Living well in Argentina

Although more expensive than the other countries we have visited in South America, we have found Argentina very easy to travel in; to organize tours; and to see the sights. On our last overnight bus journey from Tucuman to San Juan, we were happy when they served us a hot meal, surprised when they handed out blankets, and down right shocked when they served us a chocolate liqueur during the middle of the movie! A bottle of wine (in a restaurant) costs $9 Canadian, a steak dinner is $5, and a dozen empanadas $2.50. A basic room in a hotel costs us roughly $18, and an overnight bus is $33 per person to travel 900 kms. By Bolivian standards, this is expensive, but with no springs sticking in our backs, and no dust and bugs flying in the open windows of a bus travelling down the middle of a one-lane dirt road, I think it might be better value!

After leaving Salta, we arrived in Cafayate, a lovely small town, in a region that specializes in a white wine called torrontes. We boarded the bus with our hired bicyles at 5:00am to be transported 48kms north of town to Quebrada de Cafayate, a valley filled with many unique sandstone landforms. When the sun was rising, we were standing in the middle of the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat). As we cycled back, we viewed the Amphitheater (pictured right), the Toad, the Castles, the Obelisk, and others. The rock gave off gorgeous shades of red, purple and orange as the sun rose. Back in Cafayate, we tried the local specialty, wine flavoured ice-cream; went to three different bodegas (wineries) and a cheesery to sample the local goods. The people we met, especially Walter and his family (our wonderful hosts at Hostel Rusti-K), were friendly and kind.

We made our way to Mendoza, a beautiful city near to the Andes, and the Chilean border. Over 70% of all Argentinian wine is produced in this region. Being so close to the mountains, there are lots of different activities to do here. The city is full of parks and plazas, and the streets are lined with wide sidewalks and tall trees. There are wine, chocolate, and leather shops on most down town streets. Sidewalk cafes are everywhere.

On Sunday, we went on a 3-hour rafting trip down the Mendoza River. The water was wild, as the spring melt has begun, and we paddled our way, laughing and screaming, down the grade III and IV rapids. The following day, we joined a tour that took us from Mendoza to the Chilean border 200kms away. The valley that we followed, through the town of Uspallata and the ski region of Los Penitentes is very beautiful, with huge rock faces and snow capped mountains. Our tour took us to the Parque Provincial Aconcagua, where we had a clear view of the spectacular Cerro Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the western hemisphere at 6960 metres. After spending so much time in the Andes during the past four months, it was great to see its highest point.

As our time in South America draws to a close (at the end of next week), we will make our way east to Buenos Aires.

Location: Mendoza, Argentina

Falling over Iguazu

We arrived in the pretty town of Foz do Iguazu after another night bus from Campo Grande in the Pantanal. After speaking with the helpful man at the tourist information centre, we decided to take his advice and pop across the Rio Parana to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, as dozens of billboards on the way into Foz had promised cheap electronics and other duty free items. "If they ask for your ($100 USD) visa, play dumb and come back without paying" he advised. Fortunately, immigration chose not to check our bus, and we were free to wander the tout-filled streets who called us to their shops for "very cheap stuff". The things we did look at were not "very cheap", and we´re not exactly die hard shoppers, so we walked across the Friendship Bridge, back to Brazil. We had our favorite kind of lunch - buffet where you choose from all kinds of items and pay by weight. The local bus system in Foz was very easy to navigate, and we made our way out to the Parque do Iguazu.

We had a quick look at the Visitor Centre, and then were shuttled deeper into the park to the start of a 1.6 km trail which would take us alongside the Rio Iguazu where we gazed in wonder at the 270 different falls that lined the canyon. The falls mark the border between Brazil and Argentina, and although most of the falls are on the Argentinian side, the panoramic view from Brazil was spectacular. Imagine a large horseshoe, with dozens and dozens of separate falls along both sides of the legs, and the wonderful Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat) at the neck. Along the trail we also saw coatis (pictured right), lizards and butterflies which seemed to like to land on our sweaty arms.

We spent the night at the Youth Hostel, close to the falls, and we spent the next morning at the Bird Park, where we were able to walk in large, open aviaries with toucans, macaws, rheas, hummingbirds, hawks, and countless other birds. The toucans were our favorite, with their brilliant red, yellow and orange beaks, and their curiosity made us laugh. In the afternoon, we visited the Itaipu Dam, the largest hydro-electric dam in the world. The size and scope of the dam was pretty impressive, and the tour of the facility was pretty slick - the dam did nothing but good for the communities and the environment (yeah, right).

