Feb 2008

A quick entry with some funny things I've noticed. In no way am I stereotyping or making my observations a generality for all Chileans or Argentinians...these are a few things I noticed that are quite different than back home.

- women will breastfeed their kids just about anywhere: on the plaza, in line at the grocery store, practically standing up in the street....but the weirdest thing is, they will breastfeed their kids up until 3 or 4 years old!!! quite shocking when you first see it!

- the cars in Argentina are a mix of rusty old carcasses and new Europeans cars. The old cars are mostly old Renault's and Peugeot's...so weird to see a R12 or R9 driving around...those cars are at least 30yrs old. And it's not like old cars in Cuba that look like collectibles...these cars belong to the dump. A lot of old Fiat's too, the tiny little ones especially. No wonder car accidents is of of the highest cause of mortality in Argentina (and Chile too). The newer cars though are mostly WV. I guess the French weren't able to keep the monopole!

- back to kids: they tend to stay up late, very late. Parents take them all over, including babies that are only a few days old...best way to get immune to the world, I guess.

- stores close from 1-5pm or even 6pm sometimes. It's so hot during the afternoon, it's siesta time. Not in the big cities of course. But anywhere else, forget trying to buy food in the middle of the afternoon. The towns are deserted.

- dogs: they are everywhere... so many stray dogs...so sad...but also a little scary at times. In Valparaiso, before the big parade of independence day, the police goes around killing dogs so they don't walk across the parade (according to my teacher). In San Pedro, I did see the police shoot stray dogs in the middle of the street...yuk...must have been a fight or something, but I missed that part.

- the bottled water in Argentina contains such high levels of sodium...makes you feel bloated all the time....tap water is just fine.

- In Argentina, the most popular drink for young people is Fernet-Coke. Fernet is originally a sort of medicinal drink, like a vermouth, that the Germans brought over. Now it's the biggest hit and of course only the Branca brand. Definitively an acquired taste.

- Argentinians love to dress up, especially in the city, and even the kids. People always ask me the difference between Chilenos and Argentinians...there are so many...i can't begin to list them...but one quick observation is the way they dress...Argentinians definitively keep up with Europe and care about their looks (especially in BA...the other towns resent them...kind of like Parisians and the rest of France). In Chile, sadly because of economic reasons, people dress with what they can mostly, which resembles the left over rack at Marshalls.

- Both Argentinians and Chileans are very hospitable in general...the latin culture. But sometimes, I guess people don't know how to act with tourist/foreigners, so they just ignore you...like you're a ghost. It's so weird when it happens...people will cut in front of you in a line at the grocery store, or in queue for a computer, or to get bags out of the bus. It's not like French or Italians cutting lines...it's an older woman just walking right by you as if you weren't there...or a young guy just talking over you as if you weren't in the middle of a sentence. You have to be there to understand it, I think. Ben and Jonathan both witnessed, so I"m not exaggerating!

Anyways, just a few things for now, as I'm sitting on a terrace and people watching. Just for the record...

After a couple days in Mendoza resting (and eating ice cream!), I headed north to Salta (another night bus, this time with full service, hot food, blankets and even Bingo!!). The Hispanic architecture stands out in Salta, with its huge main plaza, narrow streets, colonial houses and statues. The center is quite pleasant with cafes and car-free streets, although a little run-down and dirty compared to Mendoza...which gives it a more authentic feel actually! Around Salta are some of the most fertile grounds (tobacco, soja, fruit, vineyards) at the bottom of the pre-Andes mountains- by the way the town is at 1,200m above sea level, which makes it pleasantly warm and dry in the summer. There is a rainy season in Jan-Feb, but so far it´s only been raining at night...and the heaviest rain was last month...big flooding problems.

