I came surprisingly close to missing my flight to Salta – I got to the airport in plenty of time and dropped my bag off, but then, having had a quick coffee in the check-in area, saw a much more appealing coffee shop upstairs just before security, and figured I had plenty of time for some breakfast and a second cup of coffee (there tend to be very few facilities available in the domestic departure areas beyond security). But service was slow and I wasn’t paying attention to the time as I was updating my blog post about Maipu, and suddenly realised I had just over 30 minutes left before the flight was due to take off!

I’ve got used to rather short and fast-moving security queues in Peru and Argentina, and the queue, while still relatively short, was moving a bit slower than I’d have liked. But I still got through it in just over 5 minutes and dashed to the gate – only to find a sign saying it was Closed! The staff were still there, though, and I whipped out my passport and boarding pass and put on my best pleading expression, which thankfully proved unnecessary as the lady simply checked them both and waved me through. I was relieved to see there was still a short queue of passengers on the air bridge – so I wasn’t quite as late as I’d thought I was – but will be sure not to cut it so fine in future!

I had to get the air hostess to chuck an old lady out of my seat – finding someone already in my seat is a fairly common occurrence on flights, as I always seem to be assigned to the final boarding group; on roughly half the flights I’ve taken in Peru and Argentina I’ve found someone else sitting in my seat when I get on. Mostly it seems to be that a lot of people in this part of the world don’t fly very often and either are not used to the idea that you have to sit in your assigned seat, or more commonly get the aisle vs window lettering mixed up. On every other occasion this has happened the person has moved as soon as I’ve pointed out they’re in my seat – but this old lady just shrugged and pretended not to understand me (I had addressed her in Spanish). So I had to get the flight attendant to intervene and eventually the lady was convinced to move to her assigned middle seat (I had booked the window seat as I’ve realised that’s the best seat on these short scenic hops). I reckon she just wanted the window seat and was trying her luck!

We landed a little early and, as I’d booked a taxi pickup, I had to wait a few minutes for the taxi to arrive, but it arrived bang on time with a very friendly female driver who chatted to me in a mixture of Spanish and English (mostly English as her English was better than my Spanish) to the hotel. Too early to check in, unfortunately, but I dropped my suitcase off and hung out in the cool reception area for a bit, using the hotel’s Wi-Fi, while I tried to figure out where to go.

Eventually I headed out into the heat – Mendoza was fairly cool the first few days I was there, with only yesterday being relatively warm, but Salta is just plain hot! I always tend to travel in my heavy cargo pants as they have large mid-leg pockets ideal for storing my wallet and phone, and also it reduces the weight of my check-in luggage. But they’re not great for arriving in hot cities where I can’t immediately get changed!

I could see on Google maps that there is a large park nearby – with the central bus station just beyond – so headed in that direction. I was still not entirely sure that my rental car reservation would work out and wanted to check out public bus options just in case.

The park is lovely – sadly not much in the way of grass in Salta’s hot, dry climate, but loads of trees, cycle lanes and this pretty lake with water fountain.

I also couldn’t help spotting Jacaranda trees! I had seen a few in Lima and other parts of Peru, but they tended to be few and far between. But on the drive from the airport I’d noticed quite a few – and as I walked around I kept spotting them. I didn’t see any avenues of Jacarandas such as we get in South Africa – around here they tend to be solitary bursts of purple among the rest of the trees – but awww, they’re still beautiful!

I found the bus station and took a few photos of the various bus companies’ advertised departure times to different locations, then consulted the map again to try to figure out where the centre of the town is (as I was pretty sure I hadn’t yet found it). It turned out to be in the opposite direction from my hotel to what I’d just taken, so I headed in that direction and soon found myself at the absolutely stunning Plaza de 9 Julio (named after Argentina’s Independence Day).

A few blocks away from the Plaza I discovered the stunning San Francisco convent and basilica. Sadly it’s impossible to capture its beauty in a photograph but if you zoom in and scroll around you can see the immense detail that makes this such a jaw-dropping sight in reality.

A few other photos from my wanderings – I enjoyed the sign over the restaurant proclaiming “magic happens in this kitchen” as well as the beautiful balconies on the buildings shown. And I was stunned to discover that what I’d thought was yet another old church, is actually the “Financial information unit” according to a plaque on the side of the building.

During my wanderings, I passed a Fit car hire shop (the company I’ve been to-ing and fro-ing with about car hire). But waited until I was able to check into the hotel, change into cooler clothing and, vitally, use Google translate to prepare a few key questions, before heading back out to speak to them about the car hire.

Thankfully the gentleman in the shop was very helpful, and very patient with my halting Spanish, and managed to reassure me that yes, they had my booking and yes, the amount shown on my confirmation email includes insurance (this was the key sticking point, as my original confirmation had implied I hadn’t included insurance in the booking, which I knew I had done. And without insurance included I couldn’t reconcile the final price they were quoting).

All sorted thankfully – and what a relief! For those who don’t know the area – Salta City is a key starting point for excursions into the north of Argentina, around Salta and Jujuy provinces. There is a lot to see in the area and you can do it all by basing yourself in Salta City and doing group day excursions, but you’ll spend a lot of time on a bus and not have much time to see sites at your leisure. The best way to see the area is to move around, staying in different towns each night – but to do this you either need to hire a car, or plan your itinerary around available public transport.

Knowing I have a hire car booked gives me the flexibility I really need, so this is a huge weight off my mind. I’ve cracked open the bottle of sparkling wine that I brought from Mendoza, to celebrate (there are no restrictions on liquids on domestic flights in Peru or Argentina; my bottle of bubbly didn’t even raise an eyebrow at security and I saw others carrying multiple bottles through).

Though I do need to get on with booking my accommodation for tomorrow night! My hotel for tonight is fabulous – booked last minute it appeared relatively pricey on Booking.com, but the price I was quoted had clearly been worked out at the official rate, and when I turned up, the amount I actually paid works out to about £30 for the night. What a shame I’m only here for one night!