argentina: rosario

we arrived in rosario after an easy bus ride from cordoba...we got easy to read maps from the old lady working the desk in the information office in the bus station, which was quite modern and still under construction...she also told us where we could find a bus to the city centre...
after walking for a bit we found a hostel, and dropped our bags...
rosario isn't filled with specific sights to see, it's more of a relaxing place to go...there is a river through the city, and quite a few restaurants along the river...there are beaches too, so it's probably pretty busy in summer...

rosario is actually one of the birthplaces of argentina...the flag of the country was developed in rosario, and there is a giant monument to guy who made the whole thing...you get a pretty strong feeling of national pride in the city...rosario is technically the hometown of che (though he didn't live there very long at all) and is also the hometown of football superstar lionel messi...
we stopped for ice cream before doing anything else...then we continued walking, looking for someone with whom we could exchange money...that turned out to be rather difficult, we only found one guy, and the rate he offered was nowhere near the current blue market rate...rosario isn't that far from buenos aires, so the excuse of distance didn't fly...

after the money failure, we continued walking...we found a pedestrian street, which was pleasant enough...one of the popcorn vendors had salted popcorn, yahoo!!
eventually we made our way down to the monument/memorial area...lots of people sitting around doing nothing in particular...we also found the eternal flame...
the guidebook mentioned one street in particular as being full of restaurants, so that was where we headed...it took a while to get there, but i don't know how far it was...both of us wanted sushi, but the place we found wasn't going to open for at least 30 minutes...we were both starving, so we found a cafe where we could have a quick snack to tide us over...the sushi was okay...not great, not awful...

i remember being really cold by the time we got back to our hostel, but it probably wasn't that cold...
the next morning i asked if i could buy postcards before we left town...the one place i'd seen postcards being sold was on the pedestrian street, and it didn't seem like it was so far away in my memory...but when we did the walk with our packs, it seemed rather long...especially because it was in the opposite direction of the bus station...
we took a bus to the bus station, and bought tickets for the next bus to buenos aires...easy enough...
unfortunately, our bus broke down at one stop between rosario and buenos aires...everyone piled off the bus and waited...i should say this is what bo and i assumed happened, since we never heard a specific announcement, and my spanish is not nearly good enough to eavesdrop on most conversations...
eventually a new bus came, and took us to a GIANT bus station in buenos aires...

argentina: cordoba

we took a night bus from mendoza to cordoba...bo and i both woke up while on the bus at the perfect time, we got to see a beautiful RED sunrise...if the bus had stopped i would've tried to take photos, instead i just enjoyed how amazing nature can be at times...breakfast on the bus was a single roll in a box...argh...
we expected to stay in cordoba for a couple nights, but didn't want to walk around to the cheapest places while carrying our packs...i guess we were both feeling rather lazy that morning...we found a place close to the bus station that was within our price range...

we walked around the city, looking at whateva struck our fancy...as we walked through the big platz in the middle of the city, there was a demonstration of some sort taking place, complete with fireworks and police...we didn't know what was happening, so it was a concern...we'd both been warned about accidentally getting caught up in this sort of thing...
there was a big church on this platz, the inside was full of colour, i loved it...
CORDOBA SELLS SALTED POPCORN!!! i was sooooooo excited when bo figured this out...needless to say, i bought a bag...so did bo...later, i bought another...the day after, i bought more...i knew it wasn't likely that i'd get another chance to have a food i love so much...
the pedestrian zone marked on the map wasn't at all impressive...heaps of people selling things, nothing remarkable...

we descended under one of the streets to the jesuit crypts, but those werent very impressive...there was so much lighting, it didn't feel at all like a crypt...it wasn't possible to see what was once there...plus, you could hear the cars drive over the street that goes just above the crypts...we saw some artwork, which seemed out of place, of course...there was a small diorama of how everything had been when it was first discovered...
after continuing to walk for a while, we stopped for a break, i had te con leche...yum...it's as close to chai as i can get outside of india...i love having afternoon tea breaks while traveling:)

the most morbid/meaningful sight in cordoba is a memorial museum...it's full of information, and is almost overwhelming...all the people who went missing during the awful years, as well as maps of where all the detention centers were located, as well as photos, letters, etc...when we walked out we both felt rather stunned...subdued...
our last sight for the day was the jesuit manzana, which is still an active educational institution...it's a unesco sight, but it wasn't aesthetically impressive...at least, not that i could see...i enjoyed the church next door a lot more...

