Sent on Apr. 23, 2003 from Corrientes, Argentina.

US$ = 2.82 Pesos, also shown as $; US $ shown as U$S.
Airport Exit Tax = US$18 at the airport.  Take the bus
operated by Manuel Tienda Leon from airport or bus or ferry
terminals to city-hotel for $15; Taxi = $35 from airport.
Post cards are about 60 cents each; mail to the USA is 5.50
Pesos, so nearly $2, the most expensive rates I know.
Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, you pay tax of 7.05 Pesos.

1. Salta, Argentina.  Talk about a charming place
(population about 400,000), the city is designed as I like
cities, all roads leading to the charming square at the
center: Plaza de 9 Julio--the date signifying July 9, 1816
when Argentina became an independent republic, after
getting out of Spanish control in 1810.  (9 Julio is the
name given to major plazas or avenues in most cities, as
also the primary boulevard in Buenos Aires.)  The city is
in a valley bordered by Pennsylvania/West Virginia-size
lush mountains, with several single hills in the city.
There is also a funicular--teleferico--to the hilltop at
Cerro San Bernardo for spectacular views of the city--as
the more elaborate San Christobal funicular in Santiago.
The information desk at the bus station has info on a dozen
hostels.  There is one near the station; the one closest to
the center is Hostel El Alcazar.
  
2. Train to the Clouds (Tren a las Nubes).  This train
starts in Salta and heads to San Antonio, Argentina, some
249 km to the west, thru very scenic ravines and canyons. 
The entire trip costs 169 Pesos (about $55) round-trip, a
bargain compared to the (ripoff of) 52 Pesos (plus 12 for
being in a national park) for the 10-minute train ride in
Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego.  Alas, in April, this train
leaves once-a-week on Saturdays, for me the next one on
April 26.  As it was Tuesday the 22nd in Salta, I decided
not to wait that long.

There is a similar one in USA, the AMTRAK line from Chicago
to Las Vegas, which together with the Miami to Los Angeles,
and Los Angeles to North (I think the Sunset Line), is one
of the most scenic of all AMTRAK journeys.  (I took all
AMTRAK lines in USA.)  In the former, you pass thru canyons
on which the walls are so close that you can touch them as
the train moves grudgingly along steep hills. 

3. 14-hour bus east to Corrientes and the Parana River,
thru the provinces of Salta and Chaco. I spent a day in
Salta and took the afternoon bus to Corrientes on the
Parana River, entering the semi-tropical Missiones
Province. At this northwestern part of Argentina, the land
is actually an island between 2 great rivers: the Parana to
the west and the Uruguay to the east, the distance between
them about 200km east-west, 1000km north-south. About 250km
north of Corrientes, in Asuncion, Paraguay, the Parana is
joined by the big Paraguay River and flows south. The
Paran(y)a joins the more easterly Uruguay River, also
flowing south, just a bit to the Northwest of Buenos Aires
and together, with Buenos Aires at the southern shore,
Montevideo, Uruguay at the northern shore, flow the
Atlantic Ocean as Rio de la Plata.  I intend to travel this
entire region over the next 10 days or so.

4. Corrientes, Argentina is a stop-over for me to my next
destination, to the crown jewel of this region where
Argentina joins with Paraguay and Brazil, about another 12
hours of bus ride Northeast from here: the Iguazu Falls,
worlds largest by area and number of falls.  (The Angel
Falls in Venezuela is the tallest single drop at 972
meters; the Niagara, my favorite, has the largest water
flow. I visited Niagara at least half-dozen times,
sometimes sitting right next to the partially lit edge of
the drop on the Canadian side late at night, spellbound by
the magnanimity and beauty of the sight in front of me.)