Snowing in Buenos Aires!

Perhaps i left just in time ...or not, it probably looks pretty all in white. By the way, this got a mention in international news here.
Argentinian glaciers are melting, it's snowing by the seaside, nooo, there's nothing really wrong with the global climate.

I have been watching a bit more TV recently than i have in the last 2 years... but cop this for news:
An archaeological site was pronounce today in the news, near here in the Mornington peninsular. Two scuba divers came across 2 rusty old planes while they were out to sea, one with the pilot still in it. It was soon established that they were war planes which had gone missing in 1947 during practice and had never been found, until now.

I really need a job.

welcome, and how about some fish soup?

Smooth entry into one of the worlds most boring places... sorrrrrry but that's how i feel.
On my last night in Buenos Aires i had a home-cooked german meal, thanks Cata, excellent red regional wine and as many cigarettes as i could smoke between coughing fits. But i was packed, thanks to Saloni's no-nonsense packing strategy, and during the day i had the chance for some going-away chats with Luciana, Alejandro, Rosana and Fernanda where i was able to relax for the first time in a week and enjoy the company of my friends, although i was seriously deliriously exhausted. I impressed myself, my goodbyes weren't sombre but animated get togethers.
I wasn't thinking of who i wouldn't see again, or rather not for a while, nor of the places i wouldn't be going to anymore, nor the routine if any that i had. I couldn't think that far into the realm of possible scenarios and futures, it simply was too much. The numbness obliterated my tears and better still i was able to function as a person until i got on that plane. The exhaustion worked to my advantage cos my 45 hour door-to-door trip had me passed out for most of the ride, even the despicable Sydney to Melbourne bus ride, allowing me to arrive friday morning in melbourne full of beans and talk my brother's head off. My dad received me with open arms and a bowl of fish soup at 9am, obvious to him that that's what i would want.

My first impression of my peoplesss and my surroundings was, ... not as violent as i anticipated. Coming down the Hume highway i saw the open fields with some cows and within 15 minutes i saw the 20 odd sky rises that concentrate to make melbourne city centre. I was in australia and i was not in argentina but i couldn't feel it. I suppose my subconscious had gone into auto pilot, treating this as another one of my transportations, and so taking every minute as it came to me and like i had never seen or been there before (that's not to say i had no idea where i was, on the contrary, i knew excactly). I felt contradictions, the familiarity from a distance and all. My past and The Travel was neither here nor there. But hell! i felt good and as excited as diving headlong into a ginormous chocolate cake! YUM.

However, one little thing that made me cringe was the aussie whine, aoohhh, the drawl that sounds so Cath and Kim - an aussie comedy, for those who don't know, that takes the piss out of australians and then ends up being the national dialect aaarggh!! where yes becomes yiiiiiiis and nice becomes noyice, the horror... And language is an issue here for me. It took me 3 days to say a full sentence in greek with out mixing it with spanish, and with english for that matter, but it's not like i've said anything in spanish properly in days. I so hope i don't lose it, entonces todos que pueden escribirme en espaNol deben que hacerlo para que no me olbide todo que aprendi y me vuelvo una boluda sin todas las huevadas que uno aprede hablando con la gente, cachai?

Things are exactly how i left them, streets are wide and clean with lots of trees, there's that huge middle class, even if lower-middle (which is light years away from the explosive poorer majority of Latin america), people are politically apathetic, indigenous people are being told how to live their life, again, (like it really worked last time), and even though it appears that governments aren't as corrupt here as they are there, they're still greedy lying scumbags, although i hardly needed to remind anyone of that. On my fourth day here i realised i hadn't walked out on the street, out of the house, or further than a few metres from the car i was in. From house to car, from car to house. So i take a walk around my neighbourhood to see that not even old people greet you anymore, that's if anyone is alive on the streets of suburbia.

