It Takes Two to Tango

Damn, I´ve been out of touch. I´ll just keep this breif, but I´ve written 20 pages in my diary for 2 days worth of events. I´m not going to repeat it here, but probably when I get home, I´ll put the stories in the blog.

All I have to say is that I am having the most amazing time in my life here in Tilcara. It never ceases. This is truely paradise. I think that I may spend the rest of my vacation here, until I have to go to Buenos Aires. I´ve gotta be in Buenos Aires on Sept 1…sigh. Why leave such an awesome place? Tilcara has become my new temporary home!!!

My second day, I went with Nathalie to meet up with a guide named Carlos to do a tour of the caves. Long story short, Carlos never showed, we waited for another guide to come. His name is Tupa. We walked across a bridge on the way to the caves. He spoke to us about Pachamama, an indigenous celebration. There were straw houses in the river bed which were to be burned on Monday. Then he suggested..hey, are you interested in Pachamama? Of course, we said yes. He asked a pueblo if we could watch the ceremony. We were invited in. They let us participate in the offering to Pachamama, they thanked *us* for coming. Well, I have too many words to say about that day…it was fantastic, amazing. These people asked us for nothing, and were glad to share their culture with us. I was blown away…(full story to come when I get home).

They invited us to another ceremony the next day. Of course, Nathalie and I went. All 17 of us stuffed into a tiny combi, went about 20 km north of town, and hiked to a sacred ritual site of the Amarillos. There, we participated in a ceremony in dedication of their ancestors and another small ceremony for Pachamama. It was truely the most spiritual event in my entire life (again, full story to come later).

I can´t even begin to describe the experiences I had. These experiences, those 2 days, were not a tourist trap type thing to do. We were so privilaged to be welcomed into the indigenous community like that, and to participate in something so sacred and so private…was amazing. Wow.

Yesterday, Nathalie and I went to do the cave tour again, and again with Carlos, who never showed (again). We went with our Italian roommate Carlos . Since the guide didn´t show up, we went to Pucara instead in the morning, then would try to get the 2pm tour to the caves.

At Pucara, we had Ariel as our guide. Pucara is the site of an old Quechua village. However, the vast majority of the site itself is restored. There are fantastic views over the village and of the surrounding mountains.

After Pucara, we had a bite to eat, then waited for a guide at the tourist office. We got another guide named Kachamai, who would not shut up the entire hike to the caves. There was also another girl on the trip, Vanessa, who we later learned is staying at Malka as well. Our guide was a bit weird..he made us look at this hosteria and was trying to pitch us to stay there, rather than Malka. We even went on a tour of the place and saw two habitaciones.

The hike to the caves was difficult. Sheesh, I´m out of shape. Well, it´s partly the altitude, too. But hey, I gotta do this…see what my body does because this is a walk in the park in comparison to hiking up Mt Kilimanjaro!

The caves tour was fun. We went in one cave, shimmying through the tunnel, crawling at points, going by candle light til the end. The next cave we had to crawl on our hands and knees to get to the other side, and opening where the wind was coming through. When we exited the cave, the wind was so strong. The way down was pretty fun. The earth was so gravelly and sandy and inclined that we slid down the mountain in turns. Carlos, the Italian guy, we figured is a little weird or crazy. He had our guide film him as he hopped down the mountain. We laughed about it…so weird.

In the evening were festivties. Today was the day that they are burning the houses in the river, and marching from there to the plaza. We were a bit late…we met up with Kachamai, walked fastly to the river and saw the houses already burning, then walked swiftly to the Plaza to see the parade. It was like the entire village of 2000 people (during this time of year) was out. The various groups of people in the parade marched by, schools, people in traditional dress, caballeros, etc. Then there was a ceremony for the offering to Pachamama in the plaza. Well, it didn´t compare to the ceremony that Nathalie and I had experienced a few days ago. This was very touristy, being filmed, and there was a guy talking throughout the entire thing to the crowd. We strayed away from the Pachamama ceremony to find a little dog trying to hump a big one..the big one was begging for our hamburguesa and didn´t feel a thing, and the little dog was trying to hump the big dog for some 15 or so minutes. It was hilarious.

In the evening, we all went to El Nuevo Progresso, met up with more people, and listened to a band play.

Aug 20, 2005

Yesterday, I just took it easy. I went to the Archaeological Museum which featured displays from around the indigenous regions of Bolivia, northern Chile, northwest and northeast Argentina, and of Peru. The inidenous cultures here seem to be similar to those you find in Bolivia and Peru. Some speak Quechua, some are of Amayra descent. I am drawn to these cultures.

