After a 9-hour bus ride through the mountains, and an hour layover in Jujuy, and then a 2-hour ride complete with multiple stops in near-deserted bus stations, we finally arrived in Salta, Argentina.
Whew!
Our first lesson on life in Argentina: the exchange rate. One American dollar at a bank or ATM will net you 9 Argentinian Pesos. Take that same dollar to a guy in a trench coat on the street, and you're looking at 15 Pesos.
"Legal?" I asked the trench-coat guy in the best Spanish I could. "No policio?"
He shook his head violently, then ushered me into a doorway so we'd be out of sight for our supposedly legal transaction.