dinner that night was at a local place a couple blocks from our hotel...not only were the portions huge, and cheap, but they brought us free mineral water!! woo hoo!!
the next morning we took advantage of the breakfast included in our hotel, then checked out and moved to a hostel...
(check out the jesus maria post for my daily activities)
dinner that night was at a steak place...when we asked for a menu, they said they didn't have one...it was a grill restaurant, and every argentinean knows what is available at such a restaurant...my steak was awesome, but too big...both of us forced ourselves to eat salad, as a small attempt at being healthy :)

(check out the alta gracia post for my daily activities the next day)
after returning to cordoba for dinner, we realized it was sunday evening, and almost nothing was open...we ended up having dinner at a random place across the street from our hostel...i ordered milanesa, which is known as pork tenderloin in indiana :)

argentina: alta gracia

breakfast was not included in our hostel price, we ended up eating at a cafe on a platz...we found the small bus station in cordoba from where we could take a bus to the city of alta gracia...alta gracia is on the unesco world heritage list, as it has one of the jesuit estancias that were so important in argentinean history...alta gracia is perhaps more famous as the city in which che guevara spent many years of his childhood...
our bus dropped us off at the bus station, we stopped into the information office to pick up a map and figure out where to go...it turns out there are a bunch of museums in the city, though we weren't interested in most of them...

we decided to find che's house first...on our way there, we walked through a park, and passed a churro truck...YUM...there is nothing better than fresh made churros...full of grease and sugar, there is nothing better...that being said, both bo and i weren't feeling so good by the time we finished eating...
the park was called the parque of the americas...we saw flags for a number of the countries in south america, but nothing from north america...we both climbed on that statue for a picture...
we found che's house...then we found another house...and finally we found a third house in which he lived...guess what, they were all on the same street; i don't know what prompted the family to move so much on the same street...one of the houses has been turned into the che museum, the other two aren't even marked...i only noticed them because i knew the addresses at which he lived...needless to say, che's life was never stable, though his family was always close...

che was actually born in rosario, but his family moved to alta gracia because he had really bad asthma...alta gracia is at a higher altitude, and the air is dryer...
the entry fee to the museum was expensive (75 pesos!)...i hope they use that money in a good way, but i don't know...the house is small, but well curated...each room has photos and letters and information signs about different aspects of che's life...there are a couple maps showing the routes of his motorcycle trips through south america...some of the information has been translated intp english, most is only in spanish...

from che's house we walked to a lake in the city centre, it's a man made lake which has been surrounded by a concrete boardwalk of sorts...on one side of the lake (which is really small) was the second sight we wanted to see, the jesuit estancia...
unfortunately, the church in this estancia was not open, we weren't able to find out why...booo...as we were exploring the rest of the estancia (which had good displays about how life was back in the day, as well as the family that had lived in this estancia) bo managed to set off a motion detector...hee hee...

after walking through every open room we could find, we exited the estancia and bought two bags of salty popcorn, yahooo!!!
it was easy to find our way back to a bus stop to catch a bus back to cordoba...

argentina: jesus maria

one of the reasons i wanted to visit cordoba was its proximity to several other unesco sights...the town of jesus maria is one of those...there is a jesuit mission worth seeing...
we found the small bus station in cordoba from which we caught a bus to jesus maria...the estancia we wanted to see is a unesco listed sight, but i don't think jesus maria gets very many visitors...if i hadn't read about the mission in the guidebook, i don't think we would've visited this town...
we got off the bus, everything was quiet...we stopped for lunch at a bus station cafe, both of us had pizza...
i was really glad i was able to use the maps function on my phone, otherwise we never would've found the estancia/mission...there were no signs indicating where we should go!!
we were only allowed to take photos in the church of the mission...the church was simple, but i liked it...it was pretty chilly, i bet it never really gets that hot, even in the middle of summer...i was actually pretty cold by the time we left the estancia, as the whole thing is stone...

one of the display rooms had more paintings of angels garbed in colonial clothing carrying weapons...similar to the paintings we'd seen in the church in uquia...
not much else to report about jesus maria...

