I think that Argentina was the country I was most looking forward to when starting this journey. And it did not disappoint. I get asked all the time what were my favorite countries and Argentina is always one of the top. I loved the culture, the people, the beauty, the food, the wine, and the nightlife. Argentina had it all and it did it all very well.
My first destination in Argentina was Salta. I was only there for a couple days and enjoyed exploring their outdoor market, watched the Champions League futbol championship game (it is like the Super Bowl except the whole world actually cares), and got my first taste of Argentina meat. For my first meal we made the mistake of looking for a restaurant at 8pm at night, forgetting that restaurants don’t open until around 10pm and don’t get crowded until around 11pm. We had to search out a locals place, whenever you ask someone for a recommendation they always point you to a tourist spot. We finally found one and took a seat for dinner at 9:30pm. We were the only ones in the restaurant. We decided that for my first meal I needed to get a taste of everything and ordered this popular mixed plate. By mixed I mean lots of meat from every part of the cow. True to my word I tried cow stomach, liver, heart, brain, intestine, unidentified something, and blood sausage. We also shared a filet steak and a Bife de Chorizo which became my staple choice for the rest of my time in Argentina.
I decided to go down to Cafayate with a group of three girls, Robyn, Sanna, and Madis, that I had met at the hostel in Salta. The group of us girls- Robyn (from London, also traveling alone), Sanna, and Madis (both from Sweden) had a terrific time together over the next four days. Cafayate is a very cute town consisting of a few quiet streets with restaurants and shops surrounding the main plaza. We stayed in a great hostel that had a huge patio and bonfire area and often served big BBQ dinners for the guests. Our first night there they had a BBQ (served at 11pm) with all you can eat delicious meat, salad, pasta, potatos, etc. We also grabbed a simple 5 liter bottle of wine for consumption. Everyone hung out by the bonfire before it was time to head out to the local salsa bar for the night. Everyone from the hostel set out for the bar, including this dog that I fell in love with, Ameria, and yes the dog came into the bar with us and chilled there like a local. It was at that bar that Madis and I fell in love with the locals drink- Fernet and coke. Fernet is a strong tasting alcohol, sort of but not at all like black licorice, that you will hate upon your first several attempts, but it grows on you.
The next day we were off on a hike to some nearby waterfalls. We are thinking this hike will be a basic 2.5 hour climb, it turns out not to be a hike but more of a rock climbing exhibition- pulling ourselves in and out of rock crevasses, jumping over rivers, and creating our own path because there was no real trail to follow. We actually made it successfully to the waterfall which we were very excited about. On our second day we decided to do some wine tasting and cheese eating. We went to Bodega La Banda where we drank their red and torrencea white wine. Then we went to Cabras de Cafayate which is a goat cheese factory where we saw and learned (OK it was all in Spanish so we didn’t really learn anything) about the goat cheese making world.That night was another BBQ and trip to the salsa bar. To got to the bar we got a ride in a van and mi amor, the dog Ameria, tried to follow us by running after the car. Her owner and the owner of the bar, Carlos, looks at me and says “Don’t worry, Ameria will meet us at the bar later.” Shortly after we get to the bar I see the door kick open and in strolls Ameria and she struts her way onto the dance floor. Blood brilliant.
On our final day we got a car and took off to see the famous Quebrada de Cafayate, which is a highway that goes through an insane rock landscape and formations. The true brilliance of the place were all the colors in the rocks. In one rock you could see layers of seven different colors ranging from a rich red to green to white. There was also an amphitheater where a few musicians were playing music for the tourists. I must say the acoustics were great for a rock formation.
So Mary and I have officially returned home (safely) from our journey around the world. Mary is home in New Jersey. She and Hari are happily together and are planning on making a life for themselves in New York. I am home in San Diego working on photo albums, looking for a job, and catching up with friends. Have no fear, I will be finishing up the blog not only for myself, but for all the blog followers and stalkers out there. I am glad to hear that so many people followed our journey.
