Hola,
The final leg of our honeymoon is coming to a close. We have seen much of the city by foot, cab, subway, and near the marshy water, by rented bicycle. Buenos Aires is a huge city with distinct neighborhoods. Our first few nights we spent in the old-town heart of the city, Microcentro, with a hotel room looking down onto the Av. de Mayo. From there we walked the shopping areas, saw the sights, and took the subway to Puerto Madero and rented bikes at Reserva Ecologica Costanera Sur. At the Costanera Sur we saw many birds, swampy marshland, and then had bbq from one of the carts. After the biking we set out on a walk to a museum but got turned around and ended up in the La Boca neighborhood which is considered the rough area. Most guide books recommend sticking to the touristy areas and only going during the day due to crime. While the change in scenery was palpable, we never felt in any sort of danger. This is also the neighborhood that has La Bombonera, home stadium of the Boca Juniors futbol team. This Sunday is a huge game between them and crosstown rivals River Plate which will be draw extremely passionate fans. When asking about it, one porteno (Buenos Aires resident) in La Boca said about the game, "For you, not safe".
For the last four nights of our honeymoon we stayed in the trendy Palermo neighborhood at the boutique Home Hotel. Palermo is the home of BA's beautiful and hipsters. At first it looks rather plain, but after walking around for a short time you notice that every corner has a hip restaurant or clothing store.
Tonight we fly home and tomorrow we return to Seattle life. Buenos Aires is fun and beautiful, and also tiring. I feel like this post is a rambling sentence due to fatigue and a bit too much Argentine wine last night, so it's time to say Adios.
Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark and Allison.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
In Buenos Aires continued
Hola!
Wednesday we arrived in Cachi. Wednesday afternoon we drove along Rt 33 to Parque Nacional Los Cardones, which is a recently established reserve to protect the forest of cardon cacti. This type of cactus grows very slowly at less than a few millimeters a year and their wood is attractive for furniture. In this valley at over 10,000 feet they are as far as the eye can see, many of them 15-20 feet tall.
Beyond cordones cactus we approached a pass and on the other side the landscape changes dramatically from red dirt to green that descends, along with Rt 33, into the valley below. This is known as the Valle Escantado (Enchanted Valley). We found a road that winds down for a few kilometers to a small picnic area that is marked by a line-drawing of a mate gourd. The place is beautiful with many rock formations similar to those in Utah combined with low greenery and a small stream.
From there we headed the hour and a half back to Cachi. Along the entire drive we saw Vicunas (I know my spelling is incorrect here, but it's a llama-like animal), mules, sheep, goats, bulls and cows. Many times a herd blocked the road.
Thursday we woke early for the drive to the Salta airport. We retraced our steps from the day before through the cardone cacti and intothe Valle Escantado and then beyond deeper into the valley. The drive is gorgeous with hairpin turns, some dirt road, some paved road, and several small stream crossings. The morning light glowed in the valley, and the further we descended the more homes and farms we saw.
Our new friends from Seattle who we met in Cafayate warned us that the final stream crossing is a bit deeper and wider than the rest. I knew it was coming and indeed it was rather large: about 30 feet across and a couple of feet deep. On the other side were two tourists who parked their car and were standing, looking into the stream, probably wondering what to do. Only from our friends did we know the stream is doable in a tiny rental, so like Mariano from our trip to El Ray, I stopped, looked, found a path, and went nice and slowly in 1st gear. The tires rolled over the round rocks in the stream, a few times slipping, and in a few seconds the car emerged on the other side with a splash as the two tourists looked on. I nodded hello, probably with an air of attitude, happy to have the last obstacle behind me.
