29th November

Well, that's Bolivia. Today we crossed over to Argentina again. I have been trying to eat reasonably healthily so I can hoover up more lomo de chorizo in the steak houses. The drive was about 10 hours but some of that was spent in immigration and changing Bolivianos into Pesos. All went smoothly apart from Jitka (she is the American I couldn't remember the name of) - she forgot to "emigrate" from Bolivia so there was no hope she was getting through.

It was fairly quiet on the truck until there was a huge bust up about the bar and should tee-totalers have to contribute to a tab if they don't drink...and people haven't been updating their tab...and no one is doing their tasks. Then the tears came and I waited poatiently for Marcus Bentley'a voice over. In short, Rob is now not the barman, Irish Connor is (is it wise putting a Paddy in charge of liquor?). I relieved the tension by suggesting playing a game, which we did. Seemed to do the trick.

Salta is much bigger than I thought it would be, looks very cosmopolitan and chic for South America (despite seeing the "Golden Arches"). It was also a nice change to see some blondes and tall women (I'm sure some of you can't believe I am writing this!).

We are also camping tonight and will be for the next 9 nights in 4 different places. However, on arrival at the site Rob, Shannon, Tina, Karen and I decided to upgrade to a cabin for 2 nights. Happy days.

We dumped our stuff and headed to Viejo Jacks - purported to be the place you can cut steak with a spoon it is so tender. I started with a litre of Quilmes, followed by Lomo De Chorizo (A punto), ensalada mixta and purée de papas - which is medium rare rump steak, salad and mash to you lot. The steak was enormous, obviously, and I had to unbutton, unbelt and at one point, "unload", to finish it. All was washed down with a Mendozan Malbec for 2 pounds. Total bill was about 10 quid.

Went on a bar crawl in Salta - which is very reminiscent of Palermo Soho in BA. Back on the Cuba Libres and we drank until 5.30am and then chatted back at the campsite until 8. Who was cooking breakfast? Us. So glad we forked out for a cabin. The girls helped and I think we did an OK job.