A couple more bus rides and a quick taxi landed us in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. We woke up early the next morning to begin our tour of the Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls, We began with a 6 km walk in the jungle part of the park, where we saw toucans and capuchin monkeys, and a lovely waterfall. We then made our way back to the main part of the park, and walked the Lower Walkway, a series of catwalks that took us along the canyon to view many of the lesser falls, and to Isla San Martine, an island in the middle of the river, which also provided wonderful views. We decided to have a more intimate experience with the falls, and took a trip in an open powerboat which doused us 3 times in the cool water of San Martine falls. A walk along the Upper Walkway provided us with the unique perspective of being at the top of the falls, just at the point where the water began its 80m journey down to the River. A short train ride took us to our final destination, the walkway out to the Garganta del Diablo, which was simply gorgeous. The viewpoint placed us at the top of the falls, less than 50m from the centre of the raging waters. The site tickled the senses - the sight was breathtaking, the sound was thunderous, and the feeling of the mist was very refreshing in the 38-degree sun.

After Iguazu, we made our way to San Ignacio to visit some Jesuit ruins, then to Resistencia, a city with over 400 sculptures that line the main streets, where it was very very hot. We decided to head for the mountains and spent a couple days in the very cool and very nice Salta.

Location: Cafayette, Argentina

Fishing for piranhas and caimans

We left Potosi in high spirits and headed for Sucre, the constitutional capital city of Bolivia. We visited a brand new dinosaur exhibit, built on a site where hundreds of dinasaur footprints were uncovered. We also visited a museum where indigenous weavings are exhibited - the weavings were beautifully intricate. From there, we took our 11th night bus so far this trip, to a little village called Samaipata. We stayed 2 nights there, relaxing and going for a long walk to some local ruins. Santa Cruz was our next destination, a modern, wealthy city smack in the middle of Bolivia´s natural gas reserves. From here, we took our 22-hour ride to the Brazillian border on the "Death Train", so called by the locals due to its habit of detaching itself from the rails. As we arrived at the border, we met with Daniel, from Brazillian-based Indiana Tours, and after some discussion, we agreed to cross the border with him and take a look at either hotels or a tour of the Pantanal with his company. We had been looking forward to seeing what promised to be fantastic wildlife viewing in this region of Brazil since we began our trip.

Before we knew it, the agency had helped us tremendously - a trip to the bank machine, to a place where we could buy onward bus tickets, to immigration for our precious stamps into Brazil, and of course, our receipt for $200 USD which paid for both of us to take a 3-day tour of the Pantanal (a very good deal when we compared notes with fellow travellers). We even managed to negotiate a third night´s accommodation and dinner at the lodge for free. When we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised by the view of the River Miranda, the many birds and hawks that made the lodge their home, and the great buffet dinner (we knew we were back in Brazil when we saw the rice and beans). Accommodation was basic, but as long as we ignored the critter running around in the ceiling, everything was OK.

Our first day we boarded the Jeep Safari, and were driven down the main road of the Parque Estrada. From the truck, we could see many animals - caimans, capybaras, mule deer, giant and river otters, coatis, storks, toucans, and countless other birds. When our guide Luis took us for a walk in the jungle, we encountered blue macaws, howler monkeys, and about a zillion mosquitos.

On our second day, there were only 3 of us who boarded the boat for our river cruise (Edwin and I, plus Ann from Germany). Our first caiman encounter took only a few minutes after we departed, and a big family of capybaras was just around the corner from him. Luis took us to shore to show us how to fish for piranhas. It was a pretty simple lesson: 1. put meat on hook at the end of about 3 metres of line, strung from a bamboo pole; 2. put hook in water; 3. wait four seconds; 4. catch piranha. We released a few, and Luis kept a few, but we weren´t sure why until we met up with another caiman who was sunbathing on the shore. With the piranha still on the end of the line, Luis went fishing for caiman, less than a metre from our boat! The caiman would wait for the piranha to wiggle a bit, and then would come in for the kill - jaws open wide, and a big crunch when he bit down. Over the course of the day, we saw hundreds of caiman, many families of capybaras up close, more monkeys and hundreds of birds.

On our third day in the Pantanal, we went for a horse ride before packing up and catching our bus for Campo Grande and onward to Cascaval, a city near to our next destination, Foz do Iguazu. Our visit to the Pantanal had been great with many memories and lots of photos to sort through. Brazillian buses were a pleasure after the dusty, bumpy, narrow seated buses of Bolivia. And there were paved roads that were more than one lane wide - deluxe!