argentina: mendoza and maipu

we took a looong bus ride from salta to mendoza...18 hours...we'd chosen seats at the front of the bus, so we had great views of the scenery the entire time, but it was still a very long ride...we were fed three times during this ride, all three meals were the same...not very tasty...each box had three ham and cheese sandwiches...i know this is a common food in argentina, but really? argh...
we walked from the bus station in mendoza to the city centre, then found places listed in the guidebook...we chose a cute place, it seemed quiet...wifi didn't reach to our room, but that was okay...this place had a couple nice sitting rooms, i'm guessing they would've been lovely if we were visiting during warmer weather...

since we arrived fairly late in the day, there wasn't much daylight in which to explore, or get to know the city...even though we hadn't burned any calories during the day, we still wanted a proper meal...after a bunch of walking we found a local diner type of place...
before walking out of our hotel, we looked at the map of mendoza, and saw that it was built around 5 plazas...one in the middle, four situated in square positions...after dinner, we decided to walk around the outline of the squares...
it wasn't super cold, but i had a hard time warming up and sleeping that night...i have no idea why...

breakfast was included in the price of our hotel, it was nice...a typical spread of cereal, rolls, tea, milk, etc...i ate too much, as i always do in a breakfast buffet included in my hotel price...
we asked our hotel lady where we could get laundry done, she gave us an idea...when we found the laundromat, we discovered the prices weren't great, and neither one of us was super keen to deal with it...we walked to the plazas again, to see how they were different in daylight...there were statues or memorials in the middle of each, bo decided to climb on one of the statues and have me take the photo...i did the same, but on a much smaller statue :)...

of the four plazas, my favourite was plaza espana, as everything in the plaza was decorated with tiles...we had heaps of fun taking photos...there were plenty of other people in the plaza, we had to wait a while to get the views we wanted, without anyone else in the picture...
we found a giant supermarket called carrefour, and decided to check the wine and olive oil sections...bo already knew he wanted to bring wine with him back to the states, i knew i wanted to buy olive oil...we didn't think we would buy at the supermarket, but we were keen to get an idea on prices...

from the market we headed up the street toward a park...a big park...i stopped to get ice cream on the way, then almost dropped the ice cream...the street we were walking is supposed to be a really nice area of mendoza...it was okay, but i didn't feel super impressed, at least, not the way the guidebook made it sound i should be impressed...
the entrance gate to the park was being renovated, and was surrounded by green plastic fencing...boooo...bo climbed another statue for another picture, i skipped my turn...there is a 'lake' in the middle of the park, which was empty while we visited...not only was it empty, there were vehicles in the bottom, digging around...the temperatures were still chilly, and had clearly been cold for a while, as there was still snow on the ground in shady areas...

dinner that night was in another steak house...my steak was overcooked, boooo...
the next morning we checked out after breakfast...we walked to the bus station, dropped our bags at the left luggage office, then caught a bus to the nearby town of maipu...
maipu is basically a wine town...tourists and visitors to mendoza often organize tours of maipu, it's an easy way to see several vineyards...we rented bikes and got maps of maipu and started peddling...
our first stop was an olive plantation...well, not really a plantation, but a place that dealt with olives and products made from them...

our entry fee included tasting several products, an explanation of how olives are grown, and olive oil is made...we got to see the machine that is used to press the olives, and got an explanation about the different types of olive oil...(extra virgin, virgin, etc)
our next stop was a biergarden for lunch...i don't know why bo wanted bier, but i went with it...
our next stop was a french winery...it was the furthest away on the map, and my legs were tired by the time we got there...bo used to be a competitive rider, so he was fine, while i was huffing and puffing...we got a quick tour, then bo decided to do a tasting...since i can't have alcohol, i could only smell and look...even though i can't taste, the smell is usually indicatvie of the taste to some degree...

across the street from the french winery was another olive plantation...i did a tasting of 5 different olive oils...they didn't have a lot of flavour, as olive oil never does, but i was able to taste small differences...i ended up buying a small bottle, i knew i wouldn't be able to get it back in buenos aires...
we pedaled back to the bike rental place, arriving just after we were supposed to return the bikes...at first we were afraid we wouldn't be able to return the bikes at all (the gate was closed) but the wife came out and took the bikes...she also served us juice...my legs were tired, so i was thrilled to have sugar...

