Heat in Córdoba
Friday, Jan. 28
I am sitting in a small square relaxing after a morning with lots of walking. First, I checked out of my hotel and went to the Hotel Victoria. It is an old hotel in the center of town on one of the pedestrian streets. The rooms have high ceilings, tall windows, and wooden floors. Juan, the young man from yesterday, was working again and gave me a better room than the one he had shown me then. It has a table and chairs, a TV, two beds, a nice bath, and a ceiling fan. It is comfortable with nice atmosphere and is in a good location. My guess is that the name was chosen because of the architecture which is from the turn of the last century with lots of flourishes and nice wooden shutters over the tall windows.
I finally got a haircut. Everyone at tourist offices kept directing me to unisex styling salons, and that wasn´t what I wanted. As I began my wanderings this morning, I found myself in the market area. My experience is that such areas usually have barbershops. I went up and down streets within 2-3 blocks of the market. Sure enough, I glanced inside one door and saw two barber chairs. I paused and looked, and both barbers were on the street near me. Within a few minutes I had a good haircut that cost me $1.67 U.S., probably about 33 cents more than most people pay, since in holding up fingers the barber first showed 4 and then quickly switched to 5! What´s important is how much better I feel with it; I had been unhappy with my appearance for 2-3 weeks.
_______
I returned to the market area for lunch. I had seen lots of places to eat in the area. Selecting one, I had the menu of the day. It was my first time to do this here. Usually, I have just ordered a main dish. I got a bowl of soup (large tubular pasta in a broth with pumpkin and tomato), bread, a boneless chicken breast (flatttened, battered, and fried), and a mixed salad (tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and other greens with oil and vinegar dressing). It was a lot of food and was delicious. The tomatoes were so ripe and tasty because it is summertime here.
I returned to the hotel for siesta. I napped 2 1/2 hours! It is so easy to do that because of the heat, a full stomach, and the fact that people drink wine or beer with their lunches here. (Wine and beer are cheaper than Coca Cola and as cheap as bottled water.)
In the evening I went to the main squarewhere a performer was singing to a rather large crowd. All the Christmas decorations on the square and the nearby shopping streets were still up and lighted (as they have been in other towns, too). I´m wondering if Christmas will ever end here. When I arrived, I figured they were still up until after Three Kings Day, but that came and went a long time ago.
I stopped at a store and bought a bottle of Valmont Chandon (mixture of cabernet sauvignon, malbec, and pinot noir) which I have been told is one of the better, more popular wines from Argentina. I meant to get a sandwich and eat it in my room, but I never found a good place to buy one that time of night. I just ate some crackers that I had in my luggage.
I found myself wishing to have a conversation with someone yesterday. It´s been two weeks since I was traveling with the Polish man. That was the last time that I have spoken more than 4-5 sentences with anyone. And it is likely to be another 10 days before I will be speaking to anyone. That´s when I expect to arrive in Buenos Aires and contact the Danish priest. It was at times like this in the past that I would write Arne an e-mail with the number for my hotel and he would call me in the evening for a brief conversation. Now I just have to manage on my own.
Saturday, Jan. 29
It´s hot, Hot, HOT today in Córdoba! I am not sure what the temperature is, but I would guess that it is around 37-38 C (upper 90s F). You can just feel the heat of the air as you walk through it. It is a dry heat, however. But I stay very thirsty by being outside. I was out walking from 10:00 until about 2:00. When I went into the restaurant, I ordered a 1.5 liter bottle of diet cola and drank half of it before the first part of my lunch even arrived.
I began the morning with a tour of the old Jesuit block in the center of town. It is the original church, theology school, and university buildings from the 1600s. The church was decorated with wooden carvings from the Missones area near Iguazu where I first arrived in Argentina over two weeks ago. The carvings were made there, shipped down the river to Santa Fe, and then hauled overland by mule carts. That´s an unbelievable trip considering it was in the 1600s. The painted ceilings in the big church and the pulpit were original. A side chapel was complete from the original period and has never been restored. It had a very ornate alter that fit perfectly in the area where it had been planned--even though the artist had made measurements and carved it far from here, shipped it in pieces, and then put it together here.
The university had a doctoral hall like the University of Coimbra had (which Arne and I toured 3-4 years ago). There, the doctoral candidates would undergo three days of oral examinations from the faculty as a priest and others observed. Actually, I think a special hall like that, dedicated exclusively for use in oral exams of doctoral candidates would be a good idea today. It would make getting a doctorate seem more special. And such a hall would probably provide a recruitment advantage for the university having it.
The university also had an exhibit hall with the constructions from the 19th Century physics lab. This was very similar to the exhibit I saw in Sao Paulo earlier this month of instruments from the University of Coimbra.
I stopped at the bus station to check schedules. Then I walked through the big park here. It is a nice one--much nicer than the one in Tucumán. It has a zoo, an amusement park, lakes, and lots of area I didn´t explore. No one was there. It was probably due to the heat. Maybe people go there in the evenings. I became somewhat disoriented in the park since the streets curved so much, and I came out further from town than I intended. Because of it, I discovered the modern, new campus of the University of Córdoba. The buildings are very contemporary in design using poured concrete and glass. They are interesting, but their appearance has been spoiled by the lack of landscaping, by haphazzard trails running everywhere on campus, and by the posting of notices and advertisements on the lower surfaces of the buildings.
As I came out of the campus into a neighborhood, it took me only 3 blocks to get to a street with a name I recognized. I walked back into town and returned to the restaurant where I ate two days ago. That´s where I drank so much Coca Cola while waiting for my food!
I ordered a mixed salad again. it tasted so good. Then I ordered lasagna which the menu indicated had ham in it. It also was stuffed with spinach and ground meat. And on top was a big slice of roast beef, too! I moved the beef to the side and ate it first with its melted cheese and tomato sauce. Then I ate the huge portion of lasagna. When I finished, I was more stuffed than I have been in ages. It was all good, however.
I think I am leaving here tomorrow. I will alter my initial plan and skip going to Mina Clavera. I will go to Alta Gracia and then continue onward from there to General Belgrano. I hope I can get a hotel in each town. These are towns up in the hills and are popular vacation spots. My guidebook only lists one place for Alta Gracia. The tourist offices have been helpful, however, so I am hoping they will help again if I have a problem.
I have started reading a new book, one that I have wanted to read since the first reviews of it came out about 4 years ago. It´s Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It´s one of those books that everyone raves about, so I hope I will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed anticipating reading it.
