Salta

The sign at the border is absolutely clear: ahead of us there are over 5000 kms of Argentinian soil to be covered to reach Ushuaia.

We get cracking straight away by covering the first 400 kms up to Salta.
The road is to say the least spectacular.
First of all it is all asphalt. The smile is back on my face as I no longer need to worry about what's around next corner and most importantly I can now cruise at 100 kms per hr.
We soon get to the Humahuaca canyon, which is famous for its rock formations resembling marzipan cakes.

The wind is strong, moving the bike from side to side and Elena is doing her best to take pictures and at the same time holding tight onto the bike.
We press on and we soon reach a sign saying "Tropico del Capricorno". This is the first time we both go so far south.
The rocks now look like rainbows showing a great variety of colours.

The mountain in front of us have been clearly sculpured by this strong wind in the shape of 1000 columns.

As the sky cracks open a ray of sun highlights a green valley below us.

It is the end of the altipiano and we begin our descent.

The rush of emotions that we feel in the following hour is almost impossible to describe.

Over the last 45 days (basically since we left Ecuador) our brains, eyes and lungs have been starved of oxygen and vegetation.

Now that we are plunging back to 1500 meters into a real forest we feel as if we are litterally swimming into the surrounding humidity. We fill our lungs up. We can detect the scent of grass and pine all mixed into the evening's air. Our eyes can see green again!

All our senses are lightening up and we feel full of life.

Exploding of excitement I beg Elena to take a picture.

Her answer says it all "a picture of what? it's just a tree".

She is right. A picture would not mean anything. This is only special to us, in this moment, because we have been deprived of it for so long.

The motorway (yes, a motorway!) from Jujuy to Salta takes us quickly to our destination.

We notice that, even though it is 5pm the temperature has risen quite considerably. In fact it is boiling hot here, well over 30 degrees. We do some quick calculations in our heads: the beginning of November here should be the equivalent of May in our hemisphere.....weird.

As we enter into town we immediately realise that the 400 kms we covered today are in actual fact a much greater distance, at least in cultural terms. There is a huge gap between 2 completely different worlds.

Our B & B is stylish and refined, with furniture that has been imported from different countires.

At the restaurant they don't simply serve you food to fill your stomach. It is refined cuisine that aims to please your taste buds and your eyes. No need to say that the wine is superb too.

We wander around town at day and night as we feel safe to do so.

We were lucky enough to catch the change of the guard.

The architecture of Salta reminds us the south of Spain.

And also the people here look very different, very European.

Ok, maybe in Europe we don't close the shops at 1pm to re-open them at 5pm, but that said one thing is absolutely sure: in Salta we felt at ease, almost as if we were back at home.