A few weeks ago we wrote about those unexpected surprises along the way, and how they can sweeten a trip.
This time, we got a different kind of surprise: our 9 AM bus from San Pedro, Chile to Salta, Argentina was canceled due to snow in the mountains. Turns out it wasn't the snow that was the problem, but the Argentinian snow plow that broke down and couldn't clear the road - hence the Chilean bus company's refusal to offer a refund...
But it all turned out okay. On our way to the bus station we'd noticed a rodeo just starting up. So we spent the day meeting genuine South American cowboys (some literally boys - a few riders were a mere 14 years old) and watching cow-roping in a wooden stadium just outside town. And as it turned out, it was one of our best days of our visit to Chile.