On the 5th day i had the mandatory brawl with my dad over and done with, but that took my dopey glad to be back grin off my face. Apparently I'm not complaining enough about being unmarried and childless, but you know dads... can't exactly tell them to shut it. So now, 10 days in the country and i've just got used to the sound of autralians speaking (it's actually a big deal), spoken to some old friends, and have blended into the australian landscape like i'd never left. Got on the road with my car and passed roads and places i have known all my life and cringed with familiarity, cos it had that feeling of regression, of backwardness, of a feeling like the last 2 years never happened. And then i'd get flashbacks of walking down Pyuerredon and turning into Santa Fe, making myself at home at Allan's oasis of a home, passing one of the many fruit and veggie shops, of the buses screeching so loud while they pass you and leave you deaf and in a puff of smoke, watching people in the Subte like everything they do means something, observing with my sociological eye to what degree a person can stay disconnected from others in a crowded train carriage. Well the train carriage i got onto here was very much empty since public transport is a joke - imagine paying $10 for a daily ticket when back in Peru it would grant me 10 hours of long distance travel. ok, so i can't make those comparisons but PT is undoubtedly a million times better in America than here.

Nevertheless, It's nice to be home.

Update from the last port...

i've kind of skipped forward 2 months of my trip to make an announcement...

In 2 days i have a ticket back home.
I must say i'm a more than a little nervous but packing will be such fun. I've spent the last 4 weeks here in Buenos Aires, trying to do all the things i never had time for last year, but funny thing i still have run out of time. I've been trying to maximize my time, going out all but 3 nights, running all over town, purchasing when purchasing has lost all meaning, all the while carrying around a 5 weekold cold, smoker's cough and coldsores. My body is taking its toll and upstairs is a bit of a mess too. For the first time since i left, i've been astraltravelling to australia... you what? I mean i'm kind of there already, i suppose trying to make the transition smooth. Either way, i'm excited about coming back!! i have plans and projects except nothing long term...
I've been asked a million times when and if i'm coming back here. Of course i'd love to, but i honestly can't be asked thinking that far ahead, scheduling like i had done before my travel plans years in advance in my mad dash to get out of the country. Whenever if ever, is how i see it now. If anything, I'm looking forward to getting a 4x4 and seeing a bit of Victoria, people say my home state is lovely, i should know, right?

I already miss everyone here, and the goodbyes... oh geeez. I think i'll go down to San Telmo today, a part of town that closes the streets every sunday and overworked overstressed Porteños stroll slowly down the streets, passing by the antique stalls, arts and crafts, the bands on pavement, street performers of all sorts, and of course to see the tango dancers onthe street. I'll miss my MATE, i wonder if i can get yerba in melbourne, surely..

Later.

Cordoba

Cachi to Cafayate

Salta and to Cachi

I was going to spend a little more time around the region, visit the national park, las Yungas which is beautiful and part of the amazon but... i became eager to get to Salta since I could meet up with Marlene, Philippe, Jorge (AKA Che) and Fernando and Eva - sound popular? i was for a day...

This time round Salta wasn´t as hot as last December, geez it was unbearable then. It was kind of cool but sunny and nice, i even visited the museum with all he local history, though i understood very little. There, having a kitchen, i started to bring home lots of meat, in fact i ate steak everyday. I forgot, or in my poverty in buenos aires just didn´t get much of it, how bleeding delicious the beef is here. We, as australians, make mean barbecues and all that, and i have debated over who has the best bbq in the world, but i´m afraid i´ve now gotta give in, these guys have it! The bbq restaurants, Parillada, have these huge grills with wood! The lazy cows than live on flat planes offer the most tender and delicious chunks of meat you can imagine... i´m drooling.

I also got taken out to a Peña, which is kind of a place to eat and also to listen to folk music. There´re lots around, many with full-on shows, musicians on stage, dancers dressed up. But do you think i´d pay for something that constructed? Place i went to, La Casona, had very good and cheap food and wine, in an old huge homestead so that there were separate rooms with tables basically, and folks with their own guitars who come in, sit, eat, drink and start singing, and so does anyone who wants to basically. Singing and playing music simply for the pleasure of it, simply to be around appreciative ears. And they were good. I´m afraid i got blind drunk that night... cos my eyes got so small i had trouble seeing.