Location: Salta, Argentina

Mining for Souls

Our next destination after leaving Uyuni was the mining city of Potosi, which claims to be the highest city in the world at almost 4000m. We had heard some incredible stories of what it was like to take a tour of one of the Cooperative Mines - crawling through tiny spaces, inhaling lungs full of dust in horribly hot conditions, and scrambling up steep passage ways, all at 50m underground, but at an altitude of 4200m. Hmmm, sounds like fun! We booked our tour with Pedro at Koala Tours, who promised us a memorable All Soul´s Day (November 1st).

We began our day with a little shopping at the Miners´Market. On the shopping list: three types of dynamite (Argentinian and Bolivian were noted as the best, Peruvian dynamite was reserved only for parties and fiestas), ammonium nitrate, fuses, coca leaves and soda pop to be given to the miners as gifts. We donned rubber boots, protective pants and jackets, hard hats and miner´s headlamps before climbing in the bus that took us just above Potosi to the Candelaria Mine at Cerro Rico (the rich mountain).

As we entered the mine shaft, the 9 of us on the tour were both nervous and excited. We followed Pedro several hundred metres into the mine, where at first conditions were cool and breathing was easy. We had a look at the museum which is built in a cave within the mine - many descriptions of what Potosi was like at its peak in 1500s, when the city swelled to a population of over 200,000 as the Spanish forced thousands of Indian slaves to extract silver from the mine. Pedro then led our group further into the mine, and things got hot! We sat, adjusting to the heat and humidity, by a statue of El Tio (the Uncle), a figure who the miners believe owns all the riches of the mountain. Offerings of cigarrettes, coca leaves, and alcohol are left for Tio so that he will share the riches with the miners. "Outside of the mountain, the miners are Christians, but inside, they pray to Tio", Pedro explained.

After a few minutes, we were led down a steep, narrow passageway to level two of the mine. We scrambled along, at first stooping, then waddling like a duck, and finally crawling on hands and knees, all the while trying not to kick up too much dust for the person behind us to inhale. Another passageway through the labyrinth led us deeper still to level three, where we sat, gulping our water to try to quench our thirsts, and stop the burning in our throats. We sat in near darkness while Pedro tried to explain to us what it was like to be a miner. He had worked in the mines for years, starting at the age of 13, like his five brothers and his father before him. Pedro had stopped working in the mine when an opportunity to guide came his way; his father stopped mining after being hit by a drunk driver while walking home from one of the regular Friday night parties with his co-workers. After 2 years in the hospital, he is able to walk, but not to work.

Descending to the fourth level involved dropping ourselves into a hole, where the top step of a ladder was just below the reach of our feet. We had to swing ourselves down, using 2 short chains, and feel around in the dark for the step below. Once we had made our way into another opening, we met two miners, who were mining for silver. Ursu (Big Bear) was perched on a small ledge on the side of the cave, hammering at the roof to extract large chunks of earth. His partner took these chunks and broke them into smaller pieces, while examining for small traces of silver. A five kilogram bag (one day´s work, from 4:00am until 5:00pm) would fetch them approximately 800 Bolivianos ($100 USD). A second group of miners we met was mining for "complex", lead and tin; for them 10 tonnes of rock would earn them the same wage. We spoke with the miners a little, and gave them the much appreciated coca, explosives, and soda pop.

When a miner is asked why he works in the mine, the usual response is "because there is nothing else". When asked how long they will work in the mine, the response is almost always "it depends". As Pedro explained, the miners are dependent both on the generosity of El Tio, and also on the market prices. They prefer to work in the Cooperative Mines, where hard work is rewarded with higher wages, than to work for a large company where salaries are fixed, even if benefits are included. Most of the miners start very young, and many stop due to health issues. The Government of Bolivia introduced a pension scheme for any miner who reached the age of 65 - apparently the very first person ever collected this year. Despite the horrific conditions for unpredictable wages, there is also a tremendous sense of brotherhood amongst the miners, and they can't imagine themselves doing anything different.

After climbing back up to level one of the mine, our group was exhausted. We emerged into the blinding sun gulping for air, and with a newfound respect for the men in the mines. If either of us ever complains about our jobs again, a simple reminder of Potosi should be enough to set us straight. Our tour continued with a demonstration blast, and a tour of a facility where the silver was extracted from the rock. The conditions here were also primitive, chemicals everywhere, and belts spinning close enough to chop off a hand or two if you weren´t watching where you were going.