____
I left the hotel around 6:30 and it was still HOT outside. I went to a nearby supermarket and bought some cheese and cookies. I will eat in my room tonight and finish the bottle of wine I started last night. I also bought some peanuts to have as snacks when traveling.
When I came out of the supermarket, it started to sprinkle. It felt so good to have those drops of water hitting me. I walked until I found this cyber cafe. The town is quiet. Stores don´t open again after siesta on Saturdays here. I don´t guess anything will be happening until 10:00 p.m. or later, so I won´t be out to enjoy it. I will go back to the room to eat my cheese. I may watch a film. Then I will go to bed about the time that the town is coming to life. I want to be up and at the bus station rying to catch a bus by the middle of the morning tomorrow.
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Return from Heaven
Wednesday, Jan. 27
It´s another cloudy, but dry, day in the mountains. It is too bad there couldn´t have been more sunny days like the one when I arrived.
My cold is still lingering after a week. It is down to a rynny nose and frequent sneezes. The mucous is so clear now that the cold may have been replaced by allergies to something in the area.
I checked out of the hotel and went to the park to read. I am only 80 pages from the end of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I have really enjoyed reading it. It is very confusing because of the use of the same names over and over in different variations for continuing generations of the same family, but there is a chart showing the family tree at the beginning that I keep referencing regularly to keep it all straight.
I am leaving here by bus at 1:50 p.m. for Tucumán where I hope to get a ticket on the night bus to Córdoba that leaves at 10:30. That should give me some time to get onto a good computer and to have a nice lunch.
_______
We arrived on time. The first bus company with service to Córdoba was sold out of seats already. Fortunately, there are two other companies with night buses on the same route. The second ompany I checked had a ticket.
I walked about 6 blocks from the station to a nearby cyber cafe I had seen on Sunday. I spent two hours updating my blog and dealing with e-mail. Fortunately, it was a place with a broadband connection that worked well.
Next, I returned to the station and ordered a sandwich. It´s called a Super Pronto, and it is really just a poor quality chichen salad sandwich. It had chopped chicken (very little), sliced boiled egg, tomatoes, olives, and lettuce and was topped with melted cheese.
Walking: 15,545 steps (6859 aerobic steps), 652 calories, 10.5 km (6.3 miles)
Thursday, Jan. 28
The overnight bus trip wasn´t bad. The seats seemed to be wider than normal and spread further apart. My seatmate stayed on his side for the most part. He hardly moved during the night. We arrived at 6:30 a.m., and the tourist office was open by the time I had gotten my luggage and found it. They called a place my guidebook recommended to be sure a room was available before I walked there.
I am not too pleased with the room and will move to another place I have found tomorrow. It is okay, but the window looks out at the top of a skylight and concrete walls. It was fine for resting after the trip. I slept 3 hours this morning before I cleaned up and went out. And it will be fine for tonight, too.
Córdoba is nice. It is obviously a large, somewhat sophisticated city. There is a nice mixture of highrise and lowrise living. People are out at night in the neighborhoods, sitting and visiting in fronts of their buildings or in the neighborhood plazas. There isn´t much architecture left from previous centuries, however. Much of the city is fairly new with just a few old places still in existance. Salta is a much nicer city in terms of nice old buildings, but this place is definitely a bigger place with more variety of things to do.
I spent the late morning wandering the streets to get a general idea of the place. While doing that, I found a place crowded with local people and decided it was the right spot to eat. I had mixed cannelone with half a carafe of the house wine. The cannelone were so creamy and delicious. And while I was eating them, I watched to see what others were eating. The vegetable tart looked good. And the plates of linguine topped with various types of meat looked good. I may have to go back there again for another meal.
I returned to the room and slept another 3 hours. I was just so tired from the trip, and the heat and the wine also had their affect on my body. Then I was out exploring again. I have walked, walked, walked today, but I have limited myself mainly to parallel streets going north/south. Tomorrow, I will attack the east/west streets and also start to go into some of the museums, I guess.
Walking: 28,637 steps (24,309 aerobic steps), 1154 calories, 19.47 km (12 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 27
It´s another cloudy, but dry, day in the mountains. It is too bad there couldn´t have been more sunny days like the one when I arrived.
My cold is still lingering after a week. It is down to a rynny nose and frequent sneezes. The mucous is so clear now that the cold may have been replaced by allergies to something in the area.
I checked out of the hotel and went to the park to read. I am only 80 pages from the end of One Hundred Years of Solitude. I have really enjoyed reading it. It is very confusing because of the use of the same names over and over in different variations for continuing generations of the same family, but there is a chart showing the family tree at the beginning that I keep referencing regularly to keep it all straight.
I am leaving here by bus at 1:50 p.m. for Tucumán where I hope to get a ticket on the night bus to Córdoba that leaves at 10:30. That should give me some time to get onto a good computer and to have a nice lunch.
_______
We arrived on time. The first bus company with service to Córdoba was sold out of seats already. Fortunately, there are two other companies with night buses on the same route. The second ompany I checked had a ticket.
I walked about 6 blocks from the station to a nearby cyber cafe I had seen on Sunday. I spent two hours updating my blog and dealing with e-mail. Fortunately, it was a place with a broadband connection that worked well.
Next, I returned to the station and ordered a sandwich. It´s called a Super Pronto, and it is really just a poor quality chichen salad sandwich. It had chopped chicken (very little), sliced boiled egg, tomatoes, olives, and lettuce and was topped with melted cheese.
Walking: 15,545 steps (6859 aerobic steps), 652 calories, 10.5 km (6.3 miles)
Thursday, Jan. 28
The overnight bus trip wasn´t bad. The seats seemed to be wider than normal and spread further apart. My seatmate stayed on his side for the most part. He hardly moved during the night. We arrived at 6:30 a.m., and the tourist office was open by the time I had gotten my luggage and found it. They called a place my guidebook recommended to be sure a room was available before I walked there.
I am not too pleased with the room and will move to another place I have found tomorrow. It is okay, but the window looks out at the top of a skylight and concrete walls. It was fine for resting after the trip. I slept 3 hours this morning before I cleaned up and went out. And it will be fine for tonight, too.
Córdoba is nice. It is obviously a large, somewhat sophisticated city. There is a nice mixture of highrise and lowrise living. People are out at night in the neighborhoods, sitting and visiting in fronts of their buildings or in the neighborhood plazas. There isn´t much architecture left from previous centuries, however. Much of the city is fairly new with just a few old places still in existance. Salta is a much nicer city in terms of nice old buildings, but this place is definitely a bigger place with more variety of things to do.
