Wine and meat

Right, well lots to report since last post. I have been sick so I have not written in a bit. Finally I am geting better so here goes (posting sick makes for whiny posts and no one wants whiny posts...). Tour to Cachi made for a very long day. Like 13 hours long- mostly in the van. But the people I was with (all native Spanish speakers- I think the universe is contriving to make me practice and, for the most part, that is good) were great so it made for a good day. The highlight was the national park toward the end of the trip, but we were all kind of tired so it was a bit anticlimatic. But lovely all the same- desert, colors, rock formations. I went to dinner with a couple of Dutch girls from my hostel, which was fun, and called it a night. The next morning, I rented the world´s second worst bike (second to the one I rented in NE Cambodia) and headed off to tour some wineries near Cafayate. The bike was so bad that I stuck to wineries within 2 km of town, but I did get to try some nice Torrontes (dry, sweet smelling white that I definitely recommend for summer). In the afternoon I went for a tour of the quebrada (canyon) nearby. There was more driving and less hiking than I hoped for but the colors in the canyon (red, yellow, green) were spectacular. The rock formations were pretty terrific as well, and we got to climb and scramble up them, which is always fun. Plus, we got a private concert in a natural ampitheater so yeah, no real complaints. What I will complain about is the 6 AM bus I had to take to Tucuman the next morning. 6 AM buses should be outlawed! And, after 5 hours in the bus station, I got to take a 13 hour bus ride to San Juan. Not so fun. San Juan was a nice little town but this is the off season for Argentina (which I totally don´t understand since it is high season in Bolivia right next door) so there were no other travelers there. I spent one day wandering around and checking out the town and then moved on to Mendoza.

Mendoza. Everyone has heard the hype and it is pretty well justified. This is the heart of Argentina wine country where 70% of the wines come from. You also have the Andes in the distance which makes for great scenery and, I hear, good hiking (but expensive hiking...). My first day in Mendoza I walked around (that´s kind of how I roll) and checked out the huge park in the center of the city (built to help with the aridity of the city). I had a nice communal dinner with some people in the hostel and crashed early to get ready for my bike ride to wineries outside of touwn the following day. What a comedy of errors. I started by taking the wrong bus which didn´t go anywhere near the bike rental place. I did not have change for another bus and where I was they did not sell bus cards (buses in this area do not accept bills or give change). Luckily I was near a winery on the biking route so I ended up walking the winery tour (none of the wineries had change either. Argentinian change is an interesting story- apparently they do not mint enough and bus companies make a profit selling it back to the government). I met a nice Irish couple (with bikes) who waited for me a lot that day so I had good company on my tour. I hit three wineries with them. The best was the third which only did wine by the glass (but was a much better bargain than paying for tastes at the others) and also had a nice outdoor BBQ with live music. We spent quite awhile there. The second winery was really cool as well. It is the oldest winery in South America to offer tours and as part of the tour you get to walk into an old aging container and down through a small maze made of other old aging containers. The first winery was a bit of a rip off. After the third winery I split off from the couple to head toward town where I could actually get change or a bus card to get back to Mendoza. There was one more winery on the way. As I was walking there, I was hailed by a police officer who was stopped to buy snacks at a local kiosk. He asked me where I was going, if I was alone, and if I was a tourist (duh). Apparently the area I was in was "unsafe" for me to walk alone (Mendoza area locals are notorious for being overprotective of travellers). So he did the obvious- loaded me into the back of the police van and drove me to the last winery. Yes, I got to ride like a common criminal to the door of the last winery where I was politely let out to do the tour. Priceless! You should have seen the looks on the faces of my fellow wine tasters! Honestly, that was a highlight of the day :). I made it back to Mendoza without incident and had a great story for my fellow hostelers.

I decided to have a chill day in Mendoza the following day which was really just that and headed off on Monday to San Luis. Oh but I must note that I have been eating quite a lot of the wonderful Argentinian beef since I have been here (went for the paradilla (BBQ) lunch special on my chill day) and it really is quite nice. San Luis was a nice town but like San Juan, there wasn´t much going on for the traveller (many tours do not run in the off season so getting to nearby parks is not possible solo and sans auto). Luckily here an Australian woman arrived the same day so we had a fun night out on the bar strip. Tuesday morning I got up early on little sleep to catch the 7 AM bus to Cordoba only to find out that, for some unknown reason, San Luis is an hour behind the rest of Argentina. So I really woke up at 4:45 AM, not 5:45 AM. Keep in mind that Mendoza is farther West than San Luis, but it is the same time zone as the rest of the country... yes, still bitter. To make my morning worse, it turned out that the hostel staff (there was no one in the hostel but myself and the Aussue girl and she was always with me) ate my sandwiches I had made for my 7 hour bus ride. Not happy. Ah well, travel woes...