From there we sailed smoothly in to Salta and arrived a bit early for our 12:30pm rental drop-off time, so we detoured into a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city for food. We found a hole in the wall that appeared to be a kitchen created from the garage of a house. It was a mom and pop place, and they seemed curious that a couple from the US found it. We ordered despite the less than sanitary conditions - flies were buzzing around and there was an odd smell I didn't like. The owner tried to talk with us and when Allison tried to see the hummingbird outside he immediately came out to tell her about the trees (scaring the bird away) -apparently one of the trees has medicinal properties. When the meal arrived is was a one dish meal of food- mashed potatoes, eggs, chicken, & parmesean - the potatoes were "instant"and the cheese from Kraft, but it was amazingly good. It reminded us of the relatively recent KFC "bowls" - referred to as a "failure bowl" if you're familiar with Oswald Patton's humor.
Without any incident emerging from the meal we made it to our flight that afternoon and arrived in Buenos Aires, pop. 12 million, which was quite a change from the small towns from which we just left.
More later. Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao.
Mark
Wednesday we arrived in Cachi. Wednesday afternoon we drove along Rt 33 to Parque Nacional Los Cardones, which is a recently established reserve to protect the forest of cardon cacti. This type of cactus grows very slowly at less than a few millimeters a year and their wood is attractive for furniture. In this valley at over 10,000 feet they are as far as the eye can see, many of them 15-20 feet tall.
Beyond cordones cactus we approached a pass and on the other side the landscape changes dramatically from red dirt to green that descends, along with Rt 33, into the valley below. This is known as the Valle Escantado (Enchanted Valley). We found a road that winds down for a few kilometers to a small picnic area that is marked by a line-drawing of a mate gourd. The place is beautiful with many rock formations similar to those in Utah combined with low greenery and a small stream.
From there we headed the hour and a half back to Cachi. Along the entire drive we saw Vicunas (I know my spelling is incorrect here, but it's a llama-like animal), mules, sheep, goats, bulls and cows. Many times a herd blocked the road.
Thursday we woke early for the drive to the Salta airport. We retraced our steps from the day before through the cardone cacti and intothe Valle Escantado and then beyond deeper into the valley. The drive is gorgeous with hairpin turns, some dirt road, some paved road, and several small stream crossings. The morning light glowed in the valley, and the further we descended the more homes and farms we saw.
Our new friends from Seattle who we met in Cafayate warned us that the final stream crossing is a bit deeper and wider than the rest. I knew it was coming and indeed it was rather large: about 30 feet across and a couple of feet deep. On the other side were two tourists who parked their car and were standing, looking into the stream, probably wondering what to do. Only from our friends did we know the stream is doable in a tiny rental, so like Mariano from our trip to El Ray, I stopped, looked, found a path, and went nice and slowly in 1st gear. The tires rolled over the round rocks in the stream, a few times slipping, and in a few seconds the car emerged on the other side with a splash as the two tourists looked on. I nodded hello, probably with an air of attitude, happy to have the last obstacle behind me.
From there we sailed smoothly in to Salta and arrived a bit early for our 12:30pm rental drop-off time, so we detoured into a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city for food. We found a hole in the wall that appeared to be a kitchen created from the garage of a house. It was a mom and pop place, and they seemed curious that a couple from the US found it. We ordered despite the less than sanitary conditions - flies were buzzing around and there was an odd smell I didn't like. The owner tried to talk with us and when Allison tried to see the hummingbird outside he immediately came out to tell her about the trees (scaring the bird away) -apparently one of the trees has medicinal properties. When the meal arrived is was a one dish meal of food- mashed potatoes, eggs, chicken, & parmesean - the potatoes were "instant"and the cheese from Kraft, but it was amazingly good. It reminded us of the relatively recent KFC "bowls" - referred to as a "failure bowl" if you're familiar with Oswald Patton's humor.
Without any incident emerging from the meal we made it to our flight that afternoon and arrived in Buenos Aires, pop. 12 million, which was quite a change from the small towns from which we just left.
More later. Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao.
Mark
Sunday, April 27, 2008
In Buenos Aires
Hola!