I spent the late morning wandering the streets to get a general idea of the place. While doing that, I found a place crowded with local people and decided it was the right spot to eat. I had mixed cannelone with half a carafe of the house wine. The cannelone were so creamy and delicious. And while I was eating them, I watched to see what others were eating. The vegetable tart looked good. And the plates of linguine topped with various types of meat looked good. I may have to go back there again for another meal.
I returned to the room and slept another 3 hours. I was just so tired from the trip, and the heat and the wine also had their affect on my body. Then I was out exploring again. I have walked, walked, walked today, but I have limited myself mainly to parallel streets going north/south. Tomorrow, I will attack the east/west streets and also start to go into some of the museums, I guess.
Walking: 28,637 steps (24,309 aerobic steps), 1154 calories, 19.47 km (12 miles)
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
To Heaven and Back!
Saturday, Jan. 22
I arrived in Salta at 10:30, but I had trouble finding a room. My hotel where I stayed before was full. A nearby place was also full. I went to the tourist office where a very nice lady called several places in the price range I quoted. She finally found 1 double room available for 40 pesos ($13.38 U.S.). It´s fine, but it is a little out of the way. It is frustrating having to worry about room availability everywhere I go.
I am sitting in a nice restaurant overlooking a plaza and the provencial legislative building. The former is one block square and has a flagpole in the center. It has nice old trees. The only ones I recognize are palms and ficus trees. Another maybe be a golden rain tree. All the others are beautiful, but they are exotic, unknown trees to me. The legislative building is European-style from the 1800s and is currently being restored in a peachy-flesh color with cream trim. It is an attractive combination.
My lunch was nice. I had lomo, thin sliced beef filet, covered with a cheese sauce with peppers and onions. Yellow rice was the side dish. I ate and watched the people on the plaza. When I leave here, I will go to the plaza and find a shady place to relax and read.
_______
Notes:
1. Argentina has been less expensive than I expected. I have been here 10 days through this morning (including last night´s hotel room), and I have spent $197.51 for a daily average of $19.95! That´s as cheap as I tend to be able to travel in Asica. I had been worried that it would average $30-40 per day. And what makes it even more of a bargain is realizing how much bus travel is included in that average.
2. Away from the absolute center of Salta, there are no traffic controls at intersections. Whoever is going through the intersection has the right-of-way. As soon as there is a pause in cross traffic, the waiting line starts up. Then a waiting line begins to form on the other street until there is another pause. I guess they are no-fault intersections. Aggressive people tend to win, but they also are in greater danger.
3. I find it amazing how little English is spoken in Argentina, even among educated young people. In today´s world it would be advantageous for them to speak English, especially considering the poor state of their economy and their need to try to globalize. The government should be encouraging tourism with the prices so cheap, but the lack of English-speaking people in the tourist industry would be a big problem.
4. I have felt completely safe here--all places at all times. Of course, everyone thinks I am Argentinean as long as I don´t speak. My skin, hair, and eyes are dark like theirs.
_______
When I left the restaurant, I bought a piece of cake being sold by ladies in the plaza. It had very think crusty layers filled with caramel cream--sort of an Argentine version of fragilité.
The rest of the day was rather routine. I rested and watched a film on TV, I went to the station and bought a ticket to Tucumán for tomorrow, I walked through town, and I returned at 8:00 p.m. when it started raining. I am staying in and watching TV tonight.
Walking: 24,956 steps (21,622 aerobic steps), 1010 calories, 16.97 km (10 miles)
Sunday, Jan. 23
I´ve left the mountains temporarily. I am in Tucumán, the biggest city in the north of Argentina. It is also known as the hottest of the big cities. It has a huge park that is supposed to be the best in the country. But the whole city, including the park, is a dumpy looking place. It is obvious that the infrastructure has been ignored for years, if not for decades. The sidewalks are broken. They still use metal platforms at intersections for policemen to direct traffic like in India. An amphitheater at the park looked abandoned and falling apart although the design was rather modern. A shopping mall attached to the bus station has only 5-6 regular stores and 2-3 eateries. Half of the mall is vaant, and the rest is rented out in the form of market stalls. The town is good only as a transit point. Otherwise, it would be better to avoid it. I am using it as an overnight transit point because my bus arrived here too late for me to connect to my next destination.
Hotels here are also unkept. Yet the prices are higher than in other cities where I have been. They all have set prices for tourists that are printed on brochures like elsewhere in the country. Even if they are almost empty, they let you walk out rather than discounting their prices. Fortunately, even the tourist price is reasonable in general. Here in Tucumán, however, they seem inflated beyond the quality. Also, the star system seems to be meaningless. I am stayin at a "3-star" hotel tonight, but it seems to be only a little better than a Motel 6 in the U.S.
I got here too late for lunch. I hadn´t eaten all day, but I pushed myself. I explored the park and the downtown area until 5:00 p.m. Then I stopped at Il Postino Pizzabar. It is a little glorified--something like a Bennigans. None of the pizzas sounded good, so I got a lomito (steak filet) sandwich with French fries. It was good, and I feel stuffed. My stomach feels full with only a little food these days.
I am spending the rest of the evening in my room. Sundays are not good days for doing things in Argentina. In fact, I will try to plan each one to be a travel day like today.
Walking: 16,455 steps (13,819 aerobic steps), 665 calories, 11.18 km (6.7 miles)
Monday, Jan. 24
Heaven, I´m in Heaven...! Tafi del Valle has to be one of the BEST places in the WORLD. I took the bus from Tucumán this morning. We gradually climbed up into the mountains--green ones this time. We passed fields of sugarcane, fruits, vegetables. We had sharp switchbacks. Then we arrived to a big valley in the middle of green mountaintops with the raggidy tips of the high Andes visible just beyond. Vinyars lined the roadway after we passed a huge lake. And butterflies fluttered everywhere. As we entered town, there was a polo game in progress on a field. The town is small and quaint. People come here to relax and hike. The valley is so beautiful that it encourages walking. With the mountains sweeping up on all sides with wonderful folds in their sides, they remind of of scenes in Hawaii and New Zealand.
I may be staying in the nices hotel in town. Again, I had trouble finding a room. All the cheaper places were booked solid, so I checked into Hosteria Lunahuana (http://www.lunahuana.com.ar/i_main.htm). I have a room with a loft. There is a double bed in the main room, and it is covered with a beautiful, cream-colored wool blanket. On the walls are weavings and wooden fixtures. On the tile floors is a Persian rug. The slanted ceiling is timbered. Up the circular stairway are two single beds. Everything is of the highest quality. It´s a splurge compared to the prices I have paid for other hotels here, but it is a bargain in terms of what you get for the price--$30 U.S. per night.