Strolling through the artisans market, I am reminded much of my time in Peru. The same kind of things sold, but the vendors are not pushy at all. There are also artisans of the Wichi tribe? which make things out of the various types of wood found in the area. I want to say they are more from the northeast, like the Chaco region, but am not sure. And the music…oh, the Andean folkloric music that I so love! Sigh. Completely reminds me of Peru…

I went to another museum of a local sculptor. It was small, but I figured I´d support the cause for 1 peso. He had quite a few sculptors, some rugged, some realistic, and of varying sizes. There was also a mural made out of seeds, maize, wheat, and other items depicting the crucification of Christ. Now I´m not religious, but it was beautiful.

I didn´t do much of anything today. I had dinner with my roommate, Nathalie from France, Olivier from France who works at the hostel, and Justine, our other roommate from Canada.

I made it to Tilcara this morning after 15 hours of being in transit. Wow, this area is beautiful. I´m in the dry Andes, where the mountains are green mixed with brown and red. I´ve only been here for a few hours and know that I´m going to spend a decent amount of time in this area. There is quite a bit to do, from ruins to hiking to horseback riding, etc. It is so beautiful here! And cheap, too! I had a late lunch and for less than $2, I had bread, soup, a main dish of pasta and chicken and a dessert. Sheesh, you can´t beat that!

One of the things I was worried about was altidude sickness. I´ve got very mild altitude sickness since I just got here. I had trouble hiking up the hill to the hostel with my backpacks on. But I would have that problem in 0 elevation as well :p Today, I´m going to take it easy. I think I learned from last year to not overdo it. Yeah. Plus, I´m sleepy as I didn´t get enough sleep on the bus, arg.

Gotta figure out what trips to do. Tomorrow, I may do a 1 km hike to the ruins of Pucara. That´s not too far. There are also 6 and 7km hikes from town to other spots, such as the Garganta del Diablo (no, not the one in Iguazù, but a much smaller one here) and to another place that´s supposed to be nice. Will save those for a little later. I´m going to look into a multi-day horseback riding/trekking trip to see what they have to offer. And there is rock climbing here, too! If the guide includes shoes (I sent mine back home with Sean), then I´ll do it. I can´t rock climb in hikers…ain´t gonna happen.

Ahhh…it is so beautiful here. I seem to be drawn to heavily indiginous areas. I don´t know why, but I´m fascinated with the culture. Also, the landscapes are gorgeous. From Tilcara, I can check out salinas, or salt flats like the ones in Uyuni. And the colored mountains, the high altitude lagunas with flamingos as well. Very similar landscape in some parts, as I´m not that far from Bolivia.

I went to the Zoo and ecological gardens today. It was a nice day for it, full sun and about 70 degrees out. Better enjoy the warm weather while I can, because it´ll get colder from now on! I didn´t have much information about the zoo or how to get there, so I caught a cab for 6 pesos. The entrance was 2 pesos.

When I arrived, it seemed like I was the only person in sight besides the workers. I walked around, saw some of the animals like various species of birds, deer-like animals, and monkeys, then I encountered a monkey that escaped from it´s habitat. I made sure to keep my distance because…well, you never know…I don´t know what kind of monkey it was. It was not the kind that I had seen in the habitat. He was just climbing on the chain linked fences, walking around the park and whatnot. I walked on to see some more of the animals, like the tapirs, tortoises, etc.

Then the loose monkey appeared sitting on a fence. I kept my distance, and backed off. A group of teenage girls approached it. We started talking, and they were fascinated that I´m from the states. We talked a bit, they offered me some cheesy poofs, then we went our separate ways.

The zoo is not very big, but has habitats for lions, a manx, a hippo, and various other creatures. On the grounds are botanical gardens as well. The botanical gardens are of the natural Chaqueño environment. I walked the trails of the gardens in solitude. There are signs everywhere — don´t mess with the nature, don´t destroy the nature, nature working, etc. They really want to keep the flora as is.

I walked back around the outskirts of the gardens, and I hear someone yell my name out. It´s the group of girls I met earlier, so I went over to their group. They were sitting under a tree — the group consisted of guys and girls, about 10 people. One had a guitar in hand. We talked for a long time, hung out, and I taught them a little bit of English. We all had a good time. They were going to set up a tent, so we said our goodbyes and chaus. They were so sweet and so nice. There´s not much to do in Sàenz Peña, but one of the reasons I like coming to the smaller cities is for the people. That group of teenagers proved that point.

I walked by a laguna and a marshy laguna, then headed for the exit. I caught the #2 bus back to town. The driver was really friendly and we talked for a while as well. Good, nice people here.