we caught the next bus back to mendoza, then walked around trying to find dinner...we found a sushi shop that looked interesting, but it turned out they only did delivery...we asked if we could just wait as they made our order, but that would've taken over an hour (despite them not having any orders coming in at the moment)...we weren't seeing any logic in that, so we walked away...our dinner ended up being at a small place near the bus station...
our bus to cordoba left on time :)

argentina: quebrada de humahuaca

we hopped on an early morning bus from salta to tilcara...the ride is about three hours, and i made the mistake of not eating breakfast first...by the time we arrived, i was NOT feeling good...the road wasnt particularly twisty, but i still felt as though i was going to puke...this was a huge disappointment, because the scenery was awesome, and i was annoyed at myself for not being able to relax and take it in...
the quebrada de humahuaca is a stunning area in northern argentina...the mountains are a wide variety of colours...greens, pinks, purples, reds, browns...amazing...it would've been even more amazing without all the wind...

i know it all has to do with minerals, and where they are when layers of sediment are created, but it's still hard to understand how some of the land in this area looks like God created it while on an acid trip...
we arrived in tilcara, it was dusty and windy...we were able to find a place to stay, electricity was out in the entire town for the time being...it doesn't mean much when a hostel says it has free wifi if electricity is out during the entire day, most days...
i needed food, badly, so we found an empanada place...yum...is it ever possible to eat too many empanadas? i dont think so...

we followed the map we got from tourist information to make our way to pucara, which are the ruins of a fortress...now the area is taken over by cacti...some dead, some alive...the inside of a dead cactus is a bit sad, really...it was really windy and dusty, so photos dont look very dramatic...i tried to be nice to the cacti, they were not nice to me...booo...somehow i ended up with cacti prickles in my toe? is that considered free acupuncture?
some of this fortress has been rebuilt, it looks terrible...(my opinion of course)...there are no windows in any of the buildings, apparently this is how it would've been back in the day...considering how much sun this area receives, that would make life rather depressing..

there is a rather large monument to geologists in the middle of a platz, no one was thinking about aesthetic appeal when that was approved...
after the fortress we started to walk to an area called the garganta del diablo (devil's throat)...along the way we ran into people coming back the other way who said it was closed (it's a canyony area) due to high winds...boooo...bo sat down to rest for a while, i kept walking just because i wanted to move, and the wind had calmed down a little...
we started dinner with candles everywhere...cooking must be more of a challenge if you can't see very well...power came back on as we were eating...

i ordered coca tea to drink, and no, i didn't feel anything...coca leaves are sold on the street in this part of the country...my meal was llama filet, which was rather tough and chewy...i can now check llama off the list of animals i've eaten...don't need to do that again...
breakfast was not ready on time the next morning, we had to head to the bus station before we found anyone to get the food out...argh...our bus took us to the town of humahuaca...it's the last of the little towns in this area, and i would consider it the most authentic...it's definitely been affected by tourism, but it hasn't been taken over by tourism...the local meat and veg market is very authentic, we loved walking around...i've never seen yellow and red speckled potatoes before...and green potatoes too!! too bad we couldn't buy food and cook with it...

according to the guidebook, locals in this town speak the native language, not spanish...
for snack we had empanadas made to order...YUM...i could've sat at that stall all day long, just eating...the lady had such a rhythm, it was awesome...she would make an empanada, then drop it in the fryer; the whole process took about 10 seconds...
people in this area still wear traditional dress, and have amazing faces...SO MANY PHOTOS...
we walked across a small bridge, i saw a cactus garden of sorts...again i tried to make nice with the cacti (doesn't everyone love a hug?) and again they weren't having anything to do with it...bo ended up talking with a local guy who played a mini-guitar sort of instrument...

in the 'city centre' is a giant monument dedicated to the independence heroes...it's gaudy and doesn't fit in with anything else in the town...there is a large platz in front of the monument, filled with souvenir stands...we left town just as a couple large tour buses arrived...
the bus took us to a teensy tinsy place called uquia, it's a short ride...tourists stop in uquia to see a small church with interesting paintings on the walls...the paintings are of the angels, but with a twist...they're all wearing colonial clothing, and carrying weapons...it's quite strange! an angel carrying a blunderbuss? the church is open only a few hours each day (2 in the morning, 2 in the afternoon) so you have to think about your travel/bus timing...