I came straight from the hotel to El Rancho de Felix restaurant and have been having one of the best meals since arriving in South America. I had two types of tamales. Each are local versions and were tied bundles about 3 inches by 4 inches by 1 inch (7.5 cm x 10 cm x 2.5 cm). The first was a vegetarian one called humitis. The masa was a mixture of corn and pumpkin. Mixed in with it were chunks of cheese, kernals of corn, and onions. It was fantastic! The second was called a tamale. It had just corn masa and had chunks of beef, chunks of pork, onions, boiled eggs, and raisins mixed among the masa. The raisins were not the boxed kind; obviously they were dried grapes from the local vinyards.
As I said at the beginning, I am in heaven. The setting, my hotel, the food, etc., couldn´t be better. I could stay here for days. I will stay at least two nights and maybe three. I can´t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now.
I explored the village and took some photos of the mountains and the valley. Then I came to the room to rest. Shortly afterwards, rain began. By 8:00 it had let up, so I went out again. it was cooler by then, and most people were wearning jackets. I bought some local cheese. Tafi is known for it cheeses and has a cheese festival in February each year. I also bought a bottle of wine (Los Haraldos Cabernet Malbec). I returned to my room and had the cheese, which was spongy and a little salty, for dinner and watched TV.
Here are some images of Tafi del Valle: http://images.google.com.ar/images?q=Tafi%20del%20Valle&hl=es&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi
Tuesday, Jan. 25
It´s coudy today with an occasional drizzle. It would be nicer with sunshine, but I have still been out. After breakfast, I hiked to a lookout point. I used the map to determine a route on back roads. There was no traffic at all. It was a switchback road lined with nice homes. Some have fulltime residents, but it is obvious that others are summer houses owned by wealthy families who come hear to escape the heat. Most have lawns full of beautiful flowers--clusters of purple, yellow, white, pink, etc. Often, wild roses are growing along the fences. Every house seems to have a view of the valley, since each switchback and even the opposite side of the roadway is a little higher up the hillside.
The tops of the mountains are covered with clounds, but I got some good photos of houses and lawns and of the clouds draping down into the crevices of the mountains. This valley is definitely an Argentinean paradise.
When I got back to town via a different route down the mountain, I stopped at a cyber cafe. The computer was bad and the connection was slow. I lost a blog entry when it wouldn´t post. I gave up. I read and responded to critical e-mail and got out quickly as I saw the price rising fast.
I went back to the same restaurant as yesterday and had more local food. This time I had locro, a pumpkin-corn soup with chunks of beefr, pork, sausage, and stomach. The corn had a texture like hominy. There was a picante sauce to add to the soup that seemed to be oil, onions, and red peppers.
After a rest at the hotel, I went back out in the evening. Here are notes about this place:
1. It reminds me of towns in the wine areas north of San Francisco. It´s a special place.
2. The local children (and some of the adults) ride horses to come into town. At their fast speed, they go at a high-stepping gallop that is beautiful to watch. Many ride their horses with just a llama fur blanket on the horse´s back.
3. Mixed grills are popular here. There are many places that have their grills in the front windows so you can see them cooking goats, chickens, sausages, etc.
4. Here and all over Argentina people are out at night. Every family has a TV, so I wonder how they have managed to avoid becoming shut-ins at night like most of the people of the world.
______
For dinner I had a shawarma sandwich! They don´t have pita bread here, so they wrapped it in something similar to a flour tortilla. The grill was a fancy, old-fashioned model that had a great flame (versus the new models that are like gas heaters). The meat was thick slices of steak that had been layered on the skewer. Tomatoes, pickled onions, and shredded lettuce were stuffed in the bread with the meat and squirted with a sour cream sauce.
Walking: 14,432 steps (9772 aerobic steps), 604 calories, 9.81 km (5.9 miles)
Saturday, Jan. 22
I arrived in Salta at 10:30, but I had trouble finding a room. My hotel where I stayed before was full. A nearby place was also full. I went to the tourist office where a very nice lady called several places in the price range I quoted. She finally found 1 double room available for 40 pesos ($13.38 U.S.). It´s fine, but it is a little out of the way. It is frustrating having to worry about room availability everywhere I go.
I am sitting in a nice restaurant overlooking a plaza and the provencial legislative building. The former is one block square and has a flagpole in the center. It has nice old trees. The only ones I recognize are palms and ficus trees. Another maybe be a golden rain tree. All the others are beautiful, but they are exotic, unknown trees to me. The legislative building is European-style from the 1800s and is currently being restored in a peachy-flesh color with cream trim. It is an attractive combination.
My lunch was nice. I had lomo, thin sliced beef filet, covered with a cheese sauce with peppers and onions. Yellow rice was the side dish. I ate and watched the people on the plaza. When I leave here, I will go to the plaza and find a shady place to relax and read.
_______
Notes:
1. Argentina has been less expensive than I expected. I have been here 10 days through this morning (including last night´s hotel room), and I have spent $197.51 for a daily average of $19.95! That´s as cheap as I tend to be able to travel in Asica. I had been worried that it would average $30-40 per day. And what makes it even more of a bargain is realizing how much bus travel is included in that average.
2. Away from the absolute center of Salta, there are no traffic controls at intersections. Whoever is going through the intersection has the right-of-way. As soon as there is a pause in cross traffic, the waiting line starts up. Then a waiting line begins to form on the other street until there is another pause. I guess they are no-fault intersections. Aggressive people tend to win, but they also are in greater danger.
3. I find it amazing how little English is spoken in Argentina, even among educated young people. In today´s world it would be advantageous for them to speak English, especially considering the poor state of their economy and their need to try to globalize. The government should be encouraging tourism with the prices so cheap, but the lack of English-speaking people in the tourist industry would be a big problem.
4. I have felt completely safe here--all places at all times. Of course, everyone thinks I am Argentinean as long as I don´t speak. My skin, hair, and eyes are dark like theirs.
_______
When I left the restaurant, I bought a piece of cake being sold by ladies in the plaza. It had very think crusty layers filled with caramel cream--sort of an Argentine version of fragilité.
The rest of the day was rather routine. I rested and watched a film on TV, I went to the station and bought a ticket to Tucumán for tomorrow, I walked through town, and I returned at 8:00 p.m. when it started raining. I am staying in and watching TV tonight.