Although I did experience some flooding on the first day of my expedition to Cachi and Cafayate (to the west and south). It rained all night so in the am, as we left the city, roads were flooded & traffic a total nightmare, while mud slides and rocks blocked the way over the mountains. Nothing unusual for the driver...just need a little patience...and a few spare tires (we had to change one each day). The drive is quite spectacular through valleys and cactus fields to canyons and rock formations that reminded me of Arizona a little. Cachi is a tiny little town (5,000 hab) surrounded by snow-covered mountains with adobe homes painted white. You feel like you step back in time when crossing the plaza and walking towards the church, a classified monument BTW. The people here use a lot of cactus wood for construction (church roof) and decoration (frames, boxes, altar, etc). Cactus are protected so you can only use its wood if the cactus died of natural causes. From Cachi, we drove through more valleys and canyons on this curvy dirt road to Cafayate (12,000 hab), another Spanish-architecture influenced white adobe town, yet more lively and popular...one for its touristic attractions (trekking, etc) and two, for its wine. Cafayate is indeed the center of production for Torrentes wine, a white wine, fruity to the nose, but dry when you drink it...perfect for a hot summer day. On day 2, we toured a few bodegas and then made our way back to Salta through more canyons and desert-like landscapes. I can´t even describe it all in words...as canyons and valleys sound so plain...the pictures will tell all...well, not really, as you only get a taste of it...being there though at the feet of all this beauty was simply magical and impressive...and like i´ve said before ´it makes you feel like an ant on earth´.

Back to Salta and then off to another 2 day expedition to the North to the altiplano parks. On day 1, we stopped by a salar (salt lake), similar to the one I saw in Bolivia, but smaller... still amuzing to take those funny perspective pics. We drove over mountains crossing over 4,700m (a little altitude sickness...dizzy and sleepy mostly) and through gorges and rocky rivers. The region used to be a crossroad for economic and social communication for the Andean populations. Later it also was a caravan road for the Incas. You can actually visit ruins of Inca settlements. The main attraction in the region though is The Quebrada de Humahuaca, a ravine of spectacular colors....a true geology lesson...it´s as if someone took a brush and went from left to right painting these colorful waves on the mountain...green, red, purple, pink, orange, yellow. Not sure if the colors will come out on the pics...I bought postcards just in case....they looked photoshoped but I did see it all with my own eyes! That night we stopped in a local village, mud bricks & co, which reminded me of Northern Chile (Andean kids in dirty jogging pants with runny nose, begging as soon as you step out the car) except the town is more in touch with tourism...more infrastructures and artisanal stores everywhere.

It´s actually mind boggling to think these kids live in poverty just 2 hrs hour away from a big city with asphalt, internet, stores & co. I guess you can say it´s the same in NYC... go from Wall Street where people blow $200 on dinner without blinking an eye and take the C train to Queens where some people live 10 to a 2 BR apartment with barely any heat in the winter and fast food left overs in their fridge. But the difference here is you feel you are stepping back in time....almost 100yrs backwards. On my tour, I had visitors from Buenos Aires...such a contrast! The people living in BA are like Europeans (in looks, culture, modernization, etc). For most, it´s their 1st time visiting Northern Argentina... so like us they take pictures of the llamas, the gauchos, the adobe houses... they don´t relate at all to the Andean culture, if anything they look down upon it.

On day 2, we drove back to Salta through more ravines and valleys. A long day, but full of incredible landscapes.

Foodwise (always an important part of the visits!), goat cheese is popular here...not the soft smelly kind like in France...it´s more like a mountain cheese. People eat it along with cajote, some fruit I have yet to figure out what it looks like. Empanadas are a must-try here... you buy them by the dozen...much smaller than the Chilean versions (and from the ones in BA apparently). Finally, goat meat...cazuelo de cabrata...pretty tasty.

That´s it for now...some resting...before I head back to Cafayate. Finally slept 12hrs last night!!! The black around my eyes is receding!

After that ´terrific´last night in Bariloche, we got on a 18hr bus ride to Mendoza. First 6 hours to Neuquen where we had to change to a night bus to Mendoza. We paid for the ´cama´seats, which are the most comfortable ones (wider and go back more), but somehow no service came with it (ie: food or a blanket), strange. Good we came prepared with food...but we were freezing in the early hours of the morning. Another pleasant night. Í think we´re trying to set a record here. Poor Charlotte thought she would relax on her vacation...good she has a few days to recoup when she gets home.

Long story short, we get to Mendoza, the capital of the wine region. The town is actually really cute...very much influenced by European architecture from Spanish-looking plazas to French-looking facades. The town is also an interesting mix of the past & its wine culture with the younger style-conscious and techhy generation. Unfortunately, there´s also a big contrast between the newer rich and the struggling class. The first day, we toured the town & park. Not quite like Central Park!! very big, but full of roads and somehow people don´t see anything wrong with setting up their card tables or blankets right next to the road or parked cars, overlooking an intersection....instead of walking into the park more and enjoying the green fields. Bizarre. We stayed there late to catch a free salsa show (for the vendimia, harvest, the town organizes a lot of shows and activities) but couldn´t stay up at past midnight. Unfortunately another sleepless night awaited. We were in a mixed dorm of 6 and one of the guys was snoring all night. At around 5 am, Charlotte got up and slapped the guy on the shoulder telling him to roll over (in english, no less!). I was laughing so hard. I´ve never seen her lost her cool. We got probably another 2hrs of sleep, but not the best.

