane to Ushuaia. From here our adventure to Patagonia started.

Salutes from far away,
Tina and Andi from Itchy Feet