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Published: July 18th 2009
After a fun few weeks in Cordoba, it was time to move on. The next two weeks would be two of the most exhilarating, yet exhausting, weeks of my entire life. The experiences I had will carry me for quite some time, and the people I crossed paths with and the things I witnessed are truly unforgettable. Even if my eyes seem to be permanently red now and I literally have wrinkles that were not there before, and all that fun was expensive, I wouldn´t change a thing. Simply Excellent.
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I took an overnight bus to San Juan, a small city 8 hours west of Cordoba. After arriving early in the morning on Monday July 6 (I´m behind I know) I visited the Difunta Correa shrine, about an hour from San Juan. I had read in my guidebook that the shrine is an odd yet fascinating cultural phenomenon and it did not disappoint.
The story is thus: Deolinda Correa was a nurse who followed soldiers during Argentina´s civil war in the 1840´s. She had her baby with her but after days of walking she died of thirst, collapsing on the side of the road. Local farmers found
her body the next day, but her baby was still alive, nursing its mother´s breast. The event was hailed as a miracle and so an elaborate shrine was created in 1940 in the town of Vallecito. Argentineans flock there all year-round, but especially around Easter and Christmas, to pray for the health and safety of their loved ones, among other things. The area is strewn with bottles of liquid to symbolize quenching Difunta´s (literally defunct) thirst. So there I was, early in the morning, taking it all in. The locals on the bus with me were of course curious as to why I would go to such a place, but like always, I wanted to experience something off the beaten path.
The site had over a dozen little chapels, each with different names, from the chapel of sports to the chapel of students to the chapel of the military. In each chapel were photos and other offerings thanking Difunta Correa for her good luck. In the sports room there were dozens of trophies, presumably won after the athlete had come to the shrine to pray for good luck. Apparently this Difunta lady actually does make miracles happen! The most
impressive site in the chapels though was the military room, which was strewn with military jackets and caps, again presumably thanking Difunta Correa for allowing them to come home safe from the army. Although I had no personal connection to the shrine, it was still a moving site. The main part of the shrine was up atop a small hill. I walked up the pathway and saw a woman who was crawling up the steps, praying. When I walked back down ten minutes later, she was still crawling, slowly but surely, saying her prayers.
The city of San Juan itself doesn´t have much to look at, but it is one of the cleanest I have seen in all of South America. It is worth mentioning that. My main goal here was to visit the national park, Ischigualasto, or Valle de la Luna (Valley of the Moon). Apparently Pink Floyd wanted to film a music video there once because parts of it truly do resemble the moon. The tour was a full day and by the end I would be in the tour van for almost 8 hours round trip, covering over 400 miles. The tour left at 7am, and
I found myself with two people from San Juan and a guy from Cordoba in the van.
By 11.30am we were finally at the park. Ischigualasto is a park with numerous impressive rock formations with names like The Worm and The Submarine, and is an important site for dinosaur fossils. A caravan of about a dozen cars, including our van, were all in a row ready to enter the park. It was one of those drive for ten minutes, hop out, take some pictures, and hop back in the car kind of tours. The park ranger led the way as we made five stops throughout the park. Although I could explain in detail what I saw, pictures do the sights more justice. The rock formations were those unlike I´d ever seen in my life, and many looked like small volcanos jutting out of the landscape. The one section that is supposed to look like the moon was truly eerie. Maybe I was in outer space after all? The Submarine figure was probably the coolest formation of all, and its shape was so accurate and so perfect it seemed like it was sculpted by hand.
In talking to the
guy from Cordoba, Hernan, it turns out that we were both on the same overnight bus from Cordoba to San Juan. We both had the same itinerary of going to Barreal and then Mendoza, so we decided to travel together from there on out. He stayed in the same hostel as I that night, and the next morning we set out for the town of Barreal. The town of Barreal is 6 hours further west from San Juan. It is truly isolated and the biggest town is 2 hours away. I had read about Barreal on my last trip to Argentina 2 years ago and knew that I wanted to visit it this time. It´s so far away from everything else that you need a couple extra days to visit it. After seeing the main cities and attractions 2 years ago, one of my main goals for this entire trip was discovering the undiscovered.
Barreal is a nondescript town but is beautifully situated right under the Andes mountains. Unfortunately it hasn´t snowed too much yet, but the views from the center of town were still stunning. Hernan and I arrived in the afternoon from San Juan, exhausted. The tour
to Ischigualasto the day before had sucked the life out of us. We walked along the river that afternoon and took in the beautiful landscape. We spotted a modern-looking house that had been built right on the banks of the river, right in the shadow of the mountains (see picture). Location, location, location. Clearly the guy who built that house knew what he was doing. Kudos to him, I´m jealous. That evening we feasted on a dinner of spaghetti with cream sauce as if we hadn´t eaten in days. All the traveling made for a poor diet, and Argentina´s eating schedule (never dinner before 10pm), made it even tougher on me.
The next morning Hernan and I both woke up totally dazed. Although we only had a beer each the night before, it felt like a really bad hangover. We were so sleep-deprived that we would both look like crap, for lack of a better word, for the next week. Without enough sleep, waking up each morning meant an instant headache. If you do a lot of activites, hiking etc, don´t sleep a lot, and travel almost 2000 miles in only a week you will suffer. Period.
After
breakfast we set out for a 4 hour hike with a local guide. We were afforded some fantastic views of the mountain valley on our climb up. Near the peak of the hill the trail was nothing but pure rocks, and Hernan and I both struggled to make it up, our guide giggling the whole way. The way down was even worse. A steep decline and lots of big rocks does not make for a comfortable descent.
After the hike we headed back to our hostel. From Barreal we wanted to go to Mendoza, home of Argentina´s famous wineries (bodegas) and Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas. Getting there would have necesitated another 6 hour bus back to San Juan, then another 2.5 hour bus to Mendoza, arriving at about midnight. After our hike we had no interest in such a journey and so forked over the money to have the owner of our hostel drive us 2 hours south to Uspallata, halfway to Mendoza. The transport was expensive, about $90 USD for the both of us, which in Argentina is a lot of money. The road to get there is so bad that
buses don´t even drive on it and with anything less than a 4x4 you won´t make it.
After putting the expense out of my mind, we were off. After only 10 minutes in the truck I realized it was worth it. The mountain ranges cowered over me on the road and seemed to be only inches away. The driver, Mauro, was a laid-back dude with long hair and a thick beard. He gave us a little history of the area and then asked us: ¨Can I put on some music?¨ The next thing I know The Mighty Led Zeppelin is blasting from the speakers as we bump on down the road, engulfed by mountains on the right side. Rocking out to the Zep while staring bug-eyed at colossal mountains is not a bad way to be. Indeed.
About 4pm in the afternoon we arrived in Uspallata. I had been there two years ago and it, like Barreal, is situated beneath the mountains (The film ¨Seven Years in Tibet¨ was filmed in Uspallata). Unfortunately there wasn´t as much snow as last time so the views were not as impressive. After trying to hitchhike unsuccessfuly to Mendoza, we decided to
Ischigualasto Park
This formation is called El Gusano, The Wormwait for the next bus and arrived in the evening, exhausted. We had traveled hundreds and hundreds of miles in just a few days, on top of a couple hikes. But there was no time to rest, relax, or complain. I had already seen many of Mendoza´s main attractions the last time (see previous blog entries) but there was still one thing I wanted to do: lots and lots of wine. Ahh, life is good.
Part II coming soon
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