Internet time has been sparse over the last few days. From Molinos we drove north along Rt 40 for about 2 hours to Cachi, a town of about 5k people. It's a quaint town that feels touristy and that lacks the charm and genuine feeling of Molinos. However, it's where most people stay on their drive from Salta to Cafayate and is also a good place for exploring the national park further along the road on Rt 33, which we did. We climbed to over 10,000 feet to a desert park of many cactuses.
This will be continued. The sole internet terminal at our hotel now has a queue so I should free up the computer.
Ciao ciao,
Mark
Internet time has been sparse over the last few days. From Molinos we drove north along Rt 40 for about 2 hours to Cachi, a town of about 5k people. It's a quaint town that feels touristy and that lacks the charm and genuine feeling of Molinos. However, it's where most people stay on their drive from Salta to Cafayate and is also a good place for exploring the national park further along the road on Rt 33, which we did. We climbed to over 10,000 feet to a desert park of many cactuses.
This will be continued. The sole internet terminal at our hotel now has a queue so I should free up the computer.
Ciao ciao,
Mark
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
In Molinos, along Rt40 on way to Cachi
Hola!
Yesterday we spent the day first half of the day searching out wineries in Cafayate. We found two distinct flavors: the huge winery a la Walla Walla and the very small winery in your garage type. Our first two were of the latter. At each we were the only visitors and it was like being invited into someone´s home, only we were outside. We were showed their wine making process and given tastes of fruits of their labor, which were a little, how do you say, homemade tasting. Despite the wine not being our favorite, we bought a few bottles and the experience of seeing how wine is made in a small-time bodega (spanish for winery) in a backyard was facinating.
After that we stopped at a behemoth winery that you had to buzz yourself into so the gate would open to let in our car. Due to time, we passed on that after seeing it and headed to the one we definitely wanted to visit, called something like Finca de la something (I´m blanking on the name right now, though fyi Finca means farm in Spanish). We passed on the tour since it is given entirely in Spanish and headed straight for the tasting. As we did, a very American accent behind us said, "We´ll follow your lead" as they also decided to skip the tour. I asked where they are from and they replied Seattle. They asked what neighborhood and we replied Green Lake. Turns out they live only two blocks from us! It was a very odd meeting. They are Greg and Peggy, and the four of us sat outside looking over the vinyard and Cafayate getting to know one another over fantastic wine and cured meats and cheese. Oh, and lots of guacamole, which none of us had tasted since leaving home.
After our visit and the purchase of a few more bottles of wine we hit the mosty dirt road to drive about 75km to Molinos. The road is not bad most of the way save for a lot of washboarding, though there were a few one-lane hairpin sections where you hope a truck isn´t coming the other way. The scenery is breathtaking with desert, stunning mountains, jagged rock formations, then some green spots near lakes, all the while climbing to 6500 feet or so. For you Star Wars fans, some of the Empire Strikes Back was filmed along the desert portions of the road. And, we saw two foxes to add to our list of spotted wildlife in Argentina.
Molinos is a stunning little t0wn of about 1000 people with adobe houses and peace and quiet. There are few cars, most of which I´m guessing belong to tourists. The town constantly smells like a campground because most of the cooking is done in conical adobe fire stoves that are in backyards. At night the town is dead silent save for a few birds, the occasional dog bark, and from time to time a brief roar of laughter coming from one of the homes.
We are staying in the fascinating Hostal Provincial de Molinos, which was the 18th century residence of Nicolas Severo de Isasmendi, the last royalist governar of Salta. There are no televisions or radios in the hotel, making it a tranquil, peaceful stay. We hope to visit the museum in the hotel in the next few minutes which reportedly contains some human bones.
In about an hour Allison and I jump into our tiny rental and hit the dirt road for the 1-2 hour drive to Cachi and then hopefully will make our way to a national park this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we drive 4hrs from Cachi to the Salta airport to fly to Buenos Aires for the final leg of our honeymoon.
It´s been long enough that this country is growning on me like I didn´t think it would. We can´t wait to return in a few years to see what we will have missed.
Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
Yesterday we spent the day first half of the day searching out wineries in Cafayate. We found two distinct flavors: the huge winery a la Walla Walla and the very small winery in your garage type. Our first two were of the latter. At each we were the only visitors and it was like being invited into someone´s home, only we were outside. We were showed their wine making process and given tastes of fruits of their labor, which were a little, how do you say, homemade tasting. Despite the wine not being our favorite, we bought a few bottles and the experience of seeing how wine is made in a small-time bodega (spanish for winery) in a backyard was facinating.
After that we stopped at a behemoth winery that you had to buzz yourself into so the gate would open to let in our car. Due to time, we passed on that after seeing it and headed to the one we definitely wanted to visit, called something like Finca de la something (I´m blanking on the name right now, though fyi Finca means farm in Spanish). We passed on the tour since it is given entirely in Spanish and headed straight for the tasting. As we did, a very American accent behind us said, "We´ll follow your lead" as they also decided to skip the tour. I asked where they are from and they replied Seattle. They asked what neighborhood and we replied Green Lake. Turns out they live only two blocks from us! It was a very odd meeting. They are Greg and Peggy, and the four of us sat outside looking over the vinyard and Cafayate getting to know one another over fantastic wine and cured meats and cheese. Oh, and lots of guacamole, which none of us had tasted since leaving home.
After our visit and the purchase of a few more bottles of wine we hit the mosty dirt road to drive about 75km to Molinos. The road is not bad most of the way save for a lot of washboarding, though there were a few one-lane hairpin sections where you hope a truck isn´t coming the other way. The scenery is breathtaking with desert, stunning mountains, jagged rock formations, then some green spots near lakes, all the while climbing to 6500 feet or so. For you Star Wars fans, some of the Empire Strikes Back was filmed along the desert portions of the road. And, we saw two foxes to add to our list of spotted wildlife in Argentina.
Molinos is a stunning little t0wn of about 1000 people with adobe houses and peace and quiet. There are few cars, most of which I´m guessing belong to tourists. The town constantly smells like a campground because most of the cooking is done in conical adobe fire stoves that are in backyards. At night the town is dead silent save for a few birds, the occasional dog bark, and from time to time a brief roar of laughter coming from one of the homes.
We are staying in the fascinating Hostal Provincial de Molinos, which was the 18th century residence of Nicolas Severo de Isasmendi, the last royalist governar of Salta. There are no televisions or radios in the hotel, making it a tranquil, peaceful stay. We hope to visit the museum in the hotel in the next few minutes which reportedly contains some human bones.
In about an hour Allison and I jump into our tiny rental and hit the dirt road for the 1-2 hour drive to Cachi and then hopefully will make our way to a national park this afternoon. Tomorrow morning we drive 4hrs from Cachi to the Salta airport to fly to Buenos Aires for the final leg of our honeymoon.
It´s been long enough that this country is growning on me like I didn´t think it would. We can´t wait to return in a few years to see what we will have missed.
Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
Monday, April 21, 2008
In Cafayate
Hola!
This morning began with Allison waking up with a heavy arm and tingley fingers due to bug bites she got in El Ray. On our way out of Salta in our rental car we decided to turn around and consult a doctor. We went back to our hotel, which we had just checked out of, and they called an emergency physician. The doctor arrived at the hotel within 20 minutes and injected her in the derrier with a big ol´needle of cortizone to combat the allergic reaction. Total cost: 20 pesos, which is about $7. Compare that to the $800 I paid at Swedish emergency center in Ballard for an infection last fall. Amazing.
Once that was done we drove the 180km to Cafayate, a beautiful small town that thrives on the winery business. It´s due south of Salta. The driving in Salta is becoming much easier as I´ve gotten into its rhythm, and the highway between Salta and Cafayate is smooth sailing and goes through some amazing desert territory much like Utah.
On the way we stopped at a small local restaurant with no lights, a futbol game on the television, and all locals, most with missing front teeth. We clearly stood out to their clients, who were 95% male, probably on their siesta. One old man left, but before walking out the door he turned, faced us, and then made the sign of the cross before leaving. A few minute later two men approached us and attempted to communicate, both very friendly and cheerful. The meal, (we each got chicken and rice with tomatos, though we weren´t quite sure of what we ordered until it arrived) was the highlight of my day.