When our tour was finished, Pedro offered to take us to the older part of Potosi to witness how the local people celebrate All Soul´s Day. Four of us from the tour joined him, his cousin who was also named Pedro, and a friend on a little bus to the outskirts of town. Our first visit was to the home of a family whose 29 year-old son had died in a mining accident in November of 2005. There had been a cave-in, and after almost two days of trying to rescue him, his final words were for a stick of dynamite. We entered the long room, and went to the front of the room where a very large memorial was displayed. We each said a little prayer for his soul, trying to take in all the items on display - a photo of the miner, three large tiers of flowers and candles, piles of bread shaped like ladders (to take him to heaven), pink and white faces made of sugar to represent angels, and a display of his favorite food and beer.

Pedro explained to us that these ceremonies are held each November 1st for anyone who has died since the previous All Soul's Day. Members of the community are all invited to come and pay their respects, visit, and socialize. Our hosts served each guest a small plate with biscuits, and 4 different glasses, each containing some kind of drink - rum and coke, a coconut drink, an orange drink, and chicha. Little did we know that as soon as we had finished these, two 2-litre bottles came out for our small group to share. Luckily, we learned that it was also tradition to pour a little bit of the drink on the floor (for Pachamama, Mother Earth), but needless to say, we drank a lot. As we drank, we watched as members of the community came to pay their respects, visit and socialize. Groups of children came to sing songs, and make offerings of a coin or two. The whole experience was quite emotional (no, not just the alcohol), and we felt honored to be there. We staggered out, and Pedro led us to two other homes for similar celebrations - one for his Great-Aunt, and one for the brother of a coworker. More prayers, drinks and biscuits at each home. After the third home, we decided to return to the centre, while Pedro and his friends continued on to another ten homes or so. It had been an incredible day in Potosi.

Location: Resistencia, Argentina

Salar de Uyuni - salt, flamingos and dust

By the time we left La Paz, our motley crew had grown to inlude Alyssa and Rosanne (Americans who had each just finished two years of volunteering in Ecuador with the Peace Corps) and Jason, a fellow Canadian from Prince Edward Island. We took a short 3-hour (anything less than 12 hours seems short to us now) bus ride and then a 7-hour train journey to Uyuni in the south west corner of Bolivia. The train ride was beautiful, as we passed by Lago Uru Uru and Lago Poopo (no, I didn´t make these names up), we saw flocks of flamingos and a brilliant orange sunset.

The next morning, the six of us loaded our gear into a Toyota Landcruiser, and were joined by Claudio our driver/mechanic/cook, and James the tour assistant to start our 3-day tour of the Salar de Uyuni. Our first stop was to the Cemeterio de Trenes, where dozens of old train engines and cars sit abandoned in the desert, having fallen into disuse after the mining boom passed in the 19th century, and as Bolivia´s road system developed. Soon we were driving on the actual Salar de Uyuni, the world´s largest salt flat, with close to 12,000 square kms of salt. It was an incredible experience, nothing but blinding white salt and brilliant blue sky as far as the eye could see. Up until about 900 years ago, the whole area was an inland sea, which left approximately 10 billion tonnes of salt when it dried up. We stopped at a small salt production house, where we saw the process of how blocks of salt are harvested, crushed, dried, and bagged for use as table salt in Bolivia. For only 8 Bolivianos ($1 USD) you can buy 32kgs of salt.

After some time taking photos of ourselves posing as optical illusions (created due to the extreme brightness of the salt and sky, forcing a small apeture setting on our cameras), we continued on to Isla Pescada, a large cactus covered island which at one time had been a coral reef in the middle of the sea. Our first night was spent at the Salt Hotel, which has salt blocks for walls, the foundation of the beds, and the floors. Luckily the bathrooms were not made of salt!

The second day of the tour was long, bumpy, and dusty, but Claudio did an amazing job navigating the Landcruiser through the Desierto de Siloli, past volcanos, and to Lagunas Cañapa, Hedionda and Colorada where we were able to take photos of huge flocks of flamingos. We spent the second night at Laguna Colorado, which has a reddish-pink color due to the algae in it. We had been expecting a very cold night (at 4300m in very basic accommodation), but the wine we drank kept us toasty warm.