Here I am sitting on a rock admiring the view of the surrounding pampas and the sierra across the road.

I was trying to find stuff to do around town, and nothing was opened. The feriados was yesterday, but it happens that they´re still celebrating it here. I walked down one of the main roads to the plaza and found a celebration going on commemorating the death of General San Martín. It was small..but it is a small town. It seemed that the whole town was in the Plaza. A lady was giving a speach about the history of General San Martìn. There was a band playing as schoolkids marched across the plaza.

After the celebration, I walked to the ends of town. I walked back, and people were starting to open shops. It seems that in the smaller cities I´ve been in, people tend to close shop during siesta hours, and then open shop in the late afternoon to evening. It´s strange. Something I´m not used to.

There really isn´t much to do here. I think I could have just done it all in one day. Well, tomorrow I´m going to go to the zoo. I´ve got a bus ticket to Salta at 8pm, so have all day here. I´m kinda bored now.

I´ve decided that I´m going to try to make it to Tilcara tomorrow. I think it´s about 4 hours from Salta. There, I´ll get to test my body to altitude. Tilcara is at 2460 meters, which is a bit over 8000 ft. It`s not *that* high, but I know I tend to have problems around 9000-10,000 ft. If I have problems here, I´m screwed for Africa!

Oh yeah, and I think I´m headed back for cold weather. I´m debating whether or not to make it to a town close to the Bolivian border, which has been reported to get down to -25C. I don´t have the proper gear for really cold weather…so I may do some shopping in town :p

The people at my hotel are so nice. This morning, I met a guy named Carlos who works there and served me breakfast. More medialunas…He was really nice, and told me about the things to do in Sáenz Peña and how to get to the places.

I went for a walkabout town today and found the Complejo Termal, the Thermal Complex. I checked out the prices, and for 30 pesos (a mere $10), I got to use the Turkish sauna (5 pesos), a mineral bath (5 pesos), and a 40 minute massage (20 pesos). Sheesh, I couldn´t resist!

The complex is huge. It spans a few stories high. I don´t know much about the history or anything, but it´s supposed to be an important place in Argentina. The people who work there are really nice as well. The nurse took my blood pressure first. Then I hit the turkish sauna. I had a room to myself. It was so nice to decompress. I stayed in the sauna for about an hour, sweating my brains out.

I took a quick shower after that, then they filled a mineral bath for me. They have many private rooms with a tub in it for the mineral baths. You soak in it for about 20 minutes, then lay down on the bed to rest for a bit. The bath was so nice and hot. My arms and legs wanted to float since it was rich in salts. When I got out of the bath, my body felt heavy. My body tingled all over. I had to lay down for some 10 minutes before my massage.

The massage was good. I´ve had better. But for 20 pesos (about $7), I can´t complain! It was kind of weird because you just get naked in front of the lady, you must have no shame. You get on the table, then she covers your butt with a tiny cloth…barely. You also get a butt massage out of it as well. I guess that´s standard? The massage was just on the backside. When all is done, she takes the cloth off of your butt and you´re completely in the buff with the lady still in the room. And you get dressed in front of her. ¿Maybe that´s normal down here…?

I left the complex a bit woozy, ready to fall asleep. But I wanted to walk about town as well. I went the wrong way and found the edges of town where there are no paved roads and it is more country/suburbia. I turned around to head to the bus station to inquire about busses to Salta for tommorrow night.

The plan for tomorrow…go to the zoo in the morning, spend the day there, then hop on the bus for Salta at 8pm…should get to Salta around 6am, try to hop on a bus to Jujuy from there.

Aug 16, 2005 – Tues

Today was another adventuresome day. I wanted to check out Isla del Cerritos — an island about 50 km from Resistencia that is in the confluence of the Río Paraná and Río Paraguay. I caught the 11:30am bus from Banco Hipotecario to the Isla. The return bus was at 2:30pm. 50km, not that far. I should have learned my lesson already!

I got to the island at 1:30pm (mostly dirt roads to get there), had an hour to explore. I had the bus drop me off in the ´center´, but there was no information or anything. I talked to a lady at a hostería and she gave me a pamphlet. Not much to do on the island, so I explored the area nearby. I found a beach with tree trunks washed ashore and walked along the shoreline to a rocky pier. These rivers are so huge. Across the river was Paraguay. From the pier, I walked up the stairs that lead to the capilla (church), walked on to find a kids train and camping areas. It was a short visit.