Cordoba. I quite liked the city of Cordoba. Once again, no other travelers in the hostel, but it did have some locals so once again I got to practice my Spanish and I met some very interesting Argentine characters (a couple of older men with very different political views, a street performer, and a music professor with an amazing voice to name a few). Day one once again spent wandering the town. Day two I headed to Villa Carlos Paz- the Vegas of Argentina. I didn´t gamble (sorry Dad, much more fun with you there) but I did walk around the lake and then hike up the hill in the center of town to the large cross. That hike kicked my butt. It was hot and steep, but man, I am getting way out of shape (nothing to do with the wine and steak, of course). From Cordoba I decided to head to Paraná. After my hellish bus trip from Cafayate to Mendoza, I decided to do shorter bus trips to more places. Paraná is a nice lil town on the Paraná river. It isacross from the bigger and more well known Santa Fe. My cold was in full form here so I decided to splurge on a private room with bathroom and TV to recover in. Unfortunately my splurge room had bugs in the bathroom and uncomfortable beds (the TV was a nice change though) so I moved to the (empty, of course) new youth hostel the next morning. Walked along the river front and read a lot in Paraná and this morning I came to Rosario.

I was torn between skipping Rosario and heading directly to Buenos Aires and spending a night here. I am so glad I decided to come. Hostel is empty as usual, but I love this town! The flag monument is amazing! And I had a great day walking through the riverfront parks and watching the locals as they hung out and did kite boarding and Brazillain martial art demonstrations. I am going to stay another day and head to the river beaches tomorrow to try and get a little color before I head back to the US briefly for Tom´s wedding (love frequent flyer miles- a shame that I have no more :)). When I get back to Argentina, my parents join me for some time in Buenos Aires and a trip up to the legendary falls at Iguazu. To say I am excited is a gross understatement!!

Sorry about the length. Hopefully some people still actually read this. I´m still alive, well (cold notwithstanding) and loving this trip. More soon.

Southern Bolivia and into Argentina

I feel like it has been ages since my last post but I think that is more because I have been moving quickly to make sure I have time to enjoy Mendoza before I have to be in Buenos Aires. So last post was in Tupiza. I ended up spending a couple of days there. The town itself is pretty small and nondescript (but randomly has a ton of Italian restaurants, there are more Italian retaurants than Bolivian ones- odd) but the scenery nearby is terrific! It looks a lot like the red deserts of Nevada and Arizona. I did a half day jeep tour of some of the rock formations which was great. The next day I did a hike up the railroad tracks to see more before I took the night bus to Tarija. I loved Tarija. Tarija is the area of Bolivia where they produce wines. It also has loads of great scenery nearby. My first day I spent wandering around the city. The next day I did a day tour of the surrounding area. We started the tour with a visit to the pueblo San Lorenzo which was home to Moto Mendez, a Bolivian war hero. After San Lorenzo we visited a waterfall at Coimata and the lake of San Jacinto. We had lunch back in town at a BBQ restaurant (Argentinian stlye) and then headed to the vineyards. The first vineyard was a commercial vineyard where we tried Singani (similar to grappa) and a Syrah. Then we went to a quirky older man named Jesus' private vineyard. Jesus ages his wine in large glass jugs and invited us to a ceremony where he siphoned out 2 meters of wine for each of us (about a half a glass) and had us toast before drinking it. Then we tried some of his singani. He was hysterical and we all ended up buying bottles from him because we had so much fun there. The last vineyard we went to was a boutique vineyard where we tried seven different types of wine from communal glasses (that's how they roll in Bolivia). Steve, one of the others on my tour, bought a leather flask of wine that we drank on the way back to town. That night the crew met back up for dinner on the plaza. All in all a great day!

I had planned to cross into Argentina from Tarija via Villazon- about 8 hours away,but our guide told me about a smaller crossing only 3 hours away at Bermejo. So I headed down. It was a bit confusing as the border is before the town of Bermejo and I had to change my money at the immigration office. Also the border guards aren't used to Americans crossing there so there was a bit of a debate as to the procedure. Finally I walked across a bridge to the Argentine side and they scanned my luggage but I had to go to the second office to get my entry stamp. It all worked out. I then spent 2 hours in Aguas Blancas waiting for a bus to Jujuy. There is nothing to do in Aguas Blancas except try to get out of the heat and away from the mosquitos (they were everywhere). But it all worked out and 5 hours later I arrived in Jujuy.

I just spent one night in Jujuy and then headed to Salta. Since I plan top come back through Salta I also just spent one night there but had a good time at the BBQ on the roof of my hostel hanging out with a couple of people I had met in Sucre and a slew of French travelers. Today I took a bus to Cafayte (pronounced Ca-fa-sha-te 'cause it is Argentina). The town itself is pretty small but there are lots of wineries around and good hiking and biking in the surrounding desert. Tomorrow I am doing a tour to Cachi and some hiking and Tuesday biking to wineries and then hiking in the desert (not sure if that is the smartest order, but that is how it worked out). Argentina is a lot different from Bolivia (more expensive, more first world feeling, more touristy) but so far so good.