Our third day started at 4:00 am, heading off to see geysers while the sun rose, and then to hot springs, the beautiful Laguna Verde (Green Lake) and the Valle de Salvador Dali, which had surreal mountains and rock formations. We said good-bye to Alyssa, Rosanne and Jason at the Chilean border, and Lizan, Edwin and I continued on the long journey back to Uyuni. The whole tour was lots of fun, although three days of 4 x 4íng through salt, desert and mountains left us dusty, smelly, and happy to have a shower!

Location: Samaipata, Bolivia

Laughing kids, llama fetuses, and long dangerous roads

On October 18, we left Peru and headed east for Bolivia. After one of the easiest border crossings we´ve had yet, we arrived at Copacabana. This is not the Copa of Barry Manilow fame, and definitely not the hottest spot north of Havana, but a pretty little town at an altitude of 3800m, sitting on the shores of Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world). Our first impressions of Bolivia were the laughing people, the vastness of the lake, and how cheap things were. Yippee, we´d arrived in the land of $4-5 accommodation and $2 meals. We spent a day taking in a ceremony whereby a priest blesses the automobiles of travellers passing through Copa, and a hike to the viewpoint to enjoy the beautiful sunset over the lake.

The next day, we were joined by Lizan (a Dutch woman who had crossed the border with us, and who became our travelling partner for the next 2 weeks) to take the boat to Isla del Sol. According to Incan legend, the Island of the Sun is the birthplace of the sun. Upon arriving at the north end of the island, we visited the sacred rock where the Inca creation legend began, and walked approximately 3 hours to the tranquil little town of Yumani at the south end where we spent the night. With the only forms of transport being llama and by foot, the island was very quiet and we spent the next morning catching up on our journals and enjoying the views across to the mountains of the Cordillera Real. In the afternoon, we played with some local kids who started by asking for candy, and ended up playing with us for hours - we tore ourselves away to head for our boat with the kids begging not for candy, but for Edwin to throw them in the air one more time - "Gringo, gringo, una mas, una mas".

Our next stop in Bolivia was La Paz, a huge city set in a canyon, at an altitude of 3660m. Although the city of Sucre still calls itself the constitutional capital, La Paz has unoficially become the "highest capital city in the world". And the hills! I don´t think there is a stretch of more than 20m in La Paz before you are huffing and puffing up and down the steep streets. The area where we were staying, near the Witches Market, seems to be a huge street market, with anything and everything for sale, from shriveled llama fetuses (for which we heard different prescriptions - general health, or to be used as a natural abortion inducer) to food to hardware to handicrafts. Each section of the street is devoted to selling only one product, so all the nut vendors are together, the stocking vendors are together, and yes, the llama fetuses and other magical potions are all together as well. Comparison shopping has never been easier!

On October 24th, we joined 12 other slightly crazy tourists to mountain bike down "The World´s Most Dangerous Road" with Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking. (Our parents will be proud that we actually chose the most expensive company to go with due to their excellent safety record and full suspension bikes). The road holds this dubious claim to fame for having more deaths per kilometer per year (roughly 100 deaths per year, including 3 cyclists so far in 2006). The road itself is narrow, rutted, winding, with precipitous cliffs on the side, but what makes it so dangerous is the transport trucks who seem to think that going full speed around blind corners is the best way to make up time on their routes. We arrived by bus at La Cumbre (elevation 4600m), and had a ceremonial drink of 96% alcohol, each of us pouring a little offering on the ground for Pachamama (Mother Earth). The first part of our ride was 22kms on pavement, descending 1000m in just over 45 minutes. After a safety talk by Anne (our guide was from Hazelton, BC, Canada), we began the next leg on the World´s Most Dangerous Road. The safest part of the road for us was actually the outside edge, which meant riding on the left, with a 300m drop to our left side. We had to practice dismounting on the right side, so that if a truck came flying around one of those blind corners, we could get off the bike quickly, and have it between us and the valley below. The rest of the ride was 45kms, a 2000m descent through waterfalls, mud, a river and lots of dust to Senda Verde where we were greeted with beer and our "I survived" t-shirts. There were only a couple times where we were surprised by trucks, and as long as we didn´t look over the edge (so as not to steer in the direction of our gaze) it was loads of fun.

We spent a night in the small town of Coroico near the bottom of our ride, in the lovely Esmeraldes Resort which had a pool, sauna, and the best hot showers we´d had in South America. The next day, we hopped in the Gravity Assisted van for the ride back up to La Paz. It´s hard to say which was scarier - riding down, or being a passenger on the way up! Fortunately for us, uphill traffic has the right of way, even when it meant that two transport trucks had to back up and into the small pull outs to make way for our van.

Location: Samaipata, Bolivia