Further on we stopped at a small canyon along the road and spotted a colorful snake which is almost certainly poisonous. The snake was about 10 inches long and very narrow with red circles around its body.
My time is now up at the internet drug store from which I´m writing. I´m going to meet Allison for dinner in five minutes.
As usual, thank you for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
This morning began with Allison waking up with a heavy arm and tingley fingers due to bug bites she got in El Ray. On our way out of Salta in our rental car we decided to turn around and consult a doctor. We went back to our hotel, which we had just checked out of, and they called an emergency physician. The doctor arrived at the hotel within 20 minutes and injected her in the derrier with a big ol´needle of cortizone to combat the allergic reaction. Total cost: 20 pesos, which is about $7. Compare that to the $800 I paid at Swedish emergency center in Ballard for an infection last fall. Amazing.
Once that was done we drove the 180km to Cafayate, a beautiful small town that thrives on the winery business. It´s due south of Salta. The driving in Salta is becoming much easier as I´ve gotten into its rhythm, and the highway between Salta and Cafayate is smooth sailing and goes through some amazing desert territory much like Utah.
On the way we stopped at a small local restaurant with no lights, a futbol game on the television, and all locals, most with missing front teeth. We clearly stood out to their clients, who were 95% male, probably on their siesta. One old man left, but before walking out the door he turned, faced us, and then made the sign of the cross before leaving. A few minute later two men approached us and attempted to communicate, both very friendly and cheerful. The meal, (we each got chicken and rice with tomatos, though we weren´t quite sure of what we ordered until it arrived) was the highlight of my day.
Further on we stopped at a small canyon along the road and spotted a colorful snake which is almost certainly poisonous. The snake was about 10 inches long and very narrow with red circles around its body.
My time is now up at the internet drug store from which I´m writing. I´m going to meet Allison for dinner in five minutes.
As usual, thank you for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
El Ray national park
Hola!
This weekend Allison and I joined three Lithuanians and one Irishman on a guided tour to El Ray national park, which is a three hour (technically) drive from Salta to the south and then the east. It was quite a weekend and I don´t have much time to write, so below will be a brain purge.
El Ray is very remote, only accessable by driving over 38km off the paved highway on a dirt road with no less than 7 river crossings accessable only by 4wd vehicles. This made for a very interesting drive given our vehicle was a 2wd van similar to the type that airport shuttles use. Add to that the fact that the recent summer´s rainy season, which ended recently, had more rainfall than the past four seasons combined. The first 20 or so km were fine, if bumpy, as we passed many estancias and saw all sorts of chickens and cattle in the road. Beyond that the road got a bit dicier as we continually looked over sinkholes caused by the rain that almost took the road out, but not quite. As the van slipped and slided its way through the mud we trusted our drive would steer us right.
Our driver: Mariano. A man in his 50´s who doesn´t speak English. He has a healthy pot-belly, round lips, round chin, thin legs, very few teeth and is one of the best drivers I now know. He navigated the road well and got us out of one jam where the van got stuck in nasty mud requiring several tries to un-stick ourselves via rocking the van back and forth using low gears and reverse.
Our guide: Mario. A biologist in his 40´s who speaks excellent English and is extremely knowledgable about wild life. He can set up his tripod with scope and focus it on a bird that I can´t see with my naked eye, in seconds. His first bit of advice: ¨"When using the bushes, please be careful as there are two kinds of poisonous snakes out here, rattlesnakes and a variation of the arrowhead snake that is silent and very aggressive."
When we finally arrive at the campground we are the only visitors in this huge park. Mario says we are lucky to see it due to its inaccessability and because few tours go here (apparently there are only two groups licensed to take trips into this park, ours, which hasn´t even accessed the park since February on a scientific trip, and one other guy). The park was founded when a farmer who lived near our campground delivered a log from his farm to Peron in the 50´s. Peron was so impressed by the size of the log that he immediately declared the region around said farm a nat´l park.
