Dipping Back into Land of Inca
When I got to Cordoba, Argentina I saw a little bit of a change that got me thinking that I was going to see a progression “Indigen-fication” and “Latin-fication” as I head further north. As I have said, most of Argentina is quite a bit different from the Latin America that I have already visited. Overall, I must like the differences because Argentina is my favorite country. I’ve been here five weeks and I really do not understand Argentina, but I guess that should be no surprise since there is a lot about Latin America that I do not understand and for that matter there is a lot about America that I do not understand and I have been living there for most of my life. There are some aspects of Latin America that I have truly missed in Argentina and that’s what started to appear in Cordoba. Cordoba was more colonial with a proper plaza and cathedrals unlike other parts of Argentina that I have visited. And there was a higher degree of indigenous culture including scary Christos, holier Virgen Marys, and darker skinned and shorter people. This change probably started further south, maybe in Mendoza, but I skipped over most of the Ande foothills north of El Calafate so I am not sure. I had a feeling that the trend would continue the further north I headed and this was confirmed when I reached Tucuman. Tucuman is a much smaller city than Cordoba, but it has a wonderful colonial center.
I did a day trip from Tucuman that was fairly simple traveling with a local driver and two women from Buenos Aires. Of course, they were beautiful… of course. I only remember one of their names and that is because she has such a good one – Milagro or “Miracle”. The best part of the day is that they speak perfect English so they were able to translate and we were able to have some good conversations. Milagro was married last year and she and her husband honeymooned in California. I had to ask about her visa experience and it turns out that it was quite easy for her to get because they have stable jobs, they own property in Argentina, she has an uncle in California and they were traveling for their honeymoon. I also had to ask about her experience at the airport upon arrival and, of course, this is where the story was not so splendid. Immigration hassled them for a long time and she felt this was mainly due to her husband not speaking much English. This is absolutely ridiculous to me considering they have to prove something to get a visa so why is immigration even getting involved if they arrive with the proper paperwork. Fortunately, they had a great time in San Francisco and driving to Los Angeles on Highway One so the United States once again shined through despite our moronic federal government. We visited California and France that day… seriously. The countryside around Tucuman is unbelievably similar to a lot of California including the hills, plants and architecture and it was nice that Milagro saw this, too. We visited a small village with a church and the whole place felt like France – maybe Normandy – and we discovered that it was built to be like a small village in France!
We also visited a giant Christo Blanco (white Christ statue) way up in the local mountains overlooking Tucuman area. I’m not sure if I have discussed Christo Blancos before. Everyone knows about Christ the Redeemer overlooking Rio. Well, that’s just the start of giant white statues of Christ in South America. Let’s see, I have at least seen one in Bogota. Cusco, Lima, El Capitolo (not sure how he survived, but I guess the Bearded One left him alone) and Tucuman and I am sure this is a partial list. They all basically look alike although the Tucuman one is unique in that the hands are doing the Peron two-finger thing rather than the he’s-got-the-whole-world-in-his-hands thing and he therefore has a nickname of “Christo Peronisto”. Only in Argentina! If you know me really well then you know I dislike Christo, the supposed artist, the artist whose art has killed people (California and Japan?). I think it would be interesting if Christo, the supposed artist, did something with the Latin American Christo Blancos… Christo and Christo – One is a Legend and One is a Legend in His Own Mind. Maybe he could wrap them in something pink.
Speaking of Christo, not that I do that much!, the Tucuman Christs in the churches pushed the envelope as far as bloody goes. They have one which is labeled “Asiento” (lying down after being removed from the cross – as opposed to their other bloody Jesus where he is labeled obviously as “Crucificado” – I think you get it) and he still has the spikes in his hands and feet – GEEZ!
I blew out of Tucuman in a bit of a huff because I had a tour to a pre-Inca ruin called Quilmes as well as Tafi de Valle which were the only real reason I was in Tucuman and the tour company called the hostel fifteen minutes after they were suppose to pick me up to say the tour was canceled. They said they would do it the next day, but I told them I could not trust them and I would try to do it from Salta. So I took the seven hour bus ride from Tucuman to Salta a day early. I met Nogah from Israel in Tucuman so maybe that was the only reason I was in Tucuman even though I thought the only reason was for Quilmes!
