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Published: September 5th 2006
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Well... Sucre was a very pleasant city, somewhat reminiscent of Arequipa in Peru - had a great market for freshly squeezed juices and cheap eateries..
From here we headed South to Uyuni. Had a stand-up row en-route and delayed a bus for 30 minutes when the conductress refused to accept the validity of our onward tickets. Must have been some spectacle as the police were soon involved (amazingly on our side). Poor resolution though as we ended up paying for our tickets again and standing for the entirety of the 6 hour journey...
Uyuni is freezing: a featureless windswept town that sits on the edge of the salt flats. We rather liked the place. It is from here that 60-odd operators set out for tours of said salt flats and the South West of Bolivia. Scenery is well worth freezing ya nuts off for. The great white desert of the flats is totally surreal, not least when viewed from the Isla de pescado - a cactus-covered rock island slap-bang in the centre of the salar. From here it´s a white table cloth in all directions to a horizon ringed with hazy blue mountains. Heard an American say "awesome" and
Iguazu falls
From Brazilian side for once just had to nod.. Next few days were spent driving from one spectacular to the next and passing a fair few on the route: salt-fringed lagunas full of fluorescent pink flamingoes; volcanoes; pastel-shaded mountains; steam billowing from geysers across an alien landscape; Laguna Colorado, an inverted raspberry-ripple of a lake - crimson water (algal bloom) and swirling white (salt deposits); laguna verde, the turquiose lake.... The list goes on. Oh, then there´s the hot spring. At 5000m above sea level amidst a howling, freezing, wind there is a hot pool where the brave and foolish strip off for a dip before breakfast. Ali thought better of it (she did have some altitude sickness). I joined a bunch of French. Strange exhilarating feeling being freeze-dried on exiting - fortunately the rum was to hand.
Tupiza was to be our last stop in Bolivia. Situated near the Argentinian border, at a year-round balmy altitude, it is a sleepy, quaint, town in the heart of "Butch and Sundance" country. It sits surrounded by incredible, erosion-evolved, rockscapes of fins and spikes jutting out of narrow, brick-red, canyons. And the people... the happiest and friendliest we found in Bolivia. It is apparently
the most educated town in Bolivia and a young one with some 50% of people less than 20 years of age. It is also delightfully cheap! Maybe our favourite place in the whole country! Amazing region to go off trekking by yourself - literally.. the canyons are deserted. We also (painfully) had our first experiences on horseback. No instruction. No helmets. Obviously a gentle walk then?! However, our beasts had other ideas and I was grateful when we shifted from the initial ball-crushing "trots" to a mere life-threatening canter/gallop? Difficult to judge as the cacti and boulders flashed past. Have to say, it was a real buzz. Not satisfied with surviving the nags we were taken to the mirador overlooking the "valley of the moon". Why is this view not raved about? As stunning as the Grand Canyon, well almost... From here it was a 1500m decent on mountain bikes down the narrow scree-covered tracks back to town. This double-whammy left Ali walking in a very unbecoming fashion for days. Thus we were forced to lie by a swimming pool quaffing beers until she could close her legs again...
Crossing the border into Argentina was painless and quick. Did
get hauled off a bus by Argentinian soldiers at a check point, with males placed in one room and females in another, ready to be searched. Ali´s pack was thoroughly scrutinised whilst I was ushered past with a genial smile... "good face". Seems my saintly goodness is obvious to all border/customs officials.
Spent the first week or so meandering through the North: Humahuaca, Salta, Cachi, Cafayete.. These include some of the highest vineyards in the world and were thoroughly explored. White wines are almost exclusively made from the "Torrontes" grape which was wasn´t great, but was cheap.
