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Published: April 15th 2010
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And once again, I have to write this entry "out of my mind", because of my "experience" in Lima ;-) But just until Posadas, from there on, I wrote into another book :-)
So we left Calafate and went together to Cachi (Carola, Pablo and I). Already the journey to there, was really beautiful and we saw a very amazing countryside and stopped at some farm with an very old wooden-church, that was really impressing. Cachi itself is a nice little village and we went up a hill nearby, where there is the local cemetery and from where you have a very nice view of the village and surrounding.
The other day we continued to Salta (la linda ;-) and the road to there was also spectacular. In Salta we went up the hill "Cerro San Bernardo" with a great view of the town and I went to a Couchsurfers home, that turned out to be a very interesting and friendly person and we ended up talking for hours, while sharing a delicious mate :-) Of course, we went to a typical "peña" at night, that´s a restaurant with typical live-music and dance-show. They even invited me to dance
with one of them at the "stage" in front of all the people ... of course some traditional dance, where I had no idea how to and it must have looked very funny, but it was great fun too ;-)
The next days we spent exploring the city, which is really nice and then went to Pucara, to see some old ruins, a fortress, constructed by the tilcaras. That´s quite huge and really impressing and somehow like a big labyrinth. We met some other nice travellers and spent the night nearby at a nice hostel. The next day we went to Purmamarca, that´s a small village at the base of a hill, that "shines" in five different colours - just beautiful! We also continued to "Salina Grande" a nearby salt-desert. It was great fun taking the typical "joke-photos" where you can fly or "step onto" other people ;-) In the evening it was time to say goodbye to Pablo, who had to return to Buenos Aires - it was a great time, travelling together - thank´s mate!
Carola and I continued to Humahuaca - that´s already close to the Bolivian-border and spent some days there, before we returned
to Salta and Carola continued the other day also in direction of Buenos Aires, whilst I stayed at the home of Ani, the nice Couchsurfer and we had some really great days together, talking about life and god and everything, watching movies and also visiting a more "typical" peña, where the local people go to and just anyone who want´s to grabs a guitar and sings - really great!
Finally I had to continue and went by bus to Resistencia. That´s an interesting town almost in the middle of nowhere, the so called "chaco", that´s some kind of desert, dry and hot, but still "usable" for agriculture. The town itself has a fame as the town of sculptures and this is true ;-) You´ll find them everywhere in the streets. I stayed at the home of a Couchsurfer and his family who where really very nice and made me feel at home at once. I also loved the big Doberman - so cute! :-) One day they went with me to the nearby town "Corrientes" where we did some "shopping" :-)
After some days I continued to Mercedes, where I watched the celebrations of the Independence-day - that
was very nice and interesting to see the young people dancing a traditional dance with traditional clothing in the street. From there I continued to Esteros del Ibera, a national park with a very interesting fauna & flora. I joined a group of English-tourists and it turned out to be very funny (e.g. playing games at the evening in our rooms full of mosquitos ;-). The park itself consists of a big "lake" with floating-islands on it - at the bigger ones you can even get out the boat and walk on! There´s lots of wildlife: Carpinchos, monkeys, birds, deer and of course caiman. It was a really beautiful and very impressing experience and I enjoyed it very much.
From there we continued to Posadas and the others continued to different places. I stayed at the home of a friendly Couchsurfer in Posadas too and one night we went out to eat at an Arabic restaurant - the food was really great. When I tried to find his home, I first took the wrong bus, but asked a few minutes later the driver and he told me to get off and take a bus back ... and that the
area that this bus was going to, not is for foreigners alone at night ... :-) Unfortunately there have been constructions going on at the main square, so it wasn´t that nice ... but I went to the cinema and saw "Angels & Demons". The Couchsurfer and a friend of him, also showed me the river-side of town, with Paraguay at the other side - really near.
I was thinking about visiting Encarnacion, a Jesuit-mission in nearby Paraguay, but because of 2 days of constant rain, I decided to continued to the village of San Ignacio, to visit San Ignacio Mini, an old mission of the Jesuits, where they worked together with the locals and taught them by integrating and work together in arts - a very interesting and advanced approach for that time! The ruins are also very impressive and you can stroll around for hours, discovering beautiful details and new things. I stayed there at a nice hostel with an Argentinian owner and his Canadian woman. I watched a movie on DVD (in French, with Spanish subtitles ;-). There also was a film-crew at the moment there and in the evening, they invited me to eat pizza
together - really good and great fun! :-) When I was waiting for the bus the next day to continue to Iguazu, I met a man and we´ve been talking about my experiences in my journey. When I told him, that in my opinion people here are more friendly and open and willing to help, he told me his story of living in Vienna (Austria) and how some people one day, when he was asking for directions at an house, brought him there by car ... his conclusion was, that the people in Austria are not less friendly and willing to help ... that made me think ...
Well, finally I arrived in Iguazu, but didn´t want to stay there yet, because my sister Sabine was at this time in "nearby" Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and I wanted to visit her and her boyfriend. I arrived in Iguazu at night, stayed one night and took the bus the next day to Rio (21 hours ...). Curiously the buses of the Brazil agencies are much more expensive and less comfortable (just a standard bus), whilst the Argentinian company (Cruzero del Norte) has the cheapest tickets and the best service (semi-cama)!
I got the last ticket for the bus the next day and when I took it, I experienced a nice surprise! But this is another story! :-)
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Sabine
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capivara
;-) hahaha...picture 12 and 13 are brilliant! those animals are my favorite in S.A. ;-) great big fat guinea pigs - I think they are related somehow...this one is definitely very laid back ;-) hahaha