The third time I entered Argentina was the most troublesome. The first time, I went through customs at the airport, had my thumbprint taken, and spent almost a day in Ushuaia. The second time, I disembarked the ship and simply strolled into the country, spending half a day in Ushuaia. The third time, a large orange truck entered through the Chilean border, containing a handful of Australians, who need visa to enter the country. Axel and Nigel had missed that part, and were as such held back an hour or so, while the rest of us simply waited. Eventually all was cleared, and off to Salta we drove.
Salta is the adventure capitol of Argentina, with possibilities for bungyjumping, trekking, ziplining and so forth, and so on, in that manner. However, we opted for some white water rafting. After a scenic drive through the mountainous lakescape (or possibly lakey mountainscapes) of the area, by a system of dams and to Cañon de Rio Juramento, we got our helmets on and our paddles in hands and got ready to gently float downstream. And gentle it was; after previously having tried some grade 4 rapids in Rangitata, New Zealand and grade 3:s in Tennessee, the Salta waters proved fairly non-white for me. The swirlies never reached above grade two. It was still good fun though, the water was warm and splashing the other rafts was pretty much encouraged. All but one stayed in the raft the entire float, at least until the last part, where most would opt to roll off and float downstream instead.
Salta is a decent-sized city and one could, if one were so inclined, easily find blokes around the plaza who would buy US Dollars for 12,5 pesos apiece rather than the official rate of 8,5. It's illegal, however, so I totally didn't do that. Uh-huh. Vibrant nightlife and a plethora of restaurants signifies this northwestern jewel, and for good reasons: there are those who say the best beef in the world is produced in the area, and I tend to agree. The steak, cooked to perfection and served with the best mash outside of Sweden and a delightful Malbec, was at least the best meat I've had in South America. Viejo Jack is the place to go for a good steaking.
Even though Argentina has a selection of decent beers, most steaks would prefer a nice red as company, and not far off lies El Cafayate, one of the more important wine districts in the country. A full day of wine tasting was on the agenda, including a ridiculously posh lunch at a high class winery on top of the hill, overlooking the surrounding vinescape. A few malbecs and at least one torrontos I fell for, but the day was far from over. In the town square there was a free wine tasting going on, mainly for the locals, with half a dozen or so wineries represented. And so, I got to practice my tounge, both for tasting and for speaking Spanish.
To summarize: I entered Argentina for the third time ever, floated gently down the stream and enjoyed some awesome meat and wine.
Fun factoid: It is well-known, to those who know it well, that the currency in Bolivia is Bolivianos, shortened BOB. As Bolivia is the default country of South America, all other countries' currencies end with bob. As such, the currency in Chile is Chillibobs, in Argentina it's Archiebobs and in Belize it's Beelzebobs.
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