The first part of my visit began with couch surfing in the Northern city of Salta. I arrived here by bus from the Bolivian border- a short boat ride across a small river brought me to the border crossing station that separates the two countries. Next, I boarded a night bus, which was considerably more comfortable than the buses I'd traveled on in Bolivia. After 8 hours I arrived in the Northern Argentina city of Salta.
It was late evening, and I took a taxi to a local hostel recommended in the Lonely Planet. The next day I moved to a spare room of a local Argentinian guy for my first Couch Surfing experience.
It is a great way to experience local cultures while staying in people's homes for free! So, on my first evening I tagged along to a local tango class in the auditorium of a school where my host & some pretty experienced dancers were practicing. Though I was invited to join in, I sat quietly on the side observing since I'd never tried Tango before. Also, glancing down at my scuffed tennis shoes was enough of a reminder that a beginner lesson might be in order first since my improvised shuffle step would leave me feeling a little self-conscious otherwise! So at this stage, I preferred to instead sit back and enjoy watching all the graceful moves of elegant high heels and black shiny dress shoes as they glided across the shiny wooden floorboards.
My host was an Engineer and worked during the day while I explored the city sights including its Contemporary Art Gallery with paintings, sculptures and peculiar short films such as the one of the lady attempting to bail all the water out of a lake for 7 minutes or so:).
In the evening, my host Fernando and I went out for dinner and I got to try local specialty food for the first time such as the dark purple and rich blood sausage. I also got to experience my first Argentinian steak at a local restaurant, which lived up to all praise I'd heard from other travelers thus far. The restaurant we visited is located on the outskirts of town in a residential area and as you approach the front door, it appears to be a large, old style character home from the outside. It's a favourite of the locals and well known for having local musicians share their various talents for singing and playing instruments throughout the numerous variously coloured rooms. The atmosphere was awesome with high ceilings to carry the sound nicely and beautiful local art on the walls. Not to mention the food was delicious and the live music created a warm atmosphere and the merry feeling of eating with family even though we were amongst strangers. My couch surfing host was really nice if not a bit shy and with prompting from me, related interesting details about the history of the area and his experience growing up in Buenos Aires and then relocating to Salta after finishing university.
Salta is one of my favourite cities in Argentina as well as the nearby Cafayate region known for its beautiful wines and colourful Las Conchas gorge. I liked everything about these areas from the warm weather to the friendly, smiling faces everywhere and the marathon race I saw taking place downtown. In case I needed more convincing, there are also great cafes in this seemingly prosperous area and a strong Nationalism in the local pubs as people cheered their hearts out during the World Cup of football playoffs.
Cafayate is also a quaint town located in the Calchaquí Valley wine valley with a population of around 10,000 people. It is located several hours drive South of Salta by bus. On my way there, I met a girl from Holland on the bus and then a guy from the USA at our hostel. The three of us went out in the evening with other travelers from the hostel and locals they'd met, who took us to a dry riverbed area near the town. Here we lit a bonfire, visited and enjoyed the local wine this region is famous for. We ended the evening at a local bar dancing the night away and enjoying more already opened wine and spirits, which they let us bring inside the bar with us!
Next, I traveled by bus onwards to Ituzaingo and Iguazu Falls to visit Alejandro who I met in Peru where he was also on vacation during a day tour we were both on of the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca. I arrived to his hometown of Ituzaingo, where I spent a few days exploring the village and spending time with him and his family. From here, we boarded a bus to the village of Iguazu Falls where we shared a sad moment in a cafe while watching Argentina lose its chance of winning the World Cup in a playoff game to Germany. After the game, the tension could be felt in the air as we were surrounded by drooping little Argentinian flags and banners framing all the sad blue and white striped faces around the pub, which were proudly displaying the Argentinian flag. The streets were quiet in the little town of Iguazu on this day and I had to quietly let poor Ale come to terms with the realisation that his beloved team wouldn't advance any further- until the next world cup at least.
In the afternoon, we took the hour or so bus ride to the amazing cascade of 275 waterfalls making up the famous Iguazu Falls. They are also featured in the animated movie 'Up' in which the main character realises him and his late wife's dream of visiting the Falls after he ties 1000's of helium balloons to the top of his home in order to successfully fly to the top of the falls in his house!