San Lorenzo was 5 km out of town, you could say an outer suburb, where we heard there was a river to walk along, again, and somewhere in the nature that we could pass the time. As my bus rolled in i realised the only people on my bus were the workers who attended the huge mansions that were apearing before my eyes. They were beautiful, big lawns and lots of horses n the street. The place was lush and posh. Well, off on our walk we went surrounded by amazing butterflies, slippery rocks by the low-lieing river and lots of horse dung. I knew i was in argentina, there were mate yerba dumpings every 30 odd metres along the river (where mate was drunk and then the used tea leaves where dumped).

And a week later i split with Phillip and my new found frenchy mate, Delphine, to Cachi, a little town near the mountains. There day after day we tried to get up early to take nature walks and appreciate the fresh air and scenery. But instead we constantly slept in, ate lots of goats cheese, salami, crusty country bread and yummy wine from the region. Since we happen to be there on a Sunday, we got invited to the parilla (bbq) that the old couple who had the place were making like they make every Sunday... i tried to refuse but they wouldn´t have it. We had a ball that afternoon, until the sun went down, it got chilly and gusts of wind came and smacked us out of their backyard.

Three days later i leave with Delphine and our obsession with food continues.

Che, back in town. Humahuaca

Sadly but inevitably, I had to leave Bolivia. 30 days isn´t even enough for me to get a gut bug, let alone get to see this incredibly beautiful and diverse country.

24th April. Had to take 4 am bus to Villazon, the bordering town to Argentina and got there about six, sleep in the eyes and all. There, in the freezing morning, we started to walk to the boarder, crossed, and took our first Argentinian bus. ooh the comfort, the top deck view, the stretch of the legs and the vast open spaces, flat, dry with protruding mountains in the distance, and we had descended about 2000m. Marlene was ultra excited and infected me with the thrill of being back in Argentina, and i stopped lamenting leaving Bolivia.

We got to Humahuaca, a place i really wanted to get to last time i was this way but didn´t have time. Dry, sunny in the day and cold at night, it´s very country and gaocho (cowboy). We stayed there a while but in between we took a side trip out of town for a night. Went to a town called Iruya and the 3 hour ride, albeit in an old school bus, was phenomenal. We ride up, to 4000m again, to see this amazing view of coloured mountains below them a patchwork of fields and then a massive chasm like an ancient earthquake separated the world and left space for a huge wide river, which was running low this time of the year.
And them we descend, again. Down, down in the chasm, winding all the way down and along, to reach Iruya at 2730m. It sits on a cliff face, at risk every year of simply falling off from the river swelling up and erosion. But opposite sit an array of mountain ranges the colours of all the pastels, but as well as stronger colours, blues, greens, purples, yellows, red browns, pinks, oranges...

First thing, we decide to talk a long walk along the river to reach a nearby town, called SanIsidro. Starting at midday and knowing it was 2.5 hour walk each way, we thought we´d make it in time before dark. Not knowing however that it was 11km each way, with a slight incline, and even thought the river was low, we would still have to cross it several times (since we didn´t really know the best places to cross) we got wet only shine high luckily. Spectacular as it was, it was 3.5 hours later that we say another joining river and a church on a cliff face which didn´t really look that far. But it would be another half hour climb, exhausted and desperate for a ride back. Marlene said when we arrived to the village, let´s not look too desperate for a horse... But there was no one willing at that hour of the afternoon, there was no choice, we rested for 5 minutes and began back.

On our way back we bumped into a local, carrying an oven on his back together with his pregnant companion, who was going our way so we followed their lead. With them we made it in half the time with much less river crossings. But those two! both burdened by weights managed to always walk way ahead of us. Anyways, when we made it back and we felt on top of the world.

Geeez that drive to Iruya was fabulous and impressive. Back to Humahuaca and within a couple of days to SALTA.

ps. anyone know how i can put a caption under my photos?