So if you´ve followed the last few entries and all my details about the short nights we´ve been having...you will understand the next paragraph:

Off to a hotel in the country side!! Charlotte and I decided we couldn´t survive any longer without a good night sleep, so we splurged for 2 nights in a countryside hotel, in the middle of the vines, in Chacras de Coria, a ritzy neighborhood (unbeknownst to us). We just googled around for estancias in the country side...not easy to find...now here´s a good business plan!... and eventually found this hotel 15km outside of town. We jumped on it. Turns out, it´s in the middle of the wineyards which makes it convenient to tour the bodegas and most importantly to RELAX.

What a treat: comfortable beds with a soft duvet!! a big towel! a clean shower for you and only you! luxury!!! Both days we didn´t leave the room until 1pm!!! went down for breakfast and then back to bed...just to tell you what a treat it was. Also fun to watch TV a little, it´s been so long!

The first day, we joined a tour of 2 bodegas (vineyards) and an oil factory. We get tastings of course in all 3. The wines though were pretty young and not that amazing. However the tours were fun and interesting...love walking around the caves. The first night we were there was a Monday...everything was closed. So the hotel suggested this Palmares mall for dinner. The cab driver though said we´d be better off at this other mall, El Shopping. We figured the hotel might send us in some expensive area, so we listened to the cab driver instead. BAD IDEA. He took us back to Mendoza to this huge modern shopping complex...what a nightmare...I hate malls...and to think we left our little paradize in the vineyards to end up surrounded by McDonald and La Brioche Doree, I was going to lose it. We jumped in a cab again this time to Palmares...although we might as well have eaten in town at this point....but we perseveered. Turns out this mall had a few restaurants, excellent ones actually. We ordered wine right away and a yummy Chateaubriand steak. Phew.

The second day, we walked around Chacras de Coria and had lunch on the main square...very cute...got to talk to a group of Venezualan women having lunch next to us (3 generation of women, aunts and cousins). We then walked to the Alta Vista Bodega: a fantastic vineyard. The building is a mix of modern and tradional architecture with arch and stone details and yet modern lighting on the bottle displays. The tasting was delicious. We discovered Torrentes white wine from the north and a delicous cabernet sauvignon. That night, we walked to restaurant near the hotel (Chacras claims to be the gastronomy center of the area, and rightly so...just not on Mondays!). Great trattoria.

Finally, one last morning to sleep in....followed by a horse ride in the vineyards. We found this little estancia specialized in Crillion horses where Cesar, the gaucho, took us for a ride through the vineyards and up a cerro for a view of the Maipu region. Great fun.

Those last 3 days were just heaven... from the bed, the pool, the food, the wine, the bodegas, the horseride, the little plaza... could´ve stayed a whole week!

Headed back to Mendoza though for Charlotte´s last night...and splurged for this cured meat and cheese plate at this cute little restaurant we had noticed our first day in town. I´ll have to post pics when I get them from Charlotte...so funny. And for the finish, a chocolate molten cake. Yes, a grandiose ending for the 3 weeks of traveling together (not to mention the delicious ice cream that afternoon...Argentinians make the best ice cream....feels like being in Italy...or even better...the flavors are exotic...and innovative...some even with wine hints to them... how will I resist the next few days...??).

Oh wait, i do have to add a few lines about Charlotte´s last night. After dinner, we headed back to the hostal where they were celebrating Valentine´s day early.... huge party going...noooooooooo. Until 2am music was blasting. Finally the music stopped but the people moved to the patio next to our room. Once again Charlotte got up and was ready to yell at them but I think the light scared them off. So that was about 3hrs for that night (C had to get up at 6 to catch her bus). I wonder if she made it back to France or fell asleep in the bus and continued on to Patagonia!!

As for me, I´m now in a new hostal....got to sleep 12hrs last night!!!...also bumped into some french people staying at the hostal...we´re going to picnic in the park tonight to watch a free tango show. Should be fun.

All in all, great times... super fun to have Charlotte to travel with... and go out to dinner with... a good change from ham and cheese and soup!! hehe.

