Salar de Uyuni pt.1

 

The largest salt flats in the world at 3650m above sea level. We arrived in Tupiza just in time to book ourselves onto a tour for the following day. By chance we teamed up with another couple who were really lovely from Holland which was lucky as we were spendng the next 4 days and 3 nights sharing bedrooms and a cramped 4×4 with them! Both Santos our tour guide and Janet (our cook) only spoke Spanish so we were once again maxing the phase book.
Day 1 we headed into the mountains reaching 4200m. We passed several remote villages (how do they get their post!) finally arriving in San Antonio De Lipez (4260m) to spend the night. The food was fantastic and with coco leaves, vino and backgammon all was going well… until we discovered we nearly hit the floor on the seriously old matress and Chris caused a village power cut trying to charge his camera!
Day 2 and we were feeling the altitude with banging headaches among the group. Today was our favourite with inca ruins, old mining villages, first sightings of flamingos (love love love), colourful lagoons, desert landscapes and hot springs (bliss). The Laguna Verde although looked inviting with its colour was actually given its colour by the high arsenic content (so swimming was off the agenda). At over 5000m the freezing temperatures set in for the evening (as well as Sophie´s night-long headache). When the power was suddenly cut at 8pm we were forced to bed early.

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Potosi & The Silver Mines

Potosi is a fascinating city. At 4100m above sea level it is the highest city in the world and has an incredible if not tragic past. The only reason for Potosi existing as a city was the 1545 discovery of silver in the Cerro Rico mountains and the consequent ´silver rush´ led by the Spanish. The population of Potosi grew from nothing to 160,000 within 50 years as the Spanish extracted the silver. Conditions for the slaves in the mines were quite terrible, with an estimated 9 million fatalities over 300 years of mining. A local told us that if you took the bones from all the bodies in the mine, you could build a bridge from Potosi to Spain. They also say you could build a similar bridge with the silver that has been taken over the years.

Today, Potosi still has remenants of the silver rush with some amazing colonial architecture. The mine still operates in a similar way to its past although silver is far less available and other minerals such a zinc and lead are also extracted. We were able to visit the mines with a former miner who showed us the whole mining process. On route we stopped at the miners market to buy them gifts as it is not an “official” tours and we must respect this is still a place of work for the miners. We were stunned to find dynamites available for 50p on the same shelf as a bottle of coke. There is also 96% alcohol on offer which Chris took up the offer of trying (probably to calm his nerves pre entering the mines). We asked if there are any age restrictions for buying both alcohol and dynamites but apparently none exisit!!!! Armed with said goods we headed for the mines, kitted head to toe in the full uniform (Chris looking like Bob the Builder and Sophie swamped with the overalls). Heading into the mines was nerve-wracking with only light from our head torches and the hot air filled with heavy dust. Even without suffering from claustraphobia it was impossible not to feel the pressue of being so deep underground. We crawled through tight tunnels and dodged the rickety mine carts amazed to see how old fashioned things still are. We spoke to different miners at work, all with cheeks full of coco leaves and ages varying from 16-60! After 2hrs spent in the mines we were happy to see daylight at the end of the tunnel!

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Disco in the Puna

The next trip involved a crazy guide called Juanjo (that’s Wanko in English) who was addicted to coco leaves and disco music. It was quite surreal (but very enjoyable) speeding around the mountains listening to Abba (in spanish) and E.L.O. He took us to some of the highest peaks we’d been to in Argentina (up to 4500m) where we began to discover the meaning of altitude sickness.

The tour followed part of the route of the ‘Tren a los Nuebes’ (train to the clouds), through the puna and on to the salt flats. A ‘puna’ is simply a desert or plateau over 3000m, to put that in perspective Ben Nevis is 1344m at the summit. The Salt Flats were quite incredible, thick enough to drive accross and stretching as far as you could see. The workers who extract the salt get paid next to nothing and often loose their sight as the salt acts like a huge mirror reflecting the sun. En route to finishing the tour in Purmamarca, we descended over 2000m in just 16km of very steep, windy mountain road – with a Phil Collins soundtrack of course.

The night was spent in Purmamarca, finally finding a decent room after doing a runner from our first one. Pumamarca is incredibly small made up of a few dusty streets… not the ideal place to try and call parents and got several weird looks when asking for ‘wi fi’. Several bottes of wine later and some local folk entertainment we had a good night and much needed sleep. Purmamarca is home to the ‘Cerro de los Siete Coloures’ (the mountain of seven colours) – absolutely stunning in the morning sun.

Now where’s the bus to Bolivia?

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Valles Calchaquies

The Valles Calchaquies are one of the most spectacular landscapes of the Andes. Setting off from Salta and heading to the small town of Cachi and then on to Cafayate we travelled in a 4×4 on a 2 day tour. Our guide spoke little English so we were forced to imporove our Spanish. He gave us our first taste of coco leaves which are incredibly popular here…not sure what to make of them but the taste was pretty gross. The landscape changes dramatically from grassy mountains to red rock cliffs and enourmous cactus forests.  We spent the night in Cafayate and found time to do a spot of wine tasting and visit a goats cheese farm. The wines of Cafayate differ from what we had previously encountered in Mendoza. With the higher altitude and different minerals in the soil, Cafayate is best suited for producing the white wine ‘Torrontes’, although there are still good reds to be found. A small ice-cream shop also sells novel Malbec & Torrontes ice-creams.