After setting up camp our motley crew headed out on a nature hike in hot, humid sun. Along the way Mario´s excitement was palpable - he clearly loves the wild, and while point out to us many animal tracks (including, deer, raccoon - and Allison found a puma print), birds, and animals (a large weasel & it´s treed baby was very cool), he clearly wants to see the elusive tapir. He is very excited when the path´s mud contains many tapir tracks.
Along the way, one of our Lithuanian friends begins to lag behind. Near the end of our 3-4 hour trek he looks weak and is complaining of fever due to what he believes is an infection he acquired in Bolivia a few days earlier. One down.
After returning to camp from the trek we find a nice fire set up by Mariano. Water is put on for tea and coffee. Mario makes us some very good Mate and passes it around in their ritualistic tea drinking way. Ian, the Irishman, takes the first sip, then Allison, then myself. About five minutes later Ian stands up off the picinic table, walks a mere three or four steps, and vomits. Later, during dinner, he does this again. And again, projectile style. Two down.
Mario says to us, "I´m afraid. This has never happened to me before". He´s speaking as a tour guide of course.
For dinner we have meat Argentine style. A giant slab of steak, ribs, chicken, pork sausage, and blood sausage complete our grill, and it is delicious. However, with two sick men retreated into their tents, much of it goes uneaten.
After dinner our driver takes us in the van to a lagoon in the dark where we silently stalk the elusive tapir. Mario has his spotlight at the ready and a headlamp that emits a red light that he can use to see mammal´s eyes, but that mammal´s cannot see. While we don´t find a tapir, the night sounds in El Ray are spectacular. The frogs emit sounds in many tones and sound like a guitar pick plucking the short tight strings on near the tuning pegs of a guitar (Allison thought it sounded like a xylophone and Mario described it as "tapping on bottles").
Sunday morning. Our Irish and Lithuanian friends emerge from their tents, both feeling much better, but neither 100%. After breakfast we head out for a four hour trek to a lovely waterfall with Mario pointing out deer and other wildlife along the way. We also passed several horses that belong to the ranger. Interestingly, Mario brings no water, a candy bar for himself only, and a knife that sticks out from his belt near his back. Allison and I thought the lack of supplies was a little odd given the heat and the compromised health of two of our party. He seemed unsure of how to deal with them, so didn´t deal at all.
At 3pm we load up the van and head home. All is well until we reach the extremely muddy portion of the road where we got briefly stuck the day before. The muddy portion is just after a bend, and beyond the bend should you go straight is a severe dropoff from a sink hole. As we approach the muddy portion Mariano slows down, observes the terrain, and guns it. The van lunges forward, rocks to and fro, and stops, wheels spinning. He´s able to back up, and tries it again. This time, as the van gets stuck it starts to angle away from the road and toward the drop off. All the while the wheels are spinning. Allison and I fear that the van will suddenly catch, pop forward, and, well, hope Mariano is quick with the breaks.
This happens a few times until Mariano, in frustration, spins the wheels long enough to overheat the van. We hop out to see our van with steam coming out of the radiator and hot water puddling underneath. The hood is popped and while Mariano tends to the van, Mario gets a shovel and makes a plan of attack. Apparently the van was bottoming out on the ridge between the two wheel ruts in the mud, so we decide to take that down. After Mario appears tired I take over the digging and complete the job. The middle ridge is now lower and all the removed dirt is in the ruts.
Mariano sees his opportunity, and now that the van has cooled off he jumps into the driver´s seat and starts the van. We scatter out of it´s way and don´t have time to tell Mariano that the van´s back door is still open, leaving our luggage vulnerable to spilling out. He sits for a few seconds after turning the key, and then goes. The van leaps into the muddy ruts, water sprays left and right, the van slows down, then lunges forward again. It´s in the ruts so doesn´t veer toward the sink hole, but the van continually nudges left, then right, but always and slowly forward, wheels spinning, mud flying. At one point the back left of the van drops and the rear tail light dislogdes so it hangs by a thread. About 10 seconds later, he´s on the other side. We all cheer, happy we don´t need to wait for a rescue vehicle.