PS: i posted a picture of a mate...it´s like an herbal tea (from coke leaves) that you sip through the pipe. Argentinians and Chileans love it...they are addicted. They carry thermos bottles everywhere so they can drink their mate. You only take a few sips and then pass it around. Some put sugar in it too...so you can imagine all the stuff you need to carry around with you. The bus stations are even equipped with huge hot water tanks so people can refill their thermos. Interesting....

It´s been a while, sorry... let me catch up with the latest adventures.

Last time I was in touch, my friend Charlotte and I were off to El Bolson, a hippie town 2hrs south of Bariloche. Well, a hippie town it is...people think that growing out their hair and rolling in dirt is liberating...not so...the feria was not that big after all and sure didn´t have enough food stands! so we moved our bus tickets up and headed back to Bariloche early. (the one interesting observation was the movement of young people promoting a ´green´ way of living and agriculture....just don´t know why it has to be synonymous with being smelly and dirty).

The next 3 days we toured the Bariloche area....first hiking on the local ´cerros´(hills) for the great views of the lake, and then off on a boat ride almost to the border of Chile through the mountains. Actually Jonathan and I were on the other side of those mountains when in Puerto Varas and at lago Todo Santos with all those vicious flies. I need to explain with a map, I guess. Anyways, good hiking followed by some great restaurants in the evening: filet mignon on the grill...yum yum yum.... but very short nights thanks to some party girls sharing our dorm who would greet us with ´hola chicas´ at 4 am! We did luck out with the new hostal though: it was the 1st year annivesary when we arrived and the owner threw an ´empanadas´party for his guests...what a treat. The last night though we had to change yet again to another hostal...total nightmare...the road next to the hostal was so loud...traffic all night... couldn´t sleep... see picture of me at the cafe the next morning...even that yummy coffee couldn´t keep me awake. We are both starting to feel the accumulation of lack of sleep...but are keeping our spirits up....sleeping, that´s what bus rides are for!

Next was San Martin, 4hrs north of Bariloche, another little swiss looking town, more upscale but without the splendid lake view like in Bariloche. We relaxed some -canoeing on the lake- and exercised some more -crazy bike ride around town and through the mountain. For sure it wasn´t a ´real´ bike track...or else for advanced all-terrain cyclists....but we pulled through all the way to this lake on the other side of the hills, where we passed out for an hour. Back in town, we treated ourselves with jugo & cafe frappe (see pic)!

Our last evening there, we went for happy hour for some pisco sours...followed by a late meal (well 11pm is actually normal here)...fun night just observing local habits....a group of 8 argentinian women going for coffee at midnight to catch up and gossip, an elderly couple going for an ice coffee on a date, a group of dutch bikers grabbing a snack, and the two of us with our pasta and salad (for me, of course!). The Argentinians are very different than Chileans...to be expected of course...it´s like saying the French and Italians are different...of course. Argentinians are more European looking and definitively concerned about their looks (sorry for the generalizations here), and more in touch with US & Europe than Chile was (technology, music, cars, etc). However, be it Argentinian or Chiliean, they still are way behind in customer service and efficiency! I cannot tell you how many mistakes hostals make with their bills (to our advantage!). Even the more upscale hotel we went to in Mendoza forgot to charge our food and phone charges. No attention to details. Not complaining of course....just wonder how business owners will ever progress.

