Nearing the 3 month mark

IGUAZU FALLS
From Rio we went to Iguazu Falls, visiting the Brasilian side for half a day and crossing the border. Crossing the border from Brasil to Argentina held the normal amount of amusement, even more so because it was by public bus with our 20kg+ packs . Problem is that in Brasil all public buses have small turnstiles you need to go through when you buy your ticket. And for reasons that we did not understand we had to go through these narrow turnstiles WITH our packs, we couldn't just leave them at the front of the bus. So after doing this about 4 times on and off the buses, we had developed some good weight-lifting muscles and were relieved to reach Puerto Iguazu in Argentina.

We spent a day at the Argentinian side of the falls - absolutely amazing and glorious! But there were so many people it was the first time we felt like real tourists!

SALTA, NORTHERN ARGENTINA
We spent 3 days in Salta where we found the very best empanadas so far (an important job we're undertaking) and some amazing and striking scenery out of town. We decided to hire a car for 2 days and headed south to Cafayate, a wine region specialising in 'torrontes' white wine, vineyard to the left. From Cafayate we drove along the worst road we've encountered to Cachi. Along this road we collected a friendly hitch-hiker who came in handy when one of the car tyres didn't just puncture but completely shredded and needed replacing... From Cachi we had a pretty scary and hairy drive through the dark on windy roads with gushing rivers every now and then back to Salta - and in true South American style - no safety barriers, reflectors on the road etc....

Second day with the car we went north up to Tilcara - the amazing red rock mountains were captivating and we stopped to visit the 'Cerro 7 Colores' - Mountain of 7 Colours. Really beautiful scenery.

From Salta (our wallets a little lighter after replacing the tyre.... grrrr) we caught an overnight bus to La Quiaca, right on the Argentina/Bolivia border.

TUPIZA, BOLIVIA
We arrived in Tupiza after crossing the border into Villazon and taking a 4WD bus (have you ever!?!) . Tupiza is a small town where we opted to do a 7-hour horse ride (NEVER again) through the valleys, apparently in the footsteps of Butch Cassidy and gang - but we're pretty sure they didn't have 'saddle soreness' or whatever it's called like we did. We never wanted to get off the horses because it meant getting back on!!!! Terribly stiff and sore, we decided to embark on a bumpy 4-day 4WD tour to Uyuni via the salt flats the next day.

UYUNI SALT FLATS

We spent a great 4 days in a 4WD car with Eva from Hungary, Vouter from Holland, our driver and guide 'Rapido Wili' and Silvia our amazing personal chef! From Tupiza we drove through and up amazing valleys, passed through small towns, marvelled at the altitude, saw llamas, donkeys, alpacas, humuacas, condors, flamengos, sheep, played soccer with the locals (with a predictable outcome, given the local kids were accustomed to the 4000m altitude), saw beautiful lakes, mountains and volcanoes, swam in thermal baths, got spat on by geysers, tried to push over trees made of stone, went to an Inca cemetery, a train cemetry, stayed in a hotel made of salt, dodged an island of cactus and walked on/touched/ate/appreciated the vast salt planes that are twice the size of Holland! It was a great and memorable 4 days after which we ended up in Uyuni and took an overnight bus to Sucre.