From there it is a long, 3hr ride home. Everyone is quiet, and Mariano, clearly ready to be home, drives like an Argentine at high speeds. We arrived at our Salta hotel last night bug bitten, stinky, worn, and ready for a large dinner at a fantastic restaurant next door.
It is now 8am, Monday, and in an hour and a half we pick up our rental car and head south to wine country in Cafayate. After a night there, we head to Cachi for two nights, and on Thursday we fly to Buenos Aires for the last leg of our trip.
I have no idea what internet access will be like after today, but if I find a computer I´ll post updates.
Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
This weekend Allison and I joined three Lithuanians and one Irishman on a guided tour to El Ray national park, which is a three hour (technically) drive from Salta to the south and then the east. It was quite a weekend and I don´t have much time to write, so below will be a brain purge.
El Ray is very remote, only accessable by driving over 38km off the paved highway on a dirt road with no less than 7 river crossings accessable only by 4wd vehicles. This made for a very interesting drive given our vehicle was a 2wd van similar to the type that airport shuttles use. Add to that the fact that the recent summer´s rainy season, which ended recently, had more rainfall than the past four seasons combined. The first 20 or so km were fine, if bumpy, as we passed many estancias and saw all sorts of chickens and cattle in the road. Beyond that the road got a bit dicier as we continually looked over sinkholes caused by the rain that almost took the road out, but not quite. As the van slipped and slided its way through the mud we trusted our drive would steer us right.
Our driver: Mariano. A man in his 50´s who doesn´t speak English. He has a healthy pot-belly, round lips, round chin, thin legs, very few teeth and is one of the best drivers I now know. He navigated the road well and got us out of one jam where the van got stuck in nasty mud requiring several tries to un-stick ourselves via rocking the van back and forth using low gears and reverse.
Our guide: Mario. A biologist in his 40´s who speaks excellent English and is extremely knowledgable about wild life. He can set up his tripod with scope and focus it on a bird that I can´t see with my naked eye, in seconds. His first bit of advice: ¨"When using the bushes, please be careful as there are two kinds of poisonous snakes out here, rattlesnakes and a variation of the arrowhead snake that is silent and very aggressive."
When we finally arrive at the campground we are the only visitors in this huge park. Mario says we are lucky to see it due to its inaccessability and because few tours go here (apparently there are only two groups licensed to take trips into this park, ours, which hasn´t even accessed the park since February on a scientific trip, and one other guy). The park was founded when a farmer who lived near our campground delivered a log from his farm to Peron in the 50´s. Peron was so impressed by the size of the log that he immediately declared the region around said farm a nat´l park.
After setting up camp our motley crew headed out on a nature hike in hot, humid sun. Along the way Mario´s excitement was palpable - he clearly loves the wild, and while point out to us many animal tracks (including, deer, raccoon - and Allison found a puma print), birds, and animals (a large weasel & it´s treed baby was very cool), he clearly wants to see the elusive tapir. He is very excited when the path´s mud contains many tapir tracks.
Along the way, one of our Lithuanian friends begins to lag behind. Near the end of our 3-4 hour trek he looks weak and is complaining of fever due to what he believes is an infection he acquired in Bolivia a few days earlier. One down.
After returning to camp from the trek we find a nice fire set up by Mariano. Water is put on for tea and coffee. Mario makes us some very good Mate and passes it around in their ritualistic tea drinking way. Ian, the Irishman, takes the first sip, then Allison, then myself. About five minutes later Ian stands up off the picinic table, walks a mere three or four steps, and vomits. Later, during dinner, he does this again. And again, projectile style. Two down.
Mario says to us, "I´m afraid. This has never happened to me before". He´s speaking as a tour guide of course.