I took the bus back with the same people who dropped me off an hour earlier. So much dust came into the bus the entire trip back — I was coated with a fine layer of dirt when I got to town. I checked out of my hotel because I planned to head to Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña tonight, so I couldn´t shower till I got there.

I took the 8pm La Estrella bus to Sáenz Peña. Luckily, it was much niser than the local bus I took yesterday and did not stop so much. I arrived at Sáenz Peña at about 10:45pm. The terminal looked desolate except for a Telecom place with 3 people in it. The lady at the Chaco tourist office recommended that I stay at Hotel Flamingo because it is centrally located and is 40 pesos a night.

I caught a cab from the terminal to the hotel for 4 pesos. It was not too far — walkable, for sure (without my big pack). Hotel Flamingo — walking through the hallway, there´s a flamingo with neon lights behind it, kind of cheesy. The owner showed me my room and it´s got a bed fit for a porn movie. A pink shiny, satiney duvet cover is the bedspread..hehe. But it´s a pretty nice hotel. Took a shower to get the grime off of me, and was the best shower I have had on my entire trip thus far. 🙂

Tomorrow, I think I am going to partake in the mineral baths and sauna, and maybe a massage or facial if it´s cheap enough. Why not spoil myself a little? 😉 I might as well do it now. In a few days, I will be back on the gringo trail…

Aug 15, 2005 – Mon

This morning, I went about town early to change money and to find the tourist info office, since everything was closed yesterday. Well, everything was closed today, too! I went to find the tourist office in the Plaza, but was not able to find it. I walked a block away to find the Regional Chaco tourism office. It looked bleak, but there was a lady inside, so I opened the door.

She looked kind of surprised and asked me what I needed, so I aksed if she had info and a map of Resistencia. We sad down, and then she got really excited. I asked her for info about the Parque Nacional Chaco, Isla del Cerritos, and the bus schedules for Salta. The lady gave me more than enough info, and was so excited that I wanted to visit the Chaco province. She also gave me info on a city called Presidencia Roque Sáenz Peña, a city of about 8,000 people with suburbs that include about 100,000 people. In that city, there are the most important mineral baths in Argentina, and one of the biggest zoos in the country. My Footprints guide says it is a reasonable place to stop over, but that´s all it says.

The lady wished me well and gave me a pen from the Chaco tourist office as a present. So far, she´s been the most helpful person for finding information out. She also told me that today was a Feriados, or a holiday — La Muerte de General San Martín — that´s why a lot of businesses are closed today.}

I decided that I wanted to check out the Parque Nacional Chaco, which is 115km from Resistencia. I had all the info I needed to know about how to get there. Sounds simple…not quite! Little did I know that I was in for an adventure…

I went to the bus station and bought my ticket for Capitán Solari through La Estrella bus company. My bus was to depart at 12:30pm. The return would be at 4:50pm. 115km doesn´t sound that far, so I thought about 1.5 hours of transit…boy was I wrong! When 12:20pm came around, an Estrella bus pulled up…then another pulled up…then 2 more came. There was mass confusion as to which bus to jump on. I went to the bus with less people and asked the driver. He told me to hop on board.

This bus is really old and rickety and crappy. And little did I know that this is a local bus and stops in every town and traverses every street. We also had a long stop in a village called Elisa. I was really worried about the time, seeing that it was taking so damn long to get to Capitán Solari.

The bus ride ended up taking 2.5 hours. The driver dropped me off and pointed down a dirt road for Parque Nacional Chaco. I looked around, and it was desolate. My book says you can take a remis (taxi) and the lady at the tourist office said you can take a combi down to the park entrance, which is 5km from the road. There really was nothing there — a few houses, a few horses, and no people. Capitán Solari is a tiny town.

What to do, what to do. I decided, to hell with it, I started walking. It was extremely bleak. To the left of me was a huge cotton farm. To the right, grassy land. One car came towards me and stirred up so much dust that I had to look down, shield my eyes and nose until the dust settled. I walked on. Another car passed me up, and again, I hat to protect myself from the dust storm they produced. I wondered what I had gotten myself into. I thought, as soon as I get to the entrance, I´ll have to turn around and walk back.

I walked quite a ways…then my saviors came. As I was walking, a dump truck was on the road behind me. Three big guys in the truck and one guy riding in the dump part (there was nothing in it). The driver slowed down and asked me where I was going. I told him to the Parque Nacional Chaco. He asked me if I needed a ride. I was desperate, so I said yes.