Walking: 24,956 steps (21,622 aerobic steps), 1010 calories, 16.97 km (10 miles)
Sunday, Jan. 23
I´ve left the mountains temporarily. I am in Tucumán, the biggest city in the north of Argentina. It is also known as the hottest of the big cities. It has a huge park that is supposed to be the best in the country. But the whole city, including the park, is a dumpy looking place. It is obvious that the infrastructure has been ignored for years, if not for decades. The sidewalks are broken. They still use metal platforms at intersections for policemen to direct traffic like in India. An amphitheater at the park looked abandoned and falling apart although the design was rather modern. A shopping mall attached to the bus station has only 5-6 regular stores and 2-3 eateries. Half of the mall is vaant, and the rest is rented out in the form of market stalls. The town is good only as a transit point. Otherwise, it would be better to avoid it. I am using it as an overnight transit point because my bus arrived here too late for me to connect to my next destination.
Hotels here are also unkept. Yet the prices are higher than in other cities where I have been. They all have set prices for tourists that are printed on brochures like elsewhere in the country. Even if they are almost empty, they let you walk out rather than discounting their prices. Fortunately, even the tourist price is reasonable in general. Here in Tucumán, however, they seem inflated beyond the quality. Also, the star system seems to be meaningless. I am stayin at a "3-star" hotel tonight, but it seems to be only a little better than a Motel 6 in the U.S.
I got here too late for lunch. I hadn´t eaten all day, but I pushed myself. I explored the park and the downtown area until 5:00 p.m. Then I stopped at Il Postino Pizzabar. It is a little glorified--something like a Bennigans. None of the pizzas sounded good, so I got a lomito (steak filet) sandwich with French fries. It was good, and I feel stuffed. My stomach feels full with only a little food these days.
I am spending the rest of the evening in my room. Sundays are not good days for doing things in Argentina. In fact, I will try to plan each one to be a travel day like today.
Walking: 16,455 steps (13,819 aerobic steps), 665 calories, 11.18 km (6.7 miles)
Monday, Jan. 24
Heaven, I´m in Heaven...! Tafi del Valle has to be one of the BEST places in the WORLD. I took the bus from Tucumán this morning. We gradually climbed up into the mountains--green ones this time. We passed fields of sugarcane, fruits, vegetables. We had sharp switchbacks. Then we arrived to a big valley in the middle of green mountaintops with the raggidy tips of the high Andes visible just beyond. Vinyars lined the roadway after we passed a huge lake. And butterflies fluttered everywhere. As we entered town, there was a polo game in progress on a field. The town is small and quaint. People come here to relax and hike. The valley is so beautiful that it encourages walking. With the mountains sweeping up on all sides with wonderful folds in their sides, they remind of of scenes in Hawaii and New Zealand.
I may be staying in the nices hotel in town. Again, I had trouble finding a room. All the cheaper places were booked solid, so I checked into Hosteria Lunahuana (http://www.lunahuana.com.ar/i_main.htm). I have a room with a loft. There is a double bed in the main room, and it is covered with a beautiful, cream-colored wool blanket. On the walls are weavings and wooden fixtures. On the tile floors is a Persian rug. The slanted ceiling is timbered. Up the circular stairway are two single beds. Everything is of the highest quality. It´s a splurge compared to the prices I have paid for other hotels here, but it is a bargain in terms of what you get for the price--$30 U.S. per night.
I came straight from the hotel to El Rancho de Felix restaurant and have been having one of the best meals since arriving in South America. I had two types of tamales. Each are local versions and were tied bundles about 3 inches by 4 inches by 1 inch (7.5 cm x 10 cm x 2.5 cm). The first was a vegetarian one called humitis. The masa was a mixture of corn and pumpkin. Mixed in with it were chunks of cheese, kernals of corn, and onions. It was fantastic! The second was called a tamale. It had just corn masa and had chunks of beef, chunks of pork, onions, boiled eggs, and raisins mixed among the masa. The raisins were not the boxed kind; obviously they were dried grapes from the local vinyards.
As I said at the beginning, I am in heaven. The setting, my hotel, the food, etc., couldn´t be better. I could stay here for days. I will stay at least two nights and maybe three. I can´t imagine wanting to be anywhere else right now.
I explored the village and took some photos of the mountains and the valley. Then I came to the room to rest. Shortly afterwards, rain began. By 8:00 it had let up, so I went out again. it was cooler by then, and most people were wearning jackets. I bought some local cheese. Tafi is known for it cheeses and has a cheese festival in February each year. I also bought a bottle of wine (Los Haraldos Cabernet Malbec). I returned to my room and had the cheese, which was spongy and a little salty, for dinner and watched TV.
Here are some images of Tafi del Valle: http://images.google.com.ar/images?q=Tafi%20del%20Valle&hl=es&lr=&sa=N&tab=wi
Tuesday, Jan. 25
It´s coudy today with an occasional drizzle. It would be nicer with sunshine, but I have still been out. After breakfast, I hiked to a lookout point. I used the map to determine a route on back roads. There was no traffic at all. It was a switchback road lined with nice homes. Some have fulltime residents, but it is obvious that others are summer houses owned by wealthy families who come hear to escape the heat. Most have lawns full of beautiful flowers--clusters of purple, yellow, white, pink, etc. Often, wild roses are growing along the fences. Every house seems to have a view of the valley, since each switchback and even the opposite side of the roadway is a little higher up the hillside.
The tops of the mountains are covered with clounds, but I got some good photos of houses and lawns and of the clouds draping down into the crevices of the mountains. This valley is definitely an Argentinean paradise.
When I got back to town via a different route down the mountain, I stopped at a cyber cafe. The computer was bad and the connection was slow. I lost a blog entry when it wouldn´t post. I gave up. I read and responded to critical e-mail and got out quickly as I saw the price rising fast.
I went back to the same restaurant as yesterday and had more local food. This time I had locro, a pumpkin-corn soup with chunks of beefr, pork, sausage, and stomach. The corn had a texture like hominy. There was a picante sauce to add to the soup that seemed to be oil, onions, and red peppers.
After a rest at the hotel, I went back out in the evening. Here are notes about this place:
1. It reminds me of towns in the wine areas north of San Francisco. It´s a special place.
2. The local children (and some of the adults) ride horses to come into town. At their fast speed, they go at a high-stepping gallop that is beautiful to watch. Many ride their horses with just a llama fur blanket on the horse´s back.
3. Mixed grills are popular here. There are many places that have their grills in the front windows so you can see them cooking goats, chickens, sausages, etc.
4. Here and all over Argentina people are out at night. Every family has a TV, so I wonder how they have managed to avoid becoming shut-ins at night like most of the people of the world.