we also walked in the area behind the village, it's gorgeous...the mountains were mostly red, but there was so much colour...there was one other couple, that was it...i loved the quiet...we found a red sand dune, and a canyon...if we'd had more time in argentina, the entire area of the quebrada de humahuaca is one place i would've extended our stay, to do more hiking...
we didn't have to wait long for the next bus to tilcara, thank goodness...we picked up ham and cheese tortillas from ladies running grills on the street...yum

there is a tourist market set up around a park in tilcara, and after looking through every scarf option available, i finally bought one...i bargained a little, but not much, as i don't enjoy it, at all...i paid 45 pesos, the girl had a very difficult time finding change for the 50 peso note i handed her...
we ended up going to the same place for dinner...i had a thick stew...
the next morning i wore boots for the first time during this trip...it was COLD...we caught a bus to purmamarca, not too far away...it was snowing lightly as we arrived, bo was not thrilled...he didn't have much winter clothing with him...fortunately, i had an extra pair of gloves and hat...

purmamarca is completely overrun with tourism...i doubt anyone in that town isn't somehow related to the industry...it's another beautiful area, but it's still sad to see this happen...(and since we visited, we only contributed)...booo...since the town is based entirely on tourism, there is no central bus station...a bunch of different companies offer tickets to nearby towns, but there is no specific station...
we followed a trail called the hill of seven colours...i loved it...even though there were plenty of other people doing the same thing we were, it didn't feel too crazy...(that being said, i would not want to be doing this hiking in high season)...this trail goes around and through a few hills...

at first it was cloudy, which was annoying in terms of trying to take photos...then the sun came out and the photos started to begin to show the breathtaking views...
fortunately, i found postcards...heaps of them, not surprisingly...
we caught a bus to the city of jujuy (which i love just because the name sounds cool) and used that as a transfer point for another bus, to salta...in salta we dropped our bags at the station, and wandered around the town again to kill time before our night bus...

argentina: salta

our bus from resistencia to salta arrived in salta in the early morning...in another sign of being viewed as a human atm, the luggage guy on the bus was asking for tips...but he was only asking foreigners, argh...
since salta is in the north, it was colder than we'd dealt with...not super cold, but cold enough...we figured out which way to walk from the bus station, and set about trying to find a place to stay...the first place we checked must've moved, as there was no way it was a hostel of any kind...eventually, we found a place with a double room available already...they even let us eat breakfast straightaway!!!
salta (the area of interest to tourists/travelers) is known for it's colonial architecture, especially in the city centre...after getting a map and information from the guys in our hostel, we walked around, taking photos of course, enjoying the atmosphere...

there are a couple pedestrian streets which were jam packed with other folks out walking, selling popcorn, etc...
now seems as good a time as any to mention my frustration with popcorn in argentina...almost all that is sold on the streets is sweet popcorn!! i really like salty popcorn, we only found it in a couple places in the whole country...it was disappointing to find place after place that only had sweet popcorn...anywho...
the centre of salta is built around the plaza 9 de julio, which of course has a statue of a guy on a horse in the middle...(there are other people in this statue as well)...it's a nice little park area...

one of the churches mentioned in the guidebook is on this plaza, but it was closed when we got there...there are a few awesome churches around the city with specific opening hours, of course we had to wait until later in the day to get into any of them...
lunch was at a tiny place across the street from one of these churches...awesome empanadas, totally local clientele...the best part was when one of the owners/managers/i don't know started singing...AWESOME...we decided straightaway we were going back to that place for another meal at some point during our time in salta...the view, the food, and the man, what's not to love?

while continuing to wander around salta that afternoon we saw beautiful tiling inside a building, and went inside...it turned out to be a federal police station, ooops...they kindly told us to get out :)
we found a yummy alfajores shop in another area of town, the only question was "how many do we buy?"
after the alfajores shop it was finally time to go inside the churches i mentioned earlier...we visited two...both were nifty, but i definitely liked one more than the other...(church decoration and atmosphere are very subjective, i'm not going to bore anyone with names...the churches are close to each other, and if you make it to salta you should visit both anywho)...

i found shops with heaps of pretty postcards, which was good to know...salta is the jumping off point for the area known as the quebrada de humahuaca, so there are touristy goods for each place in that area...
dinner that night was a huge steak...soooo good...i was (and still am) bound and determined to get bo eating steak more often :)...we ate so much that our tummies felt uncomfortably large, so we added a bit more distance to the walk back to our hostel...this extra distance included walking by an old convent, lit up nicely at night...a simple lighting scheme, but it was nice and peaceful...i wondered if we could go inside the next day...

