There are hundreds of hotels to choose from in Mar del Plata, but at just one the majority stay for free and others have to pay the exorbitant charge of $45 – for an entire week’s stay.

Although less visited than many of Argentina’s regions, northwest boot-shaped Jujuy province combines beautiful scenery with cultures from two different worlds.

After hitting the Argentine beaches during the summer, I was left craving an un-crowded, less full-on scene; preferably with good surf breaks and less focus on the body beautiful. I needed a remote stretch of sand to collapse on in an un-self-conscious heap and wile away a weekend reading, dreaming and feeling the last hits of the summer sun on my skin.

Nobody seems to have heard of Copahue or Caviahue, so how did I end up travelling there? I’d love to wax lyrical about my enthusiasm for climbing and my interest in geology, but that would be a lie. I had a couple of days spare before meeting a friend further south in Bariloche, flicked through a Lonely Planet guide, saw the words ‘volcanic baths’ and went for it.