______
For dinner I had a shawarma sandwich! They don´t have pita bread here, so they wrapped it in something similar to a flour tortilla. The grill was a fancy, old-fashioned model that had a great flame (versus the new models that are like gas heaters). The meat was thick slices of steak that had been layered on the skewer. Tomatoes, pickled onions, and shredded lettuce were stuffed in the bread with the meat and squirted with a sour cream sauce.
Walking: 14,432 steps (9772 aerobic steps), 604 calories, 9.81 km (5.9 miles)
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Adventures in the Andes
Tuesday, Jan. 18
My room was very quiet with the solid inside shutters closed. When I awoke, the room was still dark, but I sensed it was time to get up, and it was--8:30. Breakfast was light--rounds of toast, croissants, butter, jam, fake juice, and coffee or tea.
I spent the morning in museums. Both the history and anthropological museums had nice exhibits of the Pre-Colombian period cultures, including ones existing here long before the Incas. They were quite creative in making funeral jugs which were used to bury the dead. Some had nice painted designs while others had sculptural designs to decorate them. The history museum also had good displays of architectural relics from early periods in the history of Salta--doors, hinges and locks, columns, window grates, etc.
For lunch, I stopped at a small empanada place. I got two with meat, two with chicken, and one with cheese. They were freshly made and kept in a cooler until ordering. Then they were taken to the back and cooked. They were served hot with a nice red chile sauce. The empanadas were juicy and delicious, and the hot sauce left a garlicy tingle on the tip of my tongue.
Walking: 18,469 steps (6047 aerobic steps), 773 calories, 12.55 km (7 1/2 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 19
I was so excited last night about my new travel plans to go up into the mountains. Then just after going to sleep, I could feel a slight soreness when I swallowed. I knew I was going to get a cold. It was so frustrating thinking about where I am going and how much more difficult and less enjoyable it will be with a cold. It has been over a year since I had one, and it was a mild one that disappeared after only 4 days. I hope this one doesn´t sap my strength too much.
_______
So far, not too bad. I left Salta for Jujuy at 9:30. There was a bus leaving for Humahuaca 5 minutes after our arrival. I got a ticket and rushed my way through the crowd. It was a small bus with no luggage storage, so I was lucky to have a back seat so my luggage could set between two rows.
There was a problem, however. The man had sold me a ticket to Purmamarca instead of Humahuaca. I discovered this when I checked the ticket as the bus turned off the Humahuaca highway for Purmamarca. Fortunately, the bus was continuing to Humahuaca after a detour, so I could buy an extra ticket and get to my intended destination.
I sat with some young woemn and an older couple who spoke English. The older couple warned me that I may bit be able to get a ticket to Iruya tomorrow. They had to wait two days for theirs.
The bus got here at 2:30, and the ticket office for Iruya won´t open until 6:00. I followed signs and checked into the nicest place in town, a motel named Camino del Incas. It is $20 per night. I was afraid the other places would be full. There are LOTS of backpackers up here in the mountains.
I went to a restaurant I passed earlier and had lunch. It was a plate lunch with spicy chicken, a ground beef mixture, a potato, rice topped with sliced tomatoes and onions, and a greenish-gray vegetable that seemed to be a starchy root. The lunch included a dessert which was a piece of goat cheese with a dark syrup poured over it. It was a good meal. I took a photo of the main course.
It´s dry and dusty here. All the towns consisst of adobe buildings, and the hills are covered with candelabra cacti. Any village here would make a good setting for a western movie representing the southwestern U.S. But it is definitely the Andes. There are native South Americans all over the town. They are selling Andean weavings, flutes, etc.
Almost all the tourist up here are young people. I have seen only one other tourist in town who is anywhere near my age. The young people like like students--like poor, liberal students. Their dress is rather hippyish. How liberal they are is questionable, however, since they sure are pushy at cutting in line!
I went at 5:00 to get in line for buying my bus ticket at 6:00. There was already a crowd, but it was two times bigger by the time the window opened. I got my ticket after a long wait behind people who were buying 4-10 tickets at a time.
I am spending my evening in the room. My body is tired. So far, the cold is slowly developing. I can feel it, however, in terms in weak muscles.
The room itself is very nice. One wall is unpainted stucco with large stones insterted in it. The floor is brick tiles and has Andean wool rugs (nice and plush). The woodwork, the furniture, the fixtures, etc., are all tasteful and of good quality.
It is cool here in the daytime and is getting cold tonight. There are some clouds. I hope they pass without it raining, because rain could cause the rivers to flow so that the buses couldn´t aake the trip.
Walking: 13,051 steps (7174 aerobic steps), 602 calories, 9.55 km (5 3/4 miles)
Thursday, Jan. 20
Well, jthere was a light rain last night and it is sprinkling and cloudy this morning. I am worried about two things regarding Iruya: 1) Will I get trapped there if it rains more? 2) Will I have a problem getting accommodation? Since I stayed in a nice place, I found a couple who speak English at breakfast. They are going to Iruya, too, but via a hired van. Their driver will pick them up at 9:00, and they promised to tell me what he says about conditions. Of course, that still won´t resolve the accommodations question.
There´s no Internet place here in Humahuaca. That surprises me. There is telephone service and cable TV, so I thought there would be a cyber cafe, especially with this many tourists. If I go to Iruya, it means I will be out of touch with everyone for several days. But I cannot start restricting my travels to places where I can constantly be on the Internet. People reading my blog just have to learn that there are still remote places in the world that may cause gaps of a few days in my postings.
_______
Well, I came to Iruya. It was an interesting trip. The bus was full, and I had a good seat in the front. Beside me and just in front of me was a family returning home. The grandmother would be a good subject for a portrait. She had black, kinky, long hair and wore an Andean hat--borad, almost flat brim with a short top. She had a pleated skirt, a top and socks of a native weave, and black shoes.
Next to me was a strange man about my age. He is from Spain, and I think he has been traveling along too long. He kept making noises--whoops, whistles, clapping, etc.--when he was happy about something. Or maybe he just has Tourette´s Syndrome which has those symptoms. He was different!
The trip was exicting and beautiful. The mountains here are totally desert with stones scattered everywhere, but there is lots of greenery growing on them. We crossed rivewrs (without bridges) several times, so I can see how rains close the roads. We climbed and climbed until we reached 3000 m (about 10,000 ft). We stopped briefly for a few of a 4000 m (about 13,000 ft= peak and the valley between us. There were many switchbacks on the road, and often there were deep dropoffs. We met a pickup at a critical point; fortunately it was on the outside, so they were the ones who had to be concerned about falling. The last 30 minutes of the trip were along the riverbed inside a long and rather deep canyon.
