Passage through the Andes from Chile to Argentina

The first of many crossings that I will take between Argentina and Chile took place today. Leaving San Pedro around 10am, the bus made it's way through steep winding roads. We must have gone really high in altitude as there were several times when I was short of breath!

I got a lovely seat in the front row of the "Geminis" company bus that almost fully-reclined and I had plenty of space in front to stretch my legs. The same can't be said for the people in the seats behind though, and I could see the guy in the seat directly behind me staring at me intently with complete hatred in his eyes for the entire trip ... for some reason he didn't put his own seat back, even though it was possible, and if he had done so he would have realised that more room would have opened up... anyway, it's luck of the draw and I was due a good seat after so many bad ones!

Andean road from Chile...

After crossing the border, the scenery change between the desert of Chile and ultimately to the vast greenery and fields of violets of Argentina is quite dramatic. The bus passed magnificent views of coloured-sand mountains and winding roads, and even a smallish salt-flat on the outskirts of Salta itself.

Salta is huge and my Japanese friend from the Salar trip, Atsuko, spotted a hotel called Hotel Florida that is central and offers rooms for A$ 70 per night (around US$ 18) including breakfast, TV, private bathroom and WIFI ... score...

Going to have a few chill out days in Salta to get organised for the remainder of the trip which is going to be at a fairly hectic pace...