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Saturday 28 February 2009

North Argentina

After San Juan we took a night bus to Tucuman where we spent a few days sorting out some basics and chatting to a few travellers.

Instead of going traight to Salta we decided to take a slight detour through Tafi del Valle - a beatuiful little village set on a hillside above a huge valley and felt for the first time to really be in South America. The little artisan shops were run by native indigious people and they looked significantly less european. The temporature here is also really dramatic shifting from blazing sun in the afternoons to icy chills in the evening. Many people ride horses and wear decorative wooley hats and jumpers. We spent a day wandering the valley with wild horses and jumping over streams. Hitched a lift back to the viallge with a truck driver who took us up to the top of the valley to drop off some stone for road workers before dropping us back in the town center.

From Tafi we continued to Cafayate intending to see the ruins at Quilmes the next day. Cafayate is totally tourist orientated. Every shop in the center is intended for tourists and compared to the little crafts shops in Tafi the place is pretty charmless. The drive in was stunning however and we could see the Quebrada of striped red rocks. We went for a wander towards a hill and were approached by a skinny Quetchua woman who offered to be our guide. We spent the day wandering the hills and waterfalls, lakes and caverns with her and 2 Argentinians. A real test for my spanish chatting all day to the guy and listening to the guide about which plants were cures for everything from cancer to asthma.

Decided to give the Quilmes ruins a miss and head north for Salta then on to Bolivia via Jujoy as reccomended by a couple of people instead of heading for the expensive and touristy San Pedro in Chile (no point going west for ages only to return when we can go north directly to Bolivia).

Sunday 22 February 2009

Argentina

Travelled through the Andes mountain range (stunning) to Mendoza - really plesant, and from San Juan up to San Augustine - a quiet little village from where we could jump off to the surreal National Parks in the area. Ischigaulasto park (which is the only place in the world apparently where all the sediment layers of the Triasic period are visible) was good - loads of dino bones fund here including the oldest and most primitive of them.

Rock formations are really odd and interesting as it the bottom of a river vallry known as the Valle de le Luna (Moon Valley) but the people seem more interested in what there names are (ie, the mushroom, the sphinx etc!). Also went to Talampaya park which was incredible - ancient petroglyphs and huge mountains jutting up into the sky created by the plates pushing into the Andes from the West coast and then being pushed back up inland creating really high red plateaus which are stunning. There was a gorge where a channel was worn away by a river over millions of years that must have been 80 feet tall - when you shout from beneath, it amplified the sound and echoed off for a good few seconds in the surrounding hills!

Took a 4hr bus back to San Juan, followed by a 14hr bus up to Tucuman heading North towards Salta.

Saturday 14 February 2009

South America - Chile

Well we got into Santiago, Chile on the 5th and spent a while acclimatising to South America. Chile is a little more run-down than i expected being one of the richer countries on SA but it´s actually massively more rich in culture than New Zealand and its been a breath of fresh air having the place covered (and i mean covered) in artwork - from posters, graffitti (over EVERYTHING) to poetry (i got a poem from 2 chilean girls for a donation ) street performers, theater and millions of great places to eat. The food is stunning quality and our first night here we ate enough meat (a argentinian mixed grill) for about 4 people for about a fiver each! Wine is really good too and they serve beer and wine in everything from mini-bottles to giant bottles and jugs. The performers are amazing - theres a one man band with ahuge bass drum on his back and symbols attached to his feet who plays impossibly complex samba rhythms while swirling around and spinning in circles. At traffic lights there are mimes, bands and jugglers. Went to a few art galleries which were good too.

Weve grown to really like Santiago and after being a bit paranoid about theft to begin. We have found the people really friendly, humourous and helpful. My spanish is being tried and tested!! Some people seem to be easy to chat to and others act like I have come from mars, but I bought a new digital camera and have organised transport with little difficulty.

We went out to Valparaiso for 2 days on the coast. Its a weird place half a flat port area, and half on the hills. Funiculars (elevators) to take you up the steep hillsides to a shantytown like area, where some of Chile porest live, but amongst these are bright and fantasical mansions, art studios, posh restaurants, many,many colourful jumbled houses, shacks and quaint cobbled streets. We went to a bizarre cemetary on a hill and a guard took us around a prison built 200 years ago to defend the port but used until 14 years ago by General Pinchet for political prisoners - stones cells and crumbling walls are now graffitied by artists and the place is going to be an arts center soon. The markets were incredible - fruit piled in massive amounts and loads of fish.

Were back in Santiago now but just bought a ticket for Mendoza in Argentina tomorrow! The Andes mountain crossing is supposed to be incredible but a girl at our hostel got a court date for mistakenly carrying 2 apples accross! We are not taking any apples..!