Advertisement
Published: January 15th 2007
Edit Blog Post
Arrived in Chilecito at 6.00am after a 10hr overnight bus trip from MEN-DO-ZA!!! Oy I hate those overnight bus rides. We found a charming little farm stay about 3 kms from the centre of town. The town itself is surprisingly off the tourist trail but a great base for the surrounding national parks. Penny couldnĀ“t work out the shower so Yeatesy put on his McGivor hat and sorted it out - to the rescue again. Unfortunately I forgot to put on my Magellan hat and got us lost a couple of times. Again nobody speaks any English so Penny had better stay on my good side or she won't have anyone to talk to - it's a great ace to have up your sleeve, if it's possible to imagine only having Yeatesy to speak to as being some sort of luxury.
The National parks were quite spectacular and the home of 250 million year old landscapes/dinosaurs. Personally they only looked about 249 million years old but I didn't want to play the charlatan with our guide Super Mario. We shared our vehicle with 5 other Argies. Someone once said that Argentinians were Italians who spoke Spanish but who wanted to be English. I reckon 2/3rds of that is right. They do look and act like Italians - honest, full of life and fun -and they do speak Spanish. But does anyone, except maybe the Brits themselves, really want to be English? We find the locals really proud of their country while still patently aware of its pitfalls.
Enough of the philosophy,back to the travelogue. We went up to 4,700m yesterday to visit some abondoned mines. The trip involved a few hours of rough 4x4 through , up and over gorges, mountains and creeks. The Argies on this trip loved to drink mate (pronounced martay). Its a herbal concoction soaked in hot water and sweetened with sugar and sucked by all and sundry through a shared metal straw - MMMM mate. I dont know if it would take off back home despite its supposed health benefits.
FOOD - if you like the crappiest looking pizza imaginable or a steak Sergie Bubka couldnt pole vault over, then you won't go hungry here. We however are stripping off the pounds. I dont know what the equivalent of Bali Belly/ Montezumas revenge is here (maybe Perons Persecution or Cordobas Curse) but we've both managed to pick up a mild dose.
WINE - this is supposed wine country, but nobody except us seems to drink it and it is served warm in midi glasses. Once it is cooled down a little in an ice bucket (red wine) and you sip away in a beautiful plaza at 11pm watching Argentinians enjoying life, then I shouldn't complain, especially at $5 Aus a bottle.
SCOOP -the tse tse fly has made it to South America and has bitten Penny. She now sleeps 21 hours a day. I can't keep her awake. Perhaps that's her defence mechanism for not having to speak to me all day.
Apologies for the lack of photos, but we are having trouble uploading them to the site, better luck in Buenas Aires.
Gary
Chilecito, a great little town where anyone wanting large slabs of meat, ham or pizza will love it, as for us poor vegetarians Chilecito was not a place of culinary delights. The National Parks, with their Lunar landscapes and Grand Canyon similarities are spectacular, and the drive up to 4,700 mts was great.
As for the tse tse fly, I can state for the record, Gary slept way more than me on our 9 hour bus ride to Cordoba last night.
A HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Lisa for the 15th.
Penny
More images at:
www.colvinyeates.zenfolio.com
Advertisement
Tot: 0.379s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 40; qc: 142; dbt: 0.233s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.4mb
Jak
non-member comment
Shelley Park News
Hi guys, sounds llike you are living the high life what, with all that (as described) great food, alcohol and lots of sleep!!!!!! Just so you know we are all still training hard over here, Sunday morning has moved for a change up to Greenhills outdoor gym area...just a few more implements for me to torture everyone with...Donna had her first one on one session at 5.30am this morning and despite lack of sleep due to her frivolous lifestyle she held up very well, so Penny dont forget to lean on a few odd ruins over there and push out some tricep dips!!!!! love hearing your news...take care..