They border on 3 countries Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. With spectacular views it's easy to see why they have been nominated in the contest for one of the New 7 Wonders of the Natural World!
Actually, we became somewhat mesmerized watching this massive curtain of water fall all around us as the river above suddenly dropped off, forcing the water to dive a full 82 meters down at the Devil's Throat, which is Iguazu's highest waterfall. What set these waterfalls apart for me was not the amazing amount of water dropping down, as I've seen similarly long waterfalls in the past. It was more the combination of this great mass falling down combined with such a massive expanse stretching lengthwise in a procession along the horizon for a full 700 meters! I was in awe whilst standing at the edge of this water breathing dragon and as I stared fixedly at the thundering falls, I almost felt the urge to swirl into it myself as the mist rose up on all sides luring me forward.... whooooa, back away from the edge!
Spending a couple more days in Ituzaingo after our road trip was also fun as I got the chance to try Yerba Mate, which is the national drink of Argentina- a caffeinated tea that is drunk hot or cold depending on the season and sipped through a metal straw out of a wooden gourd shaped, round wooden cup. Argentinians drink it religiously and can be seen walking down a busy street with their thermos of Yerba Mate underarm, on a beach, in the workplace, out with friends.... and almost all of them seem to be drinking it most of the time. So, my curiosity was peaked and I had to see what the fuss was about- to me it tasted like bitter black tea but apparently, it grows on you and possibly the caffeine makes it slightly addictive similarly to coffee. Apparently, more often the women in Argentina will also sweeten it or add flavouring to improve the taste!
I enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with Ale and his family while experiencing the local culture in his beautifully quaint little home town. We had a lot of fun together as we are both quite carefree and naturally happy people. We spent the days bicycle riding, having picnics, swimming in the river (even though it was their winter!), visiting local cafes where we could talk for hours. I savoured all the details of stories he shared with me about his amazing culture, Catholic upbringing including pilgrimages to sacred temples and experiences growing up in rural Argentina with a few years he'd also spent living in Buenos Aires.
With the help of the great Argentine bus system complete with stewardesses, reclining seats, movies, red wine and dinner (sometimes even delicious steak!), I next made my way to the pretty city of Rosario followed by couch surfing in Cordoba. An Australian couple also stayed at the apartment of a nice Mexican architecture student who hosted us for a few days. We did a road trip to Villa General Belgrano, a little German village where we watched Germany win a world cup playoff game and ate German sausages that looked and tasted suspiciously like hot dogs!
My next destination was La Cumbre, which is an adorable little story-book village a few hours North of Cordoba. I stayed at a hostel in a big, old historic mansion style house and hiked to the famous large white statue of Jesus Christ located on a hilltop in the area. I got caught in some thorn bushes along the river on my way back that were as sharp as thickly pointed thumb tacks and tangled so deeply into my clothes that I was afraid at one point I may not be able to untangle myself! After a long time slowly and carefully maneuvering amongst the thorns with more than a few scratches and puncture wounds to show for it, I did manage to finally escape and as I walked past big old Jesus again scratched and bleeding, I couldn't help but wonder if the universe was trying to tell me something!
La Cumbre is adorable and I enjoyed spending a couple days here chatting with the shop owners and buying their local produce and sauces for preparing my meals. I even walked by one shop during the middle of the day when everything was closed for their midday siesta and noticed the door was unlocked with no one inside! This town is so small and adorable, the shop owner could clearly get away with leaving the door unlocked without worrying about anyone robbing them. Since there were hardly any other tourists in this town, I figured it also added to the general well being and security of the locals who likely all knew one another. It was rather touching as there seem to be very few places left in the world where such a thing is possible!
On my third day here, I took an 8 hour or so overnight bus ride to Mendoza which is the wine region famous for producing the amazingly delicious and full-bodied Malbecs. I woke up early in the morning as the bus pulled into the terminal where it had been snowing throughout the night and the temperature was below freezing. In the busy unloading area, I was lured to a hostel by a local guy working on commission. He promised me a cheap rate for a crowded dorm room and also a free taxi ride if I agreed to stay there. The hostel owners did try to get out of both the free taxi and the highly reduced rate he'd promised me but I stood my ground and they did end up honouring it in the end although I had the strong sense I wasn't the most popular guest afterwards! Once settled into my room, I noticed a bad flu coming on and spent most of the day in bed aside from a short walk around town. It is a very pretty city and seeing snow for the first time in a long while, was a really 'cool' novelty.