Fiestas Patrias and a day in the mines

Friday night out with the school crowd was a lot of fun. We had food and drinks at the school with a good turnout of teachers and students and later went to a karaoke bar and then two danceclubs. So I defintely got the full Sucre nightlife experience. Saturday night I hung out in the hostel with some other travelers and Sunday got up early to meet fellow students Duncan and Catherine to visit the Sunday markets in Tarabuco. Tarabuco is about 65 km from Sucre and is known for its market and the traditional dress of the locals. There is also a staue of a Bolivian man standing over the corpse of a Spaniard as he is just about to eat the dead man´s heart. The story is that the Spaniard had raped and killed his wife and children and eating the heart of a defeated foe was supposed to give you their lifepower. Interesting (if morbid) stuff. We had a good time wandering the market (which takes up most of the town) and later hung out at Catherine and Duncan´s hostel and went for a local dinner. Actually Duncan and Catherine´s hostel became my other home for the rest of the week. I had my second week of classes in Sucre which I felt went even better than the first. I am still not fluent, but I think I have definitely improved (thanks Omar!). Monday night a couple of us went to watch a documentary about life in the mines of Potosi. Much more on that later, but if you get a chance to see The Devil´s Miner, I definitely recommend it.

Thursday was Bolivia´s Fiestas Patrias (Independence Day). The festivities actually kicked off Tuesday night with music and parades. Pretty much the majority of the celebration is music and parades but there are tons and tons of them. It is mandatory for all students and many people of differing occupations to participate in the parades. The town was completely covered in flags. The Pesident, Evo, made an appearance (and to everyone´s pleasant surprise there were no riots or major protests) with a pre-recorded speech. The town was full of campesinos and miners who came in to see Evo but I missed most of that due to classes. It was really cool to be in the capital for Independence Day though! Friday was my last day of classes and my last night in Sucre so a group from school met at my second home and then went out for tapas. It was a great end to my time there. I miss Sucre and my friends there already.

Yesterday I headed to Potosi which at 4060 meters (over 13,000 feet) is the highest city in the world. My main reason for visiting was to do a tour of the silver mines. The tour didn´t disappoint. We first went to get geared up in protective clothing, boots, and hard hats with lights on them. Then we split into groups of 8 or less by language (I went with the Spanish group) and headed to the miners market. In the market we bought gifts of dynamite and soda for the miners. In the morning, you gift coca leaves as well since the miners chew it all day, but in the afternoons they have enough. In Potosi anyone can walk into a store and buy dynamite- even kids. From the market we went up to the plant where they separate the silver from the rock and other minerals and watched the machines in action. Then we headed to the mines. I had heard the stories and knew that the excursions into the mines was no picnic, but I wanted to experience it for myself. Tourists are not coddled, we are there facing the same conditions as the miners do every day, albeit for a much shorter duration. Potosi is quite cold in winter so of course it was very cold when we entered on level one. It immediately got completely dark so we needed to use our head lanterns (miner issue). The walkways vary from big enough to walk in comfortably to so small you have to crawl on your hands and knees. To get from level to level, you need to scramble up or down steep grades or shaky ladders in the dark and at time the path ends and you need to traverse wooden boards or rocks to get across. We crawled up to level zero (because the level numbers go up as you descend) and immediately the temperature changed here it was HOT. So hot we were all sweating profusely where we´d been shivering just moments before. We met our first miner who talked to us as he worked and answered our questions. He had his 12 year old son with him. This is not uncommon in the mines. A couple of guys tried to use the big metal hammer and rod the miner used to make a hole in the rock and were far slower. It was a good demonstration of the strength needed to do this for hours on end. We went down to level two and hung out with another miner. The amount of dust in the air in the tunnels made it hard to breathe and our paper masks did little to help (plus it is more of a hinderance when you are panting and sweating). We finished our tour about two and a half hours after we entered the mine on level three. Here we got to see the mine´s Tio who is the local god of the mine (more like a devil). All of the mines have a Tio and the miners leave offerings of coca leaves, alcohol and cigarettes daily when they enter. Also on the way out it got so cold that there were icicles hanging from the walls of the mine. We were all exhausted and filthy. After we left the mine, we got a dynamite demonstration. Our guide put the fuse into the dynamite, lit it, passed it around so we could take pictures, planted it in the ground a little ways away, and ran back so we could watch it explode. I don´t think you get that on any tours in the US... Anyway, it was tough but I´m really glad I did it. The tour really makes you feel for the miners (who earn about 25 cents per kilo of silver they harvest).

OK, this computer is crazily slow so hopefully this will post. More soon!