Jun 2008

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My second day in Tupiza was spent hiking around the area taking in the landscape - visited Cañon del Inca (with a small waterfall), Puerta del Diablo, and a valley of odd-shaped rocks names the valley of penises. Phallirific.
That night I hit the town with Joel and Eileen a English/Australian couple, respectively, and a plethora of other folk from our hostel. We started out at a restaurant named "The Alamo" - nice. Afterwards, everyone cleared out and Joel and Eileen and I wanted another drink. So we went to a karaoke bar and ordered cocktails of the local liquor - singani. Foul stuff that is thrice distilled from grapes. It is 80 proof and somewhere between tequila, vodka, and paint thinner. Apparently it has mildly psycotropic effects.
So after some of those I was feeling the music at the karaoke place - something I never do. I murdered a version of "House of the Rising Sun". Shortly thereafter the rest of the hostel squad arrived - apparently not really ready to call it a night. We ordered a bottle of singani and I convinced the multi-national squad to sing. The English sang Elvis' "Can't help falling in love" and me and a French guy sang "Michelle" by the Beatles. I tried to move people to the dancefloor but was unsuccesful. However, my gregarious attitude was, apparently, interpreted by a small gay, Bolivian man as invitation for courtship. Eileen made the situation worse by telling him, in spanglish, that I would come with him if he procured some margarine and a donkey. This surely confused the Boliviano. I made a hasty exit to my hostel.
Monday, I indulged myself and left on a 4-day tour of SW Bolivia with Eileen, Joel, and two Argentineans - Mariano and Lucas. The SW circuit of Bolivia is extremely dry, extremely high, and contains bizarre lagoons, volcanos, and geologic formations. The 1st day we were supposed to see some natural rock wonders but our guide, apparently, got lost in the maze of dirt tracks through the remote area. So we aimlessly off-roaded for 12 hours and saw some distant vicunas and a rodent relative of the chinchilla. Towards the end of the day the drivers, sensing our irritability, tried to cheer us up by singing quechua songs with mouths packed full of coca leaves. I wasn't having it.
The next morning we awoke to a temperature of -4 degrees fahrenheit and journeyed to an extinct volcano with an arsenic lake at its' base. We played 3-3 football at the end of the day, all of us immediately regretting this because of the 4000 m altitude. The Bolivians and Texan won.

My second day in beautiful Cafayate I visited a couple of vineyards - nothing special - just large scale operations - impersonal. Although I did find some excellent local basil cheese. I hiked to some petroglyphs on the edge of town and sat in cave with the rock-paintings trying to soak up the thousands of years of history.
Next day, went back to Salta and found out my sublessors are bailling on rent for 2.5 months. Fuckers. I have to reconfigure my budget now, but there is little that would halt my travels (except for maybe that nasty STD I picked up in BA). I wandered around Salta the rest of the day and saw the inside of the big, pink cathedral. I like going to these religious monuments for a couple of reasons. I'm a history buff and usually the structures represent the beginning of European conquest in a given area. Also, I'm a practicing devil worshipper doing intelligence work for the dark prince's army. Two birds, one stone.
Afterwards, I went to a museum with Incan mummies on display. These unbelievably well-preserved corpses were originally placed at the tops of mountains hundreds of years ago in northern argentina. One of them nicknamed "The Queen" had a face frozen in horror. Eyes open, jaw agape - she is burned into my memory.
Next day took a bus to Humahuaca - a small town north of Salta on the edge of the Quebrada de Humahuaca - a beautiful gorge that runs for dozens of miles. The Spanish marched down this canyon in the early 19th century during the Argentinean independence war. One Argentine city, Jujuy, was completely razed by the Argentineans to avoid letting the Spanish capture it. Commitment.
The bus trip to Huma was brief but memorable we watched "Bloodsport" as babies screamed. I swear the bus company issued babies with all ticket sales. So many of those snot-nosed, bleary-eyed, stinky, tender....babies.
Found a cheap hostel in Huma and hiked around town on some goat trails and met a couple from Australia/England with whom I'm now travelling.
Huma is like Santa Fe, New Mexico extremely high and dry - close to 2500 meters. Colder than bejesus at night. Adobe structures.
Took a bus to Uquia - a small town famous for its' 17th century paintings of angels holding spanish colonial weapons - remarkable considering the time period they were created - unremarkable otherwise.
Made it across the border to Tupiza, Bolivia, but was halted for an hour near the border by protesters burning tires. I got out just in time. Bolivia is a world apart. People look more indigenous here with wider features and smaller statures, it is a country MUCH poorer than Argentina, but the people are just as friendly. I dig the clothing choices too.
My time in Argentina was spectacular. The country has it all (including significant poverty): deserts, forests, mountains, famrlands, beaches. It is one of the most prosperous countries in South America and will, probably, continue to be. Lovely place. I wish Americans posessed the same political fervor Argentineans have shown me.
If McCain wins I'm looking into Argentine citizenship.

The day I arrived in Salta I walked around and found a hostel with a ping-pong table. Serious business, but not many competitors.
Salta is a beautiful old town with a big pink cathedral and tons of colonial era buildings. I hiked to the top of a hill on the edge of town and caught an excellent view of the city. Afterwards, I tried to bargain with a street vendor for a pancho, but like all my bargaining experiences in Argentina, was completely shot down.

Street Vendor "20 pesos"
David "OK.....10 pesos"
Street Vendor "no"
David "OK, OK, 15 pesos?"
Street Vendor "no"
David "A little less, come on"
Street Vendor "You buy it or you don't."

After Salta I took a bus to Cafayate - a small town near the Quebrada de Cafayate - a beautiful gorge reminiscent of northern arizona or southern utah. There are also wineries and vineyards there.
I found an empty hostel, rented a bike, and biked through the Quebrada. Awesomely beautiful.
Although after about 30 km, the bike seat felt like a rock. My ass hurt worse than that one time (GTT).
On the way back I stopped at a house that I thought was a cafe. The owner came out and I asked for a glass of wine - he poured me a shot glass of his home brew. It was one of the worst wines I have ever tried - I had one of those faces usually reserved for drinks with much higher alcohol contents. As I finished, he stared at me with an quizzical, happy expression that said "it's good right?"
David "Yeahhh...how much is it again?"
The next day I visited some petroglyphs on the edge of the gorge. Lots of goats.