Salta has been on my mind for months. It is a highlight of South America in my opinion. The city has a great amount of colonial architecture, some of the most beautiful churches in South America and an excellent Latin America plaza. But that is not why I came. I am here like most visitors to get out of the city and see the surrounding landscapes which are very similar to the Southwest United States. I spent eight days in Salta which is a lot for me to stay in any one place and I was busy just about every day. I would say that you could stay in Salta area at least two weeks especially if you do some overnight stays in the outlying towns of Salta and Jujuy Provinces. I took daytrips to Humahuaca and Purmamarca where red, green, yellow, orange, blue and white rock are everywhere. We visited pre-Inca ruins in the same area and Inca/Quechua villages. I took another trip into the Andes along the route of the Train to the Clouds (unfortunately shut down as I have discovered to be true for most of the South American great train routes) to a fascinating salt flat and an amazing ride to 4200 meters (!) followed by a plunge of two kilometers in 30 kilometers of driving which only covered 13 kilometers of actual distance (by way the crow flies). Another great day involved going to Cafayate for my first wine-tasting experience in Argentina as well as taking in Quilmes, the great pre-Inca ruins that I missed in Tucuman, as well as Quebrada (this area is full of quebradas – gorges) de Las Conchas. All of the day trips involved canyon lands of amazing beauty. Hopefully the photos came out well and I will post some soon since I can’t describe what I have seen.
As far as wine-making goes, they do some pretty ugly stuff in Argentina. Let’s just say that they are still behind the times when it comes to modern practices, but I did get the feeling they are headed in the right direction. We visited one factory where they turn out two million liters per year in five liter jugs which cost ten pesos ($3!!!!) each. They had a bottling line running while they were processing newly harvested grapes. The line started with five liter bottles which had been returned being washed mainly by hand. Then they were filled by a machine and topped off by hand. Then they were capped by a machine followed by hand labeling. At the end of the line, workers made pyramids out of these monster bottles. I have consumed that junk and now I fully understand why a glass gives me a headache!
But the best part of the last couple of weeks has been the people I have met from around the world as well as Argentina. The three that I hope to stay in touch with are of course women – Nogah from Israel and Irene and Vanessa from London. Nogah who had done a day excursion with Irene, Vanessa and Alexander from Holland and all of us met at 10 PM one night for dinner in Salta. 10 PM is when things get started here. Nogah, unfortunately, had to catch a midnight bus, but the rest of us continued to party well into the night. I was not doing so well at 5:30 when I had to catch an excursion I was signed up for, but it was just lack of sleep more than alcohol. The four of us met for dinner the next evening and we went to a Pena which is a paradillo MEAT restaurant with local folklore music and dancing. The entertainers were great. I especially liked the gauchos tap dancing in their boots as well as how sexy their female partners danced. We went to a club that night and luckily I did not have an excursion the next day since we were up until after 3:00. Vanessa and Irene were bad girls (hehehe) and ended up missing their excursions due to the lack of sleep as well as the amount of wine and other drinks we consumed 🙂 I planned to hike the next day, but I felt horrible and changed my mind to do nothing. I went over to their hotel to leave a note suggesting one more dinner, but they were there nursing their hangovers. We actually got motivated and went hiking in a quebrada in San Lorenzo near Salta and ended up having a very nice day and evening. I was quite sad that they were leaving the next morning because they certainly were very fun and comfortable to be around.
The last couple of days in Salta have been low-key with me walking around town taking photos, going up the teleferico (gondola), taking photos and getting ready for the next leg of this trip. Salta is a great province and I think anyone coming to Argentina should add it to their list. It is set up well to receive you and the outlying towns like Purmamarca, Iruya and Cafayate would make great places to spend a night or two. Speaking of Cafayate, I met a couple who were dressed like gauchos with six horses tied up in the street across from the Ruta 40 Hostel. They have started a new business where they take 2-3 people out into the Argentina backcountry for a few days via horseback. I’m not a big horse fan, but I must say this would be the perfect way to really see Argentina and get away from it all. Speaking to Martina I got the impression that they really show you a great time and they don’t overdo it with the horseback riding (ouch!). For future reference… www.horseridngwheeler.com.ar or martina-schroeter@gmx.net.
Tags: argentina, south america, Travel
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