A warm welcome to the land of steak and vino

Steak and wine: two of my favourite things, and two reasons for my eagerness to get to Argentina. I have to say, Bolivia's preoccupation with carbohydrates was grating on the nerves a tad. Our first taste of Argentina was a long walk across the border - a couple of kilometres at least. We then joined what some might call a line in Bolivian immigration (I'd describe it as more of a scrum) and, after some time, skipped across to Argentina.

We had a five hour wait for our bus to Salta so Bec and I hit up a local restaurant and got stuck into a few drinks. Ironically, our first drink in the wine country was an Argentine beer called Quilmes. Here, beers come in litre bottles which makes waiting for buses all the more enjoyable. We decided that, being in Argentina and all, meat and wine were definitely on the agenda so we ordered a bottle of 'vino blanco' and an authentic Argentine grill known as 'parrilla'. This unexpectedly turned into a 'Who Eats Wins' session, and a big one at that. Neither of us had ever seen that much meat in one sitting. It was definitely photo worthy (included for your viewing pleasure - prizes for those who can name a meat). A couple were obvious, such as steak and chicken, but we had to guess the rest. I think there was blood sausage somewhere in there. Intestines maybe? Brains? Who knows?! Note to self for next time: stick with a trusty piece of steak or, in this country, 'bife de lomo' - reliable in goodness with no identification qualmes.