So my transition home has been interesting, quite boring, but beneficial nonetheless. I can say that life is not as fun when you are not exploring new cities every three days. It has been great to see all my mates and they all seem to think that I have a British accent which is hilarious, but that is what happens traveling with the English for two months. I had my welcome back party last week (aka an excuse for my dads band to play) so life is moving on.
Stay tuned, the journey on this blog is not finished yet.
“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” - Lin Yutang
My salt flat tour took me right to the border of Chile and many tours allow you to San Pedro, Chile rather then back to Uyuni, Bolivia. I had wanted to see this town so it worked out perfectly to just ‘pop into Chile for a few days’. On my bus to San Pedro I ran into two girls that I met in Chile, Lucy and Laura, and we all decided to room together. San Pedro de Atacama is a cute town of cobble stone streets, little restaurants, and sandboarding. Sandboarding is similar to snowboarding and was something that I had wanted to try for sometime. San Pedro is one of the best places for it. So we rented a bike and a board and headed for Valle de la Muerte (Death Valley). Everyone sandboards down, literally, a huge mountain of sand that is exhausting to climb up, but lots of fun to board down. I was a little hesitant at first, after the whole dislocating my shoulder snowboarding thing a few years ago, but after my first fall I realized that sand was much more forgiving then snow. I had a few mini rolls down the sand mountain and was finding sand for a couple days after (especially the ears), but it was great fun overall. After boarding we grabbed some beers and headed to a beautiful spot to watch the sunset overlooking the Valley de San Pedro.
Because San Pedro is in the middle of a vast desert it has amazing views of the stars. There is a wonderful observatory that conducts tours of the stars at night. The tour started at 10pm and took us out into the middle of the desert where the observatory was located. Our guide was a hilarious French guy making all kind of jokes like how to pick up a girl by talking to her about stars. With his powerful laser pointer he walked us through the galaxy, provided us with history and pointed out various stars explaining how many light years away they were, etc. Stars and the universe are quite amazing. The observatory had about 8 high powered telescopes that were focused on certain stars, star clusters, the southern cross, a star that is red in color, and different consolations.One of the telescopes was focused at Saturn and it was remarkable how clear it looked with its rings.
One of the most incredible things I saw during my travels were the salt flats outside of Uyuni, Bolivia. There is no way to properly describe this pure white lake of salt and the salt formations on it. And it is SALT!?!? The way to see the salt flats is with a tour where the 4 wheel jeep, driver, food, and logging are all provided.I booked a four day, three night trip with the three English people I had met, James, Kyle, and Katherine and we were off. There were two other people in our group from London, Jane and Carlos. Our driver skillfully drove us across this gigantic lake of salt, stopping along to way to see a train cemetery and some of the salt mounds that are used for exporting. It is estimated that the salt flats contain about 10 billion tons of salt. The huge lake, Salar de Uyuni, is the worlds largest salt flat measuring 4,085 sq miles and it was a lake that dried up 40,000 years ago leaving behind the salt. The white lake goes on forever surrounded by mountains and desert terrain. We arrived at our salt hotel, yes the walls are made of salt bricks, and were able to go onto the flats and take some of the crazy optical illusion pictures that are so famous here (ie. jumping shots, walking into the Pringles can, holding people on your hand, etc). We also enjoyed the sunset. I don’t know that I will ever see anything like the sun setting on a bed of salt, glorious. That night we learned of a crazy stalker obsession that Jane once had for Michael Jackson (this is before he died). She would follow him everywhere, sleep outside his house, bribe her way backstage at concerts, hide in bathrooms, the list goes on. Needless to say, none of us could really top that one. On day 2, we got up for an amazing sunrise of bright orange, purple and reds. Later we climbed up Volcano de Tunupa for an overall view of the lake. Then we were back in the jeep heading for Isla de Pescado, a random island in the middle of the salt lake filled with cactus. After a few more photo stops and a lame trip to the Galaxy Cavern we left the actual Salar de Uyuni lake and arrived at our salt hotel (this time even the bed frame and tables were made of salt bricks). Day 3, we started to head south to see all the lagoons and mountains in this desert. At this time the road got really rough and several times we had to get out of the jeep so that it could get through safely. We got one flat tire on our first day and another one on our last day. Luckily our driver was used to getting flats and he was able to change them both quickly. It was a beautiful drive, stopping at different rock formations, lakes, and volcanoes along the way. At Laguna Ramaditas we saw wild flamingos, but there were not pink because there was no shrimp to eat.