Iruya is on a hillside going up from the river that formed the canyon. It is a small, cobblestoned village with steep streets. The people in the area or indiginous. Everyone we passed in the countryside looked like a phto opportunity for National Geographic with their brightly colored panchos, hair ribbons, etc. The town itself is rather small. It is definitely far from hwere people normally live and travel. I may meet a European some day who has been here, but I doubt I will meet an American who has.
I knew there was a hotel at the top of the hill, but it was just too steep at too high an altitude for me to make it up to there with my luggage. I was stopping and breathing as if I had asthma. Backpackers were swarming everywhere looking for rooms, so I took a bed in a shared room that was still available. There are 4 others in the room--one other person in a bed and 3 on bedrolls on the floor.
I met the people from my hotel this morning. They recommended a restaurant where they had eaten lunch, but it was already closing. I went elsewhere and had a nice lunch--roasted quarter of chicken with rice. There was Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over the rice and a lemon wedge to squeeze over it. For dessert, I had flan with a caramelized milk paste.
I sat on the main square and read for a while. But it is cloundy and there was a cool breeze. While there, however, one of the students was playing nice, mellow songs on his guitar. It was very relaxing to look at the views of the pink and green mountains while hearing his music.
I also met some nice Argentina students who were staying in another room here at my hostel. They are more clean cut looking than most of the students traveling here, and they speak English well. The whole group is majoring in social communication, a degree that combines sociology and journalism. They are worried about getting jobs and said they hope they can avoid working for the government.
I finished my mudger mystery and am now reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Márquez. It is interesting so far, but I can understand the confusion the similar names have created for others I knew who have read it. I will probably read quite a bit of it in the next 20 hours until I leave to go back into less remote areas.
_____
It is 8:00 p.m., and it is beginning to darken outside. I went through the streets of town one more time about an hour ago. I looked to see the changes in the colors of the mountains as it darkens. Many of the natives were out on one particular street. They were all friendly with verbal greetings. I stopped at an empanada place and bought 8 empanadas. I ate 6 of them and gave the others to a guest here.
The facilities here are basic. I won´t bathe or shave until I get to Jujuy or Salta tomorrow night. I will brush my teeth in the backyard at a sink there. I am avoiding water in hopes I can go all night without having to use the toilet (which is nowhere near my room). I don´t know if people undress to their underwear in comunal rooms like this or keep their clothes on. I will go to bed first, I imagine. I think I will wear a t-shirt and boxer shorts, because I will sleep better than I would with my clothes on. I´ll also use my earplugs so that the nearby animals and my roommates will be less of a disturbance for me.
Walking: 8500 stpes (1271 aerobic stpes), 392 calories, 5.78 km (3 1/2 miles)
Friday, Jan. 21
It is sunny and beautiful today. I imagine I will zip the legs off my pants and take off my windbreaker and be quite comfortable.
I didn´t sleep well because of my cold. I couldn´t breathe easily. Combine that with the problem of less oxygen at such a high altitude, and I found myself occasionally gasping for air through my mouth since not enough was coming through my nose.
I went to stand in line to buy my ticket this morning. The crowd didn´t form so early. I was #3 in line, and I didn´t get there until 30 minutes before opening. I squatted while waiting, because I didn´t want the seat of my pants to get dirty. As a truck came around the corner, I raised up too fast. My legs had gone to sleep, and the oxygen couldn´t get to my head fast enough. I passed out for about a second. I was already coming to when I felt my rear hit the ground. It was due entinrely to the altitude, so I knew not to worry. But my legs tingled for 5 minutes before the blood circulation was back to normal. That must have been due the the low exygen levels, too.
I have six hours before the bus leaves. I will read and relax I guess. There´s really nothing to do here except to hike or relax.
_______
The time passed slowly. I read almost half of the book I started yesterday. It was too hot to be in the sun and too cool to be in the shade, so I alternated between the two. At 12:30, I went to lunch and had sort of an Andean version of osso bucco--thin slices of tail meat around the bone served with a stew of potatoes, onions, and carrots and also served with rice. I am not sure what animal the tail came from. I stopped back at my place to use the toilet (good I had my own paper) and pick up my luggage. I SLOWLY walked back downhill with it all, arriving just after the buses had arrived with their new loads of tourists. I sat there on the square for an hour until time for us to leave, watching the local kids try to hit each other with water balloons--one of the ways they celebrate Carnival here.
It was tiring making the zigzag return trip, but I was lucky. As soon as we pulled into Humahuaca, there was a bus ready to leave for Jujuy. Then there was bad luck. There is an Argentine checkpoint on the road similar to the inland checkpoints the U.S. has along the Mexican border. It only took them 2-3 minutes to check our bus, but we had the misfortune of being behind an international bus going from Bolivia to Buenos Aires. We had to wait our turn for 45 minutes while they checked each individual and his luggage from that bus.
It was 9:00 p.m. when we got here to Jujuy, and the streets were lined with people awaiting an event. I had to go to 3 hotels before finding an overpriced room about 4 blocks from the bus station. Unlike other hotels, they made me pay in advance, so that´s another sign that it isn´t the best establishment. I went back to the station to bug a ticket to Salta for tomorrow morning, and whatever the event had ben, it had already happened. It was probably a processional for a saint´s day. Anyway, the computer was down at one bus company, and the other had sold out its 9:00 a.m. bus. I will see if I can get there early enough for the 8:15 bus tomorrow. If not, I will probably have to wait until 11:00. I am so tired from my cold, too much sunshine, and 6 hours on buses that I don´t really care much about tomorrow right now.
Tuesday, Jan. 18
My room was very quiet with the solid inside shutters closed. When I awoke, the room was still dark, but I sensed it was time to get up, and it was--8:30. Breakfast was light--rounds of toast, croissants, butter, jam, fake juice, and coffee or tea.
I spent the morning in museums. Both the history and anthropological museums had nice exhibits of the Pre-Colombian period cultures, including ones existing here long before the Incas. They were quite creative in making funeral jugs which were used to bury the dead. Some had nice painted designs while others had sculptural designs to decorate them. The history museum also had good displays of architectural relics from early periods in the history of Salta--doors, hinges and locks, columns, window grates, etc.
For lunch, I stopped at a small empanada place. I got two with meat, two with chicken, and one with cheese. They were freshly made and kept in a cooler until ordering. Then they were taken to the back and cooked. They were served hot with a nice red chile sauce. The empanadas were juicy and delicious, and the hot sauce left a garlicy tingle on the tip of my tongue.