Hmmm. Food notes:
Parrillas - Argentinian meat fests... Typically include sausages which may be described as chorizo, although don´t rely on chorizo being a sausage as it is also a particular cut of beef steak. Confused? We have been.. Anyways, back to the protein pig-out. Black puddings - particularly the sloppy ones are delish. Next comes several cuts of beef and/or pork and, if you´re lucky chicken too. The beef may be vast, thick slabs of lean (no idea really what cuts) - generally these come with a salt crust and unless you stipulate "bwelta bwelta" will be overdone. Nevertheless, the
taste is devine. Then there´s the rib cuts and the pork may be succulently delicate belly. There´ll be kidneys and liver - all good. However, next up come the fatty intestines which, bizarrely, Ali quite likes - particularly the contents which, we presume (hope) are some kind of stuffing! My least fav part is a rather spongy slice through some unidentifiable organ (pancreas/lung?) which eerily looks like a slice of fried bread, but which tastes vaguely cheesy. Again Ali, captain offal, is rather fond of this... Proud to say that, as yet, we've never been outfaced....
Empanadas... are a way of life here... delicious (mostly) baked pastries with beef, chicken or cheese - 18 in a sitting is our current record.
One must, however, be constantly vigilant for the dreaded Mondongo that the Argies will hide just about anywhere - this sounds bad and turned out to be just that.... Ali´s pet hate (that she was force-fed as a child... only joking June): tripe.
Ok... From the North West we travelled East towards Iguazu. Longish journey of 3 buses over 2 days before we paused at San Ignacio.
Another quick note on buses... which brings me
Highway?
For road read river bed back to where we ended the last blog.. Semi-camas, camas, total camas - or to those of you heathens not fluent in spanish: semi-beds, beds and total beds?! Yes, these are comfey, but at a price. Trouble is, in Argentina it is impossible to get anything else for a long journey. In fact Argentina isn´t that much more expensive than elsewhere we´ve been thus far in S. America, with the exception of travel. You can find (normally) cheap accomodation (and everywhere has hot water!), but are forced to endure luxury travel.
The little town of San Ignacio is the site of the best preserved, original, jesuit mission. However, we´ve seen the film and we left god-bothering alone. It had started to rain... rain, thunder and lightning.. the works. We were not unhappy though as we´d heard rumours that the falls at Iguazu were in need of a drop. Consequently we sheltered on our verandah around some bottles and the crib board.
This region - Misiones - seems to be home to a disconcerting number of loonies... Was walking down a deserted dirt road the other day, minding our own business, when a blind man (obviously guided by a
heightened sense of hearing) appeared out of nowwhere. Moving at a rate of knots he ran straight into me and then proceeded to hit me with his cane?! On a more amicable Argentinian/British relations note.... Were walking in the hills outside of Cafayete when we met an old couple picnicking. Turns out the guy is a commander in the Argentinian navy and was the captain of a frigate in the Falklands war. Chatted and Benny Hill (for that is his nickname - spitting image he was too) invited us to stay with them when we´re down south... Bless.
Viewed the falls from the Argentinian (Puerto Iguazu) and the Brazilian (Fos de Iguaza) sides. Truely spectacular... Don´t know how Robert De Niro climbed up there with all his armour (Actually, thinking about it he didn't, did he?..). This really must be in anyones top 3 of natural wonders.. You can tell there´s a but coming and tragicaly there was... The water levels are currently at their lowest for 50 years and whilst the Garganta del Diablo (devil´s throat) portion is still scarily impressive, much of the tiers that fall in arching curtains as far as the eye can see... didn´t.
Well, some did and some dribbled (bit like the blind geezer as he hurled abuse at me). Truely a real shame and a great excuse for returning.
So... back to real-time and here we sit in Iguazu. Thought I'd update this before we set off West tomorrow for a 1000 mile journey to what could be our most gruelling test yet: the love hotels of Cordoba - rumbah!!
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Tommyd
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taties
Oh how I chuckled when I read about the argument with the autobus authorities - it took me right back to sitting in a restaurant with cold spuds in old Stirling town. I think our protests were just as futile then too! At least you can always claim the moral high ground. Keep the humourous commentary flowing, it brightens the grey gloom outside my office window...