the next morning dawned cloudy...booo...we asked the guys in charge of our hostel where to find someone to change money for bo...argentina has both legal and illegal ways of changing money, travelers almost always use the illegal ways since you get a lot more in your conversion...
the guidebook listed an artisan market a couple kilometres out one of the city streets, and it sounded interesting, so we started walking...the street took us through regular neighborhoods and areas; the areas of the city where people live and work, those who are not associated with tourism...as much as i love seeing tourist sights (they are tourist sights for a reason) i also love seeing 'normal' areas of each city/town/village...we didn't know exactly where the market was, the guidebook only listed a final address...

we ended up not thinking too much of the market...it wasn't bad, but it was clearly mostly for people on package tours who wanted to bring home items made specifically for tourists...some of the artistry was amazing, but i had no desire to spend that money...
on the way back to the city centre we stopped for food at a couple local shacks...YUM...fried empanadas first...eaten off a tin plate!! i also had a 'proper' meal of 1/4 chicken and french fries...(i really wanted the chicken, i didn't care one way or the other about the fries)...bo had a lentil stew, which was super tasty...after the empanadas we didn't really need this meal, but hey, why not?

we walked to the bus station to get tickets for one of the next parts of our journey after figuring out specific details...the tickets ended up being cheaper than we were quoted, maybe there was a cash discount? we never figured it out, oh well...
after the tickets we decided we wanted to see a monument, and hike up a hill to look out over the city...we hiked up a way, but not the entire way...branches were in our view the entire time, while all we wanted was a clear view...at that point the sun was starting to go down, and it was on the wrong side for us anywho...we probably should've done this little hike in the morning...ooops...as we hiked we walked past a number of people carrying portable music players, which annoyed me to no end...i'm all for people bringing music, but why not earphones? argh...

dinner that night was nothing special...bo chose a specialty of the region, a stew called locro...it even has intestines in there...the taste was good, but i wouldn't be able to handle an entire bowl of the consistency of the intestines...
the next morning we were up super early to walk to the bus station for our bus...too bad breakfast didn't start that early at the hostel :)

argentina: resistencia

our bus departing puerto iguazu left 45 minutes late on it's way to resistencia...i should be used to these delays, they happen all the time, but it still annoyed me this time...
we visited resistencia, argentina mostly because we needed a place to stop in between other places we wanted to see...you can travel all over argentina by bus, some of the rides are really long...we decided at some point that we weren't particularly keen to spend heaps of time on buses...10 hours is a long time, there are rides as long as 48 hours or so...no thank you...so, we arrived in resistencia after dark, with no planned place to stay...

which wasn't the greatest idea, as the bus station is nowhere near the center of town...we figured out the local bus to take into town (which went through a very sketchy neighborhood, making me really glad we hadn't decided to walk) and asked around...the first two places listed in the guidebook were full, and a third random place was really really helpful, the guy made a few calls for us...hotel scrum ended up being our home for a night :)
since our hotel was very basic, and didn't involve breakfast, we were slow about getting moving the next morning...we arranged to leave our bags at the hotel during the day, then set out to explore...

there are sculptures all over the city...some are memorials, some are art, some are....i don't know exactly...needless to say, some are more interesting than others...apparently there is a sculpture festival, but it doesn't take place every year, and we were there during an off year...booo...
we found a 'museum' that was all about the people who went missing during those awful years several decades ago...the government in power at the time did a lot of horrific things...kidnapping, torturing, murder, etc...to this day, no one knows the full account of what happened...how many people died, where they are buried, etc...this museum had some maps of various locations, but not everything is known for sure...and likely won't ever be...

some of the grafitti remains were pretty intense as well...
too kill time in the afternoon we laid in the grass at a park and read for a while...it also helped us get over the food coma from lunch, and continual stops into bakeries...(note to self, there isn't much (if any) good ice cream in resistencia)
eventually we picked up our bags from the hotel and walked to the bus station...walking with someone through a sketchy neighborhood doesn't bother me nearly so much when it's daylight...the guidebook said the walk was 2km...there is no way it was only two kilometers...i don't know the distance, but it took us plenty longer than it should've if it were really only 2km...
not surprisingly, the bus we rode that evening departed late...