Buenos Aires

A gigantic city – nearly sixteen million people, a third of the population of Argentina, live here. In a week we barely scratched the surface, visiting a few parks and landmarks in the city center: Japanese garden, botanical garden, rose garden, Casa Rosada, Teatro Colon,…

We also happened to encounter some young people training for a national hip-hop competition the very next day. So we went to check it out.

In most of Buenos Aires, taxis are plentiful and cheap, the subway is prompt and clean, and there are more buses than you can shake a stick at, most of them using dedicated bus lanes most of the time. But if you take a taxi an hour away from the center, say to find a hip-hop competition, you may not find a subway or taxi to get back. (There were still buses, but no direct route, and it was getting late.) We were about to start begging the competitors for rides, when someone suggested we try Uber. Success! Uber doesn’t offer service in most of Argentina, but greater Buenos Aires is an exception.

Purmamarca

A spectacular side trip from Salta: Purmamarca, and over the hills to Salinas Grandes.

We spent the night in a wonderful spot just outside Purmamarca, with a view of mountains, and an incredibly soft, warm bed. Quite a contrast with our flat in Salta – the less said about that one, the better.