Rest in Salta (Argentina)
We finally arrive in Salta after a long trip by bus from La Quiaca. We’re no longer in the mountains, it’s very, very hot.
We could have had time to explore the surroundings of Salta, but JB thinks we’ve been moving around too much lately and wouldn’t mind a few days of rest before our flight to Buenos Aires.
There are 2 five-star hotels in Salta and we choose Alejandro I because it costs half as much as the other one. After a misunderstanding, we think we get a better rate by paying in cash, so we went to get a wad of bills from Western Union (JB explains this money exchange story in Argentina). Since the highest bill in Argentina is 1000 pesos (less than a euro), imagine how many bills it takes to pay for 3 nights here 😀
With our wads of cash, we’re about to pay when the receptionist tells us “you don’t pay VAT if you pay by credit card” (we had understood the opposite!). Okay, we gather it all up and will carry it with us until Buenos Aires (and thankfully, because we’ll have trouble with Western Union in Buenos Aires, which has less cash).
We chose this hotel because it has a gym, a sauna, and a pool. The breakfast is a bit too sweet for me, but the restaurant is really good (their lemonade is to die for).
The Salta region seems very interesting to me, as we saw agency flyers with photos of canyons, rivers, mountains… absolutely incredible. Unfortunately, we can’t see everything.
The city is shaped like a bowl, surrounded by beautiful mountains, but the air is strangely good, no pollution. While we’re already melting in the heat, we’re told it will be even hotter in Buenos Aires. I think Salta can be a great base for the digital nomads. The city is very large, there’s Uber if needed, there are plenty of housing options, there are tons of tourist attractions in the area, and the food is great, like everywhere in Argentina.
During our 3 days in Salta, we only explored the hotel’s surroundings, as well as the nice tourist streets with great local restaurants. However, on Sunday, everything is closed, and there’s no one in the streets.
The flight to Buenos Aires also went well.