Now, Jane and Carlos would take 100+ photos at every stop we made and by the end of the day (after we saw famous standing rock formation Arbol de Piedra), we were among the last groups of jeeps- there are 50 or more companies that conduct the same salt tour. The drive is very tough on the cars and the maintenance they get is questionable, remember Bolivia. Suddenly during the last hour of the day on the way to our lodging, our jeep dies and our driver cannot figure out how to fix it. A jeep passes, stops, and the drivers determine that it is an electrical problem, one that our driver cannot fix. Supposedly this jeep driver is going to drive his group to their hotel, get a car electrician, and drive back to us. Estimated time, 1 hour. Well one hour turns into two and although we are in a desert terrain, we are at an elevation of 4,260m. It is getting very very cold and the sun is setting. At night it will be below freezing in temperature. We have no way to communicate with the driver that went for help, remember Bolivia, so we need to face the fact that the other driver is not coming for us. It is a two hour walk into town and our driver says he is going to have to walk to town and dresses in some cold weather mechanic suit and is off. So we get our sleeping bags out for warmth and any snacks we might have left because it could be 3 or 4 hours before we are rescued. After about 30 min we see jeep lights and our driver is running down the hill towards up. We are saved!!! With the electrician our car is fixed in 10 min and we are driving towards our hotel, thankful we were alive- OK, it wasn’t that serious, but we were happy we had been rescued.
After a bitter cold night, I slept with 7 blankets on and was still cold, we set out on day 4. We drove to the geysers where we saw one huge geyser, it was great because it was blasting hot air, and the geyser basin where there were lots of bubbling baby geysers. From there we went to the thermal hot springs which was heaven after one endured the change from warm clothes to swimsuit to pool transition. It was so nice in the pool, but once you got out you froze in seconds. Even my bathing suit that I set on a rock while changing froze to the rock in minutes. Our last stops of the day were to see Laguna Verde and Laguna Blanca. Then I was off and on the road again, quick stop into Chile for a few days before finally making it to Argentina.
The hostel you stay in and the people you meet make a huge difference in how much you enjoy your time in a place, especially if you are traveling alone. And I stayed at a great place in Potosi, my next stop after leaving Sucre. When I arrived in Potosi there was a huge parade going on (still not sure why) so a bunch of us headed out to take in the scene. Elementary to high school age kids were all dressed up in different costumes either dancing or playing in a band. Some of these costumes the kids had on were out of this world with the sparkle and flair. That night we all decide to search out a real locals place, back alley style (meaning as soon as we walked in every patron in the place stopped eating and just watched us). We ate steak, rice and salad for less then a dollar. The food wasn’t that bad and there was no food poising that followed; a successful mission in my world. Potosi is a mining town and most of the inhabitants work in the silver mines which has been a big source of income for the Bolivians since the early 1500s. Back then, the Spanish controlled the mines and its workers by making them work 45 hr days, using their dependence on the coca leaf against them. (Note: The coca leaf has been of immense importance in Bolivia since its existence and is fascinating to learn about- Wikipedia it). I decided to go on one of the tours that take you into the live working mines where you can see the miners and the conditions they must work in. After getting suited up in our mining attire, our first stop on the tour was to buy gifts for the miners- coca leaves, soda, and dynamite. Today the miners average 8 to 10 hour days inside the mines and cannot eat in there, the coca leaves help provide vitamins and energy to the miners.