The next day I still had the flu but moved to a home of more couch surfers as I thought it would be a nicer place to recover than a dorm room full of strangers. I felt a little guilty since I had a cold but I explained the situation to my two hosts over the phone and they said they had a separate downstairs area where I could lay low and recover in peace. They were great and even brought me hot tea whilst occasionally chatting with me but mostly just letting me watch movies or sleep and recover from my terrible cough in peace.
The second night, I was feeling a little better and succumbing to a bit of pressure from my hosts decided to join them at a local house party in celebration of the recent legalisation of gay marriage in Argentina. It was a fun night of dancing and making silly group orchestrated faces at various cameras floating around the garage type space where the party was being held. It was a fun night although I was a little worse for wear in the morning! One of my mottos on this trip has been 'when will you ever have the chance to do this again' after some Panamanians said this to me in order to convince me to go out with them one evening (a terrible idea but a great story in the end- for another time!). So that is how, I've often chosen the full experiences instead of 'laying low' on this trip even to the detriment of my own health at times- I'm not saying this is necessarily a good thing!
The next day after the party, I bundled up in all the warm clothes I had and went with one of my hosts for a drive to the mountains in order to see more snow. Luckily, he had a 4x4 truck as the condition of the roads was terrible and when we got to the main viewing area, it was absolute chaos being a Sunday and everyone evidently having the same idea to go for a drive to the snow! Cars were sliding off the road and cutting each other off as the parking lot was full and it was nearly impossible to maneuver through everyone once you entered the busy area. Eventually, we did get through and as I admired the mountains, my host informed me these were only the foothills and the actual mountains couldn't be seen from here but were to dangerous to visit due to the state of the roads. One of these mountains is Aconcagua the highest mountain in South America at 6,962 meters (22, 841 feet) above sea level! Wow, I was sorry to have missed it.
After one more night in Mendoza where I'd switched to another couch surfing venue so as not to overstay my welcome, I went to a local BBQ or Asado as they call it in celebration of the birthday of my host's friend. I'm really warming up to the people in Argentina as I find them to be very open and friendly. My only regret is not understanding more Spanish so I am able to communicate with the people more easily.
In the morning, I decided all these events I was taking part in with my couch surfing hosts weren't giving me the rest I needed to recover fully from my cold. For this reason and also in order to escape the cold winter weather that had arrived to this high altitude, I decided to recover further on on a quiet full day bus journey to Vallparaiso, Chile via Santiago. I had a good impression of Chile from the start when the border guard gently confiscated my mandarin oranges but not without telling me in a soft voice how beautiful he thought I was. Aww:).
Vallparaiso itself is an amazing little city. The impressions it left me with are of artistic and colourful graffiti, beautifully tall and old fashioned homes, and warm portly people. Many of the colourfully painted houses had been ravaged by the earthquake that tore through here a few years ago and were now in the stages of being rebuilt. It seemed to have taken a toll on tourism as they area is still under threat of subsequent earthquakes, a few of which it has already experienced, and so the locals were possibly even more welcoming of me as there was a kind of sad cloud of poverty and loss looming over the city, which the locals seemed to be warm heartedly trying to recover from.
My hostel was recommended to me by a lady working at a local tourism stand at the bus station who actually called the hostel to let them know I'd be arriving asking them to walk a block down to the main street where my bus would be stopping in order to meet me. She then walked me out to the bus and sweetly told the driver in Spanish where to let me off! As the bus pulled away she shouted 'buen viaje chica' or good travels to me and blew warm kisses in my direction... it almost made me cry!
As promised, the hostel worker was waiting for me at the bus stop and led me to the cool haunted house style 2 story old but brightly painted wooden hostel where I stayed for the next few days. The weather was much warmer here being at sea level and I enjoyed having a room to myself in the hostel for the first night at least until several European girls moved in.