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Salta

Another 17hr bus journey took us to the northern Argentinian town of Salta. The people of Salta look much more indigenous than those of Buenos Aires and Mendoza, which are far more western-ised. The town itself has some beautiful colonial buildings and tons of great Parrilla´s and Puñas ( traditional restaurants and pubs with folklore music and dancing ). The town is popular with tourists as a starting point to explore the Argentinian Salt flats and the Valles Calchaquíes.

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Meat, Malbec, Mendoza

We’d love to tell you we did more than drink wine and eat steak during our stay in Mendoza – but we didn’t.
Three days of quality wine and the biggest steaks, what more could we ask for. Well maybe not the 38 degree heat we were hit with on the last day but netherless we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. As soon as we arrived (after a 14 hour overnight bus trip) we headed to the vineyards for a tour of the wine making process and of course to sample one or two. After a visit to a chocolate and liqueur maker who gave us adequate shots of various alcoholic substances we left pretty fueled up. We had a great lunch (more wine) and then head to a beer garden we spotted on our local map; situated in the middle of nowhere amongst miles of vineyards. Needless to say this place was also discovered by several other Brits in the area. We had great time drinking beer and wine, not sure exactly how the day ended but it involved Sophie screaming on the back of a bike while Chris cycled home with a group of Brits… and a friendly police escort.

Day two and its more wine tasting, this time learning how to smell different flavours and what to eat them with (come dine with me here we come). More fantastic food, vino a short nap in the Plaza and we were fully settled in the chilled out vibe of Mendoza.

Now having both South Africa and Argentinia wine tasting under our belt we are fully equipped to take on any wine list. The only issue being how many of them we can find in the UK – as the world’s 5th largest wine producer Argentina only exports around 20% of it’s wine, which is a little greedy.

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Cementerio de la Recoleta

We spent our final day in Buenos Aires visiting Recoleta, including the famous cemetary where Eva Peron (Evita) is buried. At first the whole cemetary could almost look like miles of abandoned buildings (see picture), until you look inside and see the coffins… The cemetary is 60,000 square metres and arranged very neatly in squares with tree-lined avenues inbetween. Obviusly burial is hugely important in the Catholic faith and the mauseleoms here are testemant to that, many of them incredibly elaborate and grand. The flowers on the Evita tomb (with her family in the ‘Durante’ mauseleum) are a reminder of how important she still is to the Argentine people, in Argentinian politics today there is still frequent reference to the ‘Peronist’  era (when Juan and Eva Peron ran the country) and politians and policies are often dubbed ‘peronist’ or not.

A fascinating if not eerie experience.

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Cementerio de la Recoleta

A day on the Delta

A local guy we met on the plane recommended we take a trip to the Paraná Delta, so we did just that. 1hr outside B.A we arrived at Tigre, which is the furthest place connected by road and rail on the Delta. The Delta is an amazing place, half the size of Switzerland but with only 8,000 people living on island homes along the complex river system (although most of these are holiday homes for people who work in Buenos Aires, so during the week many of them are unoccupied). Map of the Paraná Delta below:

We took a water taxi and travelled through the delta past many houses (only accessible by boat) arriving 1hr from land at a wonderful Island called ‘Bonanza’. A lady lives here, and with the help of a Gaucho to assist with the horses, she invites people to join her for a day of activity. We had a lovely lunch by the river (more meat), followed by horse riding (Chris failed to mention he didnt know how to ride and created much amusement trying to steer the horse), a swim in the fresh water, and  finally a go at canoeing. The weather was well into the 30’s and a day by the river was perfect.

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La Boca

La Boca is the poorest yet most colourful part of Buenos Aires, the streets filled with Tango dancers, cafe’s and brightly painted buildings. Apparently the paint originally came from the cargo ships in the port of La Boca (La Boca is also known for it’s iconic iron bridges at the port). As there was only the odd tin here and there people would paint small sections of the buildings, hence the patchwork look. La Boca is home to Boca Juniors football club, and there is an incredibly strong love of the team throughout the area. We visited the stadium which isn’t that large but apparently holds 65,000. It’s amazing how close the fans are to the pitch, literally about 5 feet behind the goal in the standing areas. Despite being the poorest area in Buenos Aires and having the higest crime rate, La Boca seems to have a lot going on in terms of art and culture (including the Fundación Proa) – quite like East London in some ways.

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¡Hola Buenos Aires!

Buenos Aires; the start of our South American adventure. We were immediately stuck by the vibrant atmosphere of the city…  lively people, vivid colours, tango and history. A completely different city experience to Cape Town, Buenos Aires is much bigger, older and almost entirely flat. It feels a lot more like a european city, with a mix of old buildings and ultra modern architecture, and being built on a grid system.  It also soon became apparent that the residents of Buenos Aires are very proud and passionate about their city and country. We flew in just days after former president Nestor Kircher had died, and the city was full of posters and graffiti mourning him and supporting his wife Christina. It’s hard to image similar scenes if a British political figure were to pass away.

On arrival we were told that Sunday was market day in Palermo, the chic and stylish area of BA filled with small boutique shops. On market day many of cafe’s and bars are also converted into make-do stalls where independant designers and traders sell their goods. Needless to say I made Chris drop the bags immediately and head straight there for the remainder of the day. We returned several hours later with more clothes to fit into our already full luggage.

We spent the following day in San Telmo, the oldest part of the city which has tons of character with piqturesque cobbled streets and plazas lined with dusty antique shops and cafe’s. Chris found much excitement in the ornate hand-painted signs on everything from shops to buses. After a gruelling 2hr Spanish lesson we head to Puerto  Madero , a modern harbour deveopment (not dissimilar to London’s South Bank) for an evening walk and dinner. Dinner consisted of a large steak and a nice bottle of wine – this was to become a consistent theme in Argentina…

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