For dinner we have meat Argentine style. A giant slab of steak, ribs, chicken, pork sausage, and blood sausage complete our grill, and it is delicious. However, with two sick men retreated into their tents, much of it goes uneaten.
After dinner our driver takes us in the van to a lagoon in the dark where we silently stalk the elusive tapir. Mario has his spotlight at the ready and a headlamp that emits a red light that he can use to see mammal´s eyes, but that mammal´s cannot see. While we don´t find a tapir, the night sounds in El Ray are spectacular. The frogs emit sounds in many tones and sound like a guitar pick plucking the short tight strings on near the tuning pegs of a guitar (Allison thought it sounded like a xylophone and Mario described it as "tapping on bottles").
Sunday morning. Our Irish and Lithuanian friends emerge from their tents, both feeling much better, but neither 100%. After breakfast we head out for a four hour trek to a lovely waterfall with Mario pointing out deer and other wildlife along the way. We also passed several horses that belong to the ranger. Interestingly, Mario brings no water, a candy bar for himself only, and a knife that sticks out from his belt near his back. Allison and I thought the lack of supplies was a little odd given the heat and the compromised health of two of our party. He seemed unsure of how to deal with them, so didn´t deal at all.
At 3pm we load up the van and head home. All is well until we reach the extremely muddy portion of the road where we got briefly stuck the day before. The muddy portion is just after a bend, and beyond the bend should you go straight is a severe dropoff from a sink hole. As we approach the muddy portion Mariano slows down, observes the terrain, and guns it. The van lunges forward, rocks to and fro, and stops, wheels spinning. He´s able to back up, and tries it again. This time, as the van gets stuck it starts to angle away from the road and toward the drop off. All the while the wheels are spinning. Allison and I fear that the van will suddenly catch, pop forward, and, well, hope Mariano is quick with the breaks.
This happens a few times until Mariano, in frustration, spins the wheels long enough to overheat the van. We hop out to see our van with steam coming out of the radiator and hot water puddling underneath. The hood is popped and while Mariano tends to the van, Mario gets a shovel and makes a plan of attack. Apparently the van was bottoming out on the ridge between the two wheel ruts in the mud, so we decide to take that down. After Mario appears tired I take over the digging and complete the job. The middle ridge is now lower and all the removed dirt is in the ruts.
Mariano sees his opportunity, and now that the van has cooled off he jumps into the driver´s seat and starts the van. We scatter out of it´s way and don´t have time to tell Mariano that the van´s back door is still open, leaving our luggage vulnerable to spilling out. He sits for a few seconds after turning the key, and then goes. The van leaps into the muddy ruts, water sprays left and right, the van slows down, then lunges forward again. It´s in the ruts so doesn´t veer toward the sink hole, but the van continually nudges left, then right, but always and slowly forward, wheels spinning, mud flying. At one point the back left of the van drops and the rear tail light dislogdes so it hangs by a thread. About 10 seconds later, he´s on the other side. We all cheer, happy we don´t need to wait for a rescue vehicle.
From there it is a long, 3hr ride home. Everyone is quiet, and Mariano, clearly ready to be home, drives like an Argentine at high speeds. We arrived at our Salta hotel last night bug bitten, stinky, worn, and ready for a large dinner at a fantastic restaurant next door.
It is now 8am, Monday, and in an hour and a half we pick up our rental car and head south to wine country in Cafayate. After a night there, we head to Cachi for two nights, and on Thursday we fly to Buenos Aires for the last leg of our trip.
I have no idea what internet access will be like after today, but if I find a computer I´ll post updates.
Thanks for reading. Ciao ciao,
Mark
Friday, April 18, 2008
Ford Falcons in Argentina
Hola,
I mentioned the plethora of Ford Falcons in my last post. Here is good info on them in Argentina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Falcon_(Argentina).
Mark
I mentioned the plethora of Ford Falcons in my last post. Here is good info on them in Argentina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Falcon_(Argentina).
Mark
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