|
| Well, it finally happened: we got sick in Argentina. In fact the last three days have pretty much been consumed by the miserable 24 hour stomach bug that first I got (on the overnight bus - a very memorable 13 hours of puking on a bus) and then gave to Dave. If it had to happen sometime I´m glad it came at the end and in a place we have already explored pretty thoroughly. Also we did manage to get in one nice last dinner in between out two sicknesses. Today is the flight back on bankrupt Varig. I¨m hoping they cancel our flight and put us on the direct American one, like they did for our trip down here... fingers crossed. | | |
| We finally did make it into Punta del Inca only to find that there wasn´t enough snow to ski... No great loss really though, as we still got to explore the area by foot (with a stray dog companion we named Andy after his habitat) and got a glimpse - from afar - of the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere, Aconcagua.
We made it back to Mendoza two days ago and finally did some wine touring yesterday. Overall we were a little disappointed with the touring though, not because the wine is bad - it´s quite good - but because once you´ve seen one vineyard, the tours are pretty much the same and really you just want to get down to the fun part: the tasting. We were also hindered by the fact that we were on foot and the vineyards are pretty spread out, so it took us about an hour to get from one to the next. Then adding in a stop for lunch, it took us all afternoon to see three vineyards and do tastings at only two.
We had another Spanish class this morning (Dave is doing much better than I am in that department) and this afternoon is THE BIG MATCH - Argentina v. Mexico at 4 pm! Whoever loses is out of the tournament for good. The result of that game will determine the feel on the street in our last evening in Mendoza.
| | |
| This morning Dave and I decided to push everything a little forward in the Mendoza region.
Yesterday, it being Sunday, downtown Mendoza was quiet and dull. Then we learned that today is a bank holiday (Flag Day), so it would be more of the same if we stayed in town; even most of the wineries are closed. So instead of sticking around and waiting for a normal day, we opted for taking a bus into the Andes.
Now, six hours, two broken-down buses and one hitched ride later we are still not at our final destination. But it´s been fun nonetheless. In fact, it´s been much more fun than either Tucuman two days ago or Mendoza yesterday. I think that now that we´re pretty used to cities in Argentina, it´s just more exciting to go through the countryside and see the smaller towns and deal with the less-smooth sides of life around here.
We are currently in a tiny town called Uspallata that really consists of just one intersection with a gas station, some restaurants, some adventure tourism offices, a bus station and two internet cafes. One of the roads making up the town goes from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile, the other looks like a dirt road that goes to Mendoza in both directions, I guess stopping in remote places along the way. We are waiting around for another two hours before we catch our third bus of the day (crossing our fingers that this one actually makes it without any hold-ups) to Puente del Inca, where we are hoping to ski at least a little at a dinky ski resort nearby tomorrow morning. If the skiing doesn´t work out though, it´s not a big deal - we´ll just take in the beauty in our regular clothes. Originally our plan had been to ski at a bigger resort called Penitentes but we learned in the paper yesterday that its chair lifts did not pass safety inspections this season.
Personally, what I´m really looking forward to is our splurge in a spa hotel with natural thermal water on Wednesday. The whopping130 dollars a night includes three meals, a massage and as much time as we want in the thermal water looking up at the surrounding Andes. It was highly recommended to us by our German friends.
Then, on Thursday we´ll go back to Mendoza to sample the wine for a few more days before heading back (boo hoo) to BA. | | |
| The last few days have been amazing. As planned, we have been wandering southward from Salta, through three very small - populations of 2500 roughly - pueblos. First was Cachi, which was a little touristy because it is pretty easy to get to from Salta. But it was nonetheless a very cute, functioning community in the desert, surrounded by mountains. Our German friends (who we met in Salta) were there too, so we ate dinner with them and hung out with a bottle of Malbec in the evening. We split after Cachi though. Dave and I went to Molinos from there - we got a bus to Seclentas, then had to catch a free ride to Molinos, which we did (after getting dropped off by a police officer at the intersection from which it was the easist to get a ride) from an Engineer who was inspecting the roads to Molinos and so we had a nice, if broken, conversation with him about the area. Molinos is a teeny tiny tiny town, about six streets deep and three streets wide that had a total of two restaurants, a restored church, a central square with a playground for the kids, and mud-brick houses. It also had about twice as many children as adults wandering the streets. We asked about this and it turns out that there is a boarding school that kids from even more remote areas come to during the week, returning to their homes on the weekends. Then we wanted to head to Angostica by bus, but because the roads are wind so much through the mountains and because there are so few people living in the region, there is no bus connecting the two towns. In the end we found a guy from Molinos who was willing to drive us the 1.5 hours in his pickup for 70 pesos. He also picked up some women walking along the side of the road who got a lift in the back of his truck to the even smaller communities they were going to along the way. The guy was extremely nice, but very difficult to understand. I think he had about five teeth left. The scenery was so beautiful! It is very arid and mountainous, and just completely uninhabited in parts. This morning we caught a bus from Angostica to Cafayete, a bigger town - 10,000 people I think. So far I like Cafayete a lot. It´s nice to be in a place with a few more options for lunch, laundry facilities, and an internet cafe. We´ve rented bikes for the day and will be doing a tour of the nearby wineries - they literally start three blocks from the central square. It´s hard to do the scenery justice with my little camera, but I´m trying. | | |
| We had a sort of slow and relaxing day today. It was cloudy and cold, so we bundled up and meandered up to a local crafts market several blocks north of the central square in Salta. I bought a round wood plate like the ones you eat your befe lomo (common cut of steak) on at parillas. I´ll probably use it as a cutting board more than a plate. There´s lots of silver and alpaca wool sold around here. And mate cups and straws (pronounced mat(e accent aigue - can´t find it on my computer keyboard)) - the tea that everyone drinks on the street with a metal straw. In addition to the cups and straws, people carry around thermoses everywhere they go to keep the mate coming all day long. The funny thing about mate is that the big generic brand that you see in all the grocery stores is called "Amanda". I bought a package set of course that includes my very own cup and straw, all with my name on it...
From the market we meandered some more over to a gondola up a hill called San Bernardo, which has nice views of Salta. The gondola leaves right from a park on the south side of town. After that though we just sort of parked ourselves in a cafe on the main square, snacked on some empenadas and had a beer while I finished my book (Motorcycle Diaries) and Dave wrote. There was a big deal soccer game in Argentina today too, in which Salta´s team played and won, so there was a huge gathering of people all dressed in the team´s colors right in front of the cafe. It was like deja vu from yesterday (re. world cup) except with different colors. People really do take soccer seriously around here.
| | |
|
