We arrived in Salta after our journey by private taxi along a lot of twisting and winding roads where we didn’t see another car or another person for a long long time, stopping along the way for some lunch in a roadside cafe in the middle of nowhere. As we headed into Salta we made our way up a two-way single file road on the edge of a cliff before hitting the city centre. We arrived at our destination Terra Oculta, a lovely hostel with plenty of amenities, including a roof top bar with a very British bartender.

Our first night in Salta we went to Don Jose’s restaurant recommended by the owner of our hostel where we ordered Bife de Chorizo with Chips, a fried egg and some jugs of the house red wine. The steaks were huge slabs of meat that left no room for anything else on the plate and they were cooked to perfection, the wine was cheap, but drinkable and the large side helping of chips helped to soak up some of the beef juice and to dip into the still runny yoke of our eggs. Steaks, done.

The following day we booked up a luxury bus to Mendoza and went sightseeing, including a cable car ride on the teleferico to the top of Cerro San Bernardo and a look at the arts and crafts in the local market. We also found a very nice food stall beside the cable car station which sold delicious empanadas, we stocked up and headed up the teleferico.

Today’s weather gave us a stunning view over Salta but it was still slightly hazy which blurred our vision of the mountain ranges in the distance. At this point we had visited a few mountain top viewpoints in South America, this was the first one to have an open air gym at the top, which Kev and John had to have a go on.

In the evening we went to the supermarket and got ourselves a bag of potatoes and a steak each which would be cooking this evening together with several bottles of beer, that were alot cheaper than the ones sold in the bar on the roof. We cooked and ate our steaks in the kitchen whilst watching Andy Murray beat Roger Federer in the tennis, once full we continued drinking on the rooftop bar with an American we had met during dinner and another friend we had met in Potosi. Later in the evening there was a powercut so all the lights and music went off as did the beer fridges!

Kev to the rescue, he grabbed his iPod and speakers to for the music, the barman came and delivered some candles to the table and we got some more beer so they didn’t get warm in the fridge.

The next day we jumped on our Andesmar bus to Mendoza, but not before stocking up on those delicious empanadas for the journey. We had treated ourselves to Semi-Cama seats, which is not quite first class, however the seats almost recline flat and are wide enough you aren’t fighting for the armrest with the person next to you. Plus we had bus bingo, loads of films and a meal that rivals most airline food.

Bye bye Salta, hello Mendoza. Another glass of wine anyone….