After Vallparaiso, I spent a couple nights in Santiago and wasn't largely that impressed with the city although at least it wasn't too busy or overcrowded. There was also kind of an interesting Bohemian feel to the shopping areas with quite cool shops selling very cool clothing and accessories at a good price.
Traveling back to Argentina, I spent my final month in South America in the city of Buenos Aires. It is truly the city that never sleeps with a population of around 13 million people! After literally living out of a backpack for 9 months and wandering from place to place with no more than a few days in between it was awesome (to put it mildly) to finally settle into an apartment that I'd rented for an entire month. Not only could I leave my stuff lying around for the day but I could simply lock the door behind me and not have random strangers from the hostels I was used to staying in milling about with very little privacy or security. It was such a luxury!
In this month, I also had the time to explore this breathing dragon of a city with it's fiery character and culture! I'd largely avoided the big cities up until now and so this opportunity added a whole new depth to my travels.
I was admittedly, a little sad for my nomadic journey of roaming from place to place, coming and going when I felt like it to be ending, yet I also felt a sense of relief as I was beginning to grow tired of being on the road constantly! My feelings were very mixed at this point. Despite the aliveness I'd felt and the incredible and truly unforgettable journey I'd experienced, sleeping in different places almost every night does grow tiring as does sight seeing even though they had been mostly beautiful ones! Another long term traveler had related her experience to me well when she said you can only see so many waterfalls before they all start to look the same.
Choosing to stay in Buenos Aires for the last month of my journey instead of continuing down to Patagonia was therefore a tough decision, which I made partly due to it being winter so very cold down South and partly due to what I understood the cost to be up to 10x's more traveling in this remote area, which would have been difficult on my already stretched budget. I had already resolved to return to Argentina some day and so I was feeling OK about saving this region for another time, hopefully in a warmer season.
Also there was Alejandro. After meeting on the Floating Islands in Peru and then visiting his hometown of Ituzaingo where we had a lot of fun on our road trip to Iguazu Falls, during which time we formed a strong connection through shared interests and humour. Despite our differing backgrounds, culture and language barriers- him being from rural Argentina and me from Canada, we still managed to relate to one another better than many people I'd met in Canada or Australia over the years. As he once reminded me, we are from different countries and not different planets! In any case, these reasons all added up to how I found myself renting an apartment in the trendy barrio (suburb) of San Telmo near the centre of Buenos Aires during my last month in South America.
The days passed cooking together, playing chess, watching movies, going to Tango shows (and taking lessons!), exploring night markets and live local bands while also enjoying a variety of amazing Malbec wines that at only a few dollars a bottle but were some of the best wines I'd ever tasted!
During the days we explored the many faces of Buenos Aires including the famous Recoletta Cemetary where the Argentinian visionary Evita was laid to rest and a traditional Gaucho (cowboy) show in the Buenos Aires showgrounds.
I did not take for granted this opportunity for the first time in almost 9 months of traveling to get a bit complacent as I let Ale communicate easily with the locals, navigate the bus and subway systems to go sight seeing or visit underground markets in back alley suburbs where we could buy pirated DVD's for $1 each. We were able to taste some of the freshest and most delicious local foods and I was able to buy cool locally made gifts at authentic shops & markets for my family and friends. Often we'd just lie on the grass and stare up at the tall trees or blue sky and talk about life, music, movies, ideas, the future or random silliness!
I felt lucky to have this chance to get to know Ale who is my kind, funny, generous and smart kindred spirit. On my last day in Argentina he saw me off at the airport and we stood at the top of the escalator just outside international departures blinking at each other in shock and then hugging sadly, neither of us wanting to face that we had to say goodbye. It was an emotional and very strong end to my amazing journey.
Me encanta América del Sur y Alejandro... estan en mi corazón para siempre!
Hey, I have been to Mendoza. OMG, the landscapes are unbelievably beautiful. It is a long trip, but I can assure you that you won’t regret it. I also enjoyed a few nights in BA. It is an amazing city, and "porteños" are really fun. They just don’t get tired. They can be all night long partying. I got an apartment for rent in buenos aires close to a night club that was open till 8 am!!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is crazy!
Anyways, I had the best of times!
Kim