As soon as my brother took off, my friend Charlotte arrived to spend 3 weeks with me to explore the lake districts of Chile and Argentina. I took her through the classic day tour of Santiago (3rd time now...might start charging if I do it one more time!) and off we were on a night bus to Pucon, no time to rest...too many adventures ahead. And indeed, as soon as we got there we toured the town (feels like being in a mountain town in Switzerland or Germany with all the wooden chalet structures and wurst menus), walked along the lake, and booked 'activities' for the next fews days. First was rafting...super fun...big rapids....lousy co-rafters though (the 3 guys on the boat were useless...one was scared of every big wave and the other two couldn't paddle!)...our guide was not impressed and even got pissed when we got stuck on a rock... very funny...note, it's actually quite hard to remember all the instructions in Spanish...which side to duck, when to go backwards...with 2 sec to react, it was quite comical!... but great fun... all that in freezing water too!
Second day was the volcano climb. Pucon is indeed set on a lake at the foot of the Villarica volcano, an active volcano BTW, which is now a huge tourist attraction and ultimately put the town on the map. In any case, the tour starts at 7am....so up at 6am...and off we go in a short bus ride to the volcano's 1st base camp at 1,400m. The agency provides you with all this equipment from special shoes, pants, wind brakers, crampons, piolet, etc. All of a sudden you feel like you're off to hike with Edmun Hillary. That day was quite windy, so we couldn't use the chair lift for the first part of the climb. No big deal really, but adds 1 hr to the hike. Once we got to the snow part, the hike became quite an expedition...there are over 300 tourists climbing the mountain every day... you end up being in little groups from 4 to 12 (we were only 4 with one guide...so that was better) and follow each other in indian files up the mountain in zig zags. The wind kept increasing and at times, I thought we'd get blown over. The minute you stopped hiking, you lost balance...and let me tell you that the site of the steep slope beneath you wasn't a pleasant picture....just the thought of sliding down the whole mountain and falling in a crevasse kept us going up and up. Every 30min or so we took 5 min breaks... the view is indeed spectacular... but I just wanted to keep going and get to somewhere relatively flat. After 4hrs, we got to the top, 2,450m, where you can peak inside the crater. The fumes were so strong though that day, that we could only stay 10min at the very top, as the sulfur and other toxic fumes burned your throat. Sounds like fun yet??? All worth it though...got great pics. Now the way down was the real treat: sliding down on our butts. We had these sort of diappers on to protect us, but honestly they didn't help much and we were soaking wet when we got to the bottom. There are already tracks on the mountain, so you just run and jump in, using your piolet to guide you and brake. Charlotte forgot to stop at one point and ended up going downhill another 200m, tried to brake with her piolet but with her speed, she couldn't hold the grip and ended up going freestyle down the volcano... i seriously thought we were in trouble, but somehow she managed to stop and climb back up to the path...phew! All in all, a fun adventure for a monday!

Finally, we went on a horse ride up the hills to a magnificient view point of the valley. We then trekked on foot to a beautiful cascade for a little dip. It was Charlotte's first time on a horse and she did just fine...not an ounce of fear!

All in all good fun in Pucon...many activities to do...a beach on the lake to relax...bars and restaurants galore... but after 4 nights, we were ready to keep exploring. Mostly because our hostal was a disaster...couldn't sleep... between people coming in a 3 or 4 am after partying and people waking up at 6 to go on the volcano climb, we averaged 4hrs a night... so happy to be off on a bus where we could sleep a few hours.

Next was Valdivia on the coast....a cute little town in the middle of a delta. We ended going to a local feria with food, singing and dancing... very fun...and cultural for a change...and as long as food is involved, i'm in! The hostal was very cute...an old mansion...felt like Psychose, the movie... all crooked... the couple running it were very welcoming (such characters!) and I got to practice my spanish some more. Slept great until 6am when the rooster started waking the entire hood up... still impossible to get more than 6hrs sleep!!! ahhhhh

Next, we crossed the border to Bariloche, an 8hr bus ride through mountains and lakes...very scenic! Bariloche is another of those Swiss-German towns on a lake. All the architecture is chalet-like and restaurants offer fondues and sauerkraut!! the town is also famous for its chocolate...huge big stores with that disney-ish feel ....but the chocolate is honestly disgusting...cheap milk chocolate if you ask me...so sweet too... but again, the taste buds of people here (especially Chileans who tend to snack ALL the time) are very much on the sweet side. And I can talk, with my sweet tooth, but no way i'm eating another piece of this chocolate. Ok, you get the point. The first night at the hostal was yet again another disaster....girls coming in late from the discos...and then this older woman traveling alone who had to wake up at 5:30 to catch a bus and ended up talking as if we were all awake...she missed the bus (wrong meeting point) and woke us up again at 8am and kept talking the whole time. I wanted to strangle her. So that shot the next day... we tried to sleep in some more...and ended up having a late breakfast at this cute coffee place (finally real coffee!!) and tons of pastries (yeah, finally croissants and brioches!!). Also booked ourselves in a different hostal for tomorrow.

Our next adventures are also booked... off to El Bolson (2hrs south of here, a hippie town in a magical setting according to the guide) tomorrow for the day to a feria (more local foods), then on a big day hike, and finally on a boat trip to visit the other lakes.

But first, off to eat some good argentinian steak and ice cream!!! yum (and maybe a taste of Malbec too)

PS: on the first night, we did splurge for a cultural event: a tango show!!! it was a small theater, which was great...more intimate... great dancing, singing, and guitar trios. Great way to celebrate our arrival in Argentina!