We then entered The Candelaria Mines, one of the many mines in Potosi. Once inside you can see how dangerous the mining here is, crappy logs hold up the mine walls and without any technology just ‘general knowledge’ on how to mine along the mineral lines, sections are blown up with dynamite. The miners work in teams and there is a leader that directs the miners were to dig or what section to blow up. Every team works for themselves and gets paid not by hours but by the amount of minerals and silver they find. Realistically there are no strict regulations on the hours the miners work or the age they start. Inside the mine we met one man who works with his son, age 13. I asked him why his son was not in school and he said that in school his son doesn’t make money for the family, but in the mine he does. We crawled, slid, and shimmied our way down to the fourth level of the mine, there are about 10 levels in total. We were about 75m under ground and the conditions were horrible, with so much dust and whatever else was in the air made it was painful to breathe (most miners die at a young age from lung cancer). We presented our gifts to some of the miners we met and I realized how little it really was. One outside in the fresh air we were able to light one of the pieces of dynamite that we purchased, yes I got to hold the dynamite with the lighted fuse before our mining guide ran out into the field for it to explode.
After completing Huayna Potosi I got sick and my body needed a break from the high altitude. So I took a bus to the cute little city of Sucre, in the southern part of Bolivia. The city is actually the capital of Bolivia and celebrations were in full swing because it was the month of May and the 200th anniversary of their independence, 25 de Mayo. To celebrate there was a concert in the main plaza every night in May. There were many lovely plazas in the city and they were always filled with people and families just enjoying the day or the concerts at night. And I found it very interesting that during the concerts it seemed everyone was eating candy, but I didn’t see anyone drinking a beer or alcohol of any kind.
The city feels like a small bussing town with a wonderful fresh fruit and veggie market (if you can avoid the slaughterhouse section) and lots of small stalls line the street with people selling jewelry or other household goods. There are an abundance of chocolate, ice cream, and candy stores, law offices and universities… and the next most popular type of shop, dentists. At least they know the importance of dental hygiene. On the last night I was in the town there was a huge free concert located in a large field outside the city. The most famous Bolivian band, The Caporales, was playing. And people from all around Sucre turned out, I would estimate over 15,000 people, to see this band play. They played traditional Bolivian music and had great cultural dancers joining them onstage. The crowd sang every word to every song and might have been louder then the band themselves. It was an amazing experience not just to see the band but to see the joy on the faces of the local people listening to them.
We arrived in La Paz for the final leg of our GAP Adventure and I was sad to say good-bye to the group I had spent the last two weeks with. We had a big good-bye dinner that night. We were the only people staying in our hotel, so the whole group came back and we played card games (those Aussies have some strange ones) into the early morning. Additionally Mary was very excited because she was reunited with Hari that day when we arrived in La Paz. After La Paz Mary and Hari continued their travels north and I went south. The next day it was off again to the world of hostels and eight person dorm rooms. Luckily many people in our group were going to be staying in La Paz for a few days and we all went to the same place. At first La Paz struck me as a very congested and crowded city, but over my week stay I learned to love it. It is a city full of life. There are loads of great markets- the witches market selling remedies or spells to everything that might ale you, the black market where you can find many illegal things to buy, and the general street markets selling llama gear and jewelry. Plus La Paz is very very cheap. One thing we really wanted to do was bike ‘The Worlds Most Dangerous Road’. There are many companies that offer the service, but we went with the safest one, Gravity. The company drove us up to the start of the road. At the top we received our bikes, which are valued at around $3,000 usd and are the top of the line for mountain bikes, and an orientation on the road and what we could expect during our ride. The bike ride down took about 6 hours to complete, allowing us a couple stops for pictures or snacks. We had an instructor with us that gave us warnings about an upcoming section of the road. We also had a van following us taking photos and there to help if anything should happen on the trip. Now this road is very dangerous and going off the road most likely means death as most of the drops are around 1,000m. Although it was fun, I never took my eye off the road and never forgot that this road was not something to take lightly. We celebrated our safe landing with some beers and a bottle of rum for our drive back into La Paz. A few days after our ride we found out that someone who was riding with another company did go off the road and did not survive.