Now this is not a normal occurrence…this was actually the first ride I hitched in South America. Some people probably think I´m crazy for taking a ride like that…I asked if they wanted me to ride in the back, the dump part, but they motioned me to sit in the cab. A bit akward as it was full with the 3 big guys. The guy that was in the middle moved closer to the driver, so that the gear shift was in between his legs, the guy on the right side got out and let me in, and then squeezed himself back in. It was extremely tight quarters. Good thing I´m small!

These guys ended up being really nice guys and helping a girl down on her luck. They drove me to the park entrance and to the rangers station, which was quite far (to walk on a time crunch!). I offered them money but they refused. I think they were just happy to help. And surely, now they have a story to tell their friends.

It was about 3:15pm when I got to the rangers station. The ranger was there on a bike. I aksed for info about the park and told him that I needed to catch the 4:50pm bus back to Resistencia. A short visit indeed, but I had no idea that the bus would take 2.5 hours and that I´d be stranded on a dirt road for a while!

A little background about the Parque Nacional Chaco…The park was created in 1954 and encompasses 15,000 hectares. It is a protected area of one of the last remaining untouched areas of the Wet Chaco. The flora includes tall quebracho colorado trees, caranday palms, and ralera trees. The quebracho colorado trees were put at risk by deforestation in the region, but are now protected in the park. The fauna includes pumas, coatimundis, carayá monkeys, turtles, parrots, and a myriad of butterflies. The climate is subtropical and humid so mosquito repellant is extremely essential. The Río Negro runs through the park as well as several lagunas. Indigenous populations of the Tobas and Mocovíes and descendants of the first Creoles to inhabit the area live in and near the park.

The ranger gave me a loop trail that I could do with the given amount of time I had. Because pumas live in the area, I wanted to rend a bike (since I can ride one, yay!) or a horse as I was on my own. Well, all the bikes were too tall and there were no horses to rent. He said I had time enought to hike it. I was to meet him back at the ranger station at 4:30pm.

Pumas…hmmm…well, I finally got there, so I couldn´t not hike the trail! I went on the trail — the only person in sight. I crossed a swing bridge that went over the Río Negro. To my left, the river was covered with bright green lilyponds, and to my right the river opened up. I stopped in the middle of the bridge to admire the sounds of nature — fish jumping out of the water, birds singing, and more noises from the trees (not sure if they were monkeys or not, but I did not see any). It was very serene and peaceful to be there.

Once I crossed the bridge, I encountered the sendero peotonal loop trail. I was not sure how long the trail was, so I hiked it pretty swiftly. I heard a few rustling noises in the bushes and I was on full alert. Kind of like an adrenaline pumping hike. Puma encounters are rare…but this IS their land…

I complted the loop trail, came to the bridge where I once again stopped on it to admire the sounds of the nature in this unique environment, then headed back.

Aug 14, 2005 – Sunday

This morning, I took an early bus to Resistencia. I got to town at about 2pm. When I got to the bus station, I looked around for information. Everything…and I mean, everything, was closed. It is Sunday. So with the limited information I had in my guidebook, I hopped into a cab to the city. It is sweltering here! I had to peel off all my layers as I got into the dusty cab. I want to say it´s about 85 degrees here today, and full sun. I tried to go to Hotel Bariloche, but they had no space, so I went to Hotel Grand Royal. A nice place, at 45 pesos a night…shit. Well, like I said before..small towns = hotels. Besides, I had no map of the city and no idea where anything was at.

I settled in at the hotel, got a map from them, and then went to the Plaza Mayor to hang out and write. All shops were closed. People were in the park. The plaza is pretty big. Resistencia is the city of statues, as there are many sprawling the city. I walked around to see some of the statues in the park. It was a relaxing day of chilling out in the park. I mean, nothing was opened, so I couldn´t do much else but peoplewatch. The swings squeeked as the kids played on them, families were out and about, picnicing, enjoying mate.

I was sitting in front of one of the monuments, and an old crazy guy sat next to me. He asked me what I was studying (I was writing), and I told him that I was writing. Then this old man would not shut up. I had a hard time understanding him because he slurred his speech. And he kept on talking. He was a grumpy old man, complaining about everything. And he wouldn´t shut up. I just wanted him to go away. Why do these crazy people follow me around??? Finally, he left and I was at peace again.

I stayed in the park the entire day. I watched the sky turn colors of pink, orange, and purple over the cathedral as the sun set. In the evening, there was a dance troupe in the park and performances. They were doing some Brazilian dances, shaking every limb in site. It was pretty neat. Somewhat a carnival atmosphere in the park, as there were cotton candy vendors, toy vendors, and a guy selling extremely phallic looking balloons.

I left for the hotel around 10pm, and people were still out, kids still playing on the swings. I swear, the people here don´t sleep.