Walking: 18,469 steps (6047 aerobic steps), 773 calories, 12.55 km (7 1/2 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 19
I was so excited last night about my new travel plans to go up into the mountains. Then just after going to sleep, I could feel a slight soreness when I swallowed. I knew I was going to get a cold. It was so frustrating thinking about where I am going and how much more difficult and less enjoyable it will be with a cold. It has been over a year since I had one, and it was a mild one that disappeared after only 4 days. I hope this one doesn´t sap my strength too much.
_______
So far, not too bad. I left Salta for Jujuy at 9:30. There was a bus leaving for Humahuaca 5 minutes after our arrival. I got a ticket and rushed my way through the crowd. It was a small bus with no luggage storage, so I was lucky to have a back seat so my luggage could set between two rows.
There was a problem, however. The man had sold me a ticket to Purmamarca instead of Humahuaca. I discovered this when I checked the ticket as the bus turned off the Humahuaca highway for Purmamarca. Fortunately, the bus was continuing to Humahuaca after a detour, so I could buy an extra ticket and get to my intended destination.
I sat with some young woemn and an older couple who spoke English. The older couple warned me that I may bit be able to get a ticket to Iruya tomorrow. They had to wait two days for theirs.
The bus got here at 2:30, and the ticket office for Iruya won´t open until 6:00. I followed signs and checked into the nicest place in town, a motel named Camino del Incas. It is $20 per night. I was afraid the other places would be full. There are LOTS of backpackers up here in the mountains.
I went to a restaurant I passed earlier and had lunch. It was a plate lunch with spicy chicken, a ground beef mixture, a potato, rice topped with sliced tomatoes and onions, and a greenish-gray vegetable that seemed to be a starchy root. The lunch included a dessert which was a piece of goat cheese with a dark syrup poured over it. It was a good meal. I took a photo of the main course.
It´s dry and dusty here. All the towns consisst of adobe buildings, and the hills are covered with candelabra cacti. Any village here would make a good setting for a western movie representing the southwestern U.S. But it is definitely the Andes. There are native South Americans all over the town. They are selling Andean weavings, flutes, etc.
Almost all the tourist up here are young people. I have seen only one other tourist in town who is anywhere near my age. The young people like like students--like poor, liberal students. Their dress is rather hippyish. How liberal they are is questionable, however, since they sure are pushy at cutting in line!
I went at 5:00 to get in line for buying my bus ticket at 6:00. There was already a crowd, but it was two times bigger by the time the window opened. I got my ticket after a long wait behind people who were buying 4-10 tickets at a time.
I am spending my evening in the room. My body is tired. So far, the cold is slowly developing. I can feel it, however, in terms in weak muscles.
The room itself is very nice. One wall is unpainted stucco with large stones insterted in it. The floor is brick tiles and has Andean wool rugs (nice and plush). The woodwork, the furniture, the fixtures, etc., are all tasteful and of good quality.
It is cool here in the daytime and is getting cold tonight. There are some clouds. I hope they pass without it raining, because rain could cause the rivers to flow so that the buses couldn´t aake the trip.
Walking: 13,051 steps (7174 aerobic steps), 602 calories, 9.55 km (5 3/4 miles)
Thursday, Jan. 20
Well, jthere was a light rain last night and it is sprinkling and cloudy this morning. I am worried about two things regarding Iruya: 1) Will I get trapped there if it rains more? 2) Will I have a problem getting accommodation? Since I stayed in a nice place, I found a couple who speak English at breakfast. They are going to Iruya, too, but via a hired van. Their driver will pick them up at 9:00, and they promised to tell me what he says about conditions. Of course, that still won´t resolve the accommodations question.
There´s no Internet place here in Humahuaca. That surprises me. There is telephone service and cable TV, so I thought there would be a cyber cafe, especially with this many tourists. If I go to Iruya, it means I will be out of touch with everyone for several days. But I cannot start restricting my travels to places where I can constantly be on the Internet. People reading my blog just have to learn that there are still remote places in the world that may cause gaps of a few days in my postings.
_______
Well, I came to Iruya. It was an interesting trip. The bus was full, and I had a good seat in the front. Beside me and just in front of me was a family returning home. The grandmother would be a good subject for a portrait. She had black, kinky, long hair and wore an Andean hat--borad, almost flat brim with a short top. She had a pleated skirt, a top and socks of a native weave, and black shoes.
Next to me was a strange man about my age. He is from Spain, and I think he has been traveling along too long. He kept making noises--whoops, whistles, clapping, etc.--when he was happy about something. Or maybe he just has Tourette´s Syndrome which has those symptoms. He was different!
The trip was exicting and beautiful. The mountains here are totally desert with stones scattered everywhere, but there is lots of greenery growing on them. We crossed rivewrs (without bridges) several times, so I can see how rains close the roads. We climbed and climbed until we reached 3000 m (about 10,000 ft). We stopped briefly for a few of a 4000 m (about 13,000 ft= peak and the valley between us. There were many switchbacks on the road, and often there were deep dropoffs. We met a pickup at a critical point; fortunately it was on the outside, so they were the ones who had to be concerned about falling. The last 30 minutes of the trip were along the riverbed inside a long and rather deep canyon.
Iruya is on a hillside going up from the river that formed the canyon. It is a small, cobblestoned village with steep streets. The people in the area or indiginous. Everyone we passed in the countryside looked like a phto opportunity for National Geographic with their brightly colored panchos, hair ribbons, etc. The town itself is rather small. It is definitely far from hwere people normally live and travel. I may meet a European some day who has been here, but I doubt I will meet an American who has.
I knew there was a hotel at the top of the hill, but it was just too steep at too high an altitude for me to make it up to there with my luggage. I was stopping and breathing as if I had asthma. Backpackers were swarming everywhere looking for rooms, so I took a bed in a shared room that was still available. There are 4 others in the room--one other person in a bed and 3 on bedrolls on the floor.
I met the people from my hotel this morning. They recommended a restaurant where they had eaten lunch, but it was already closing. I went elsewhere and had a nice lunch--roasted quarter of chicken with rice. There was Parmesan cheese to sprinkle over the rice and a lemon wedge to squeeze over it. For dessert, I had flan with a caramelized milk paste.
I sat on the main square and read for a while. But it is cloundy and there was a cool breeze. While there, however, one of the students was playing nice, mellow songs on his guitar. It was very relaxing to look at the views of the pink and green mountains while hearing his music.
I also met some nice Argentina students who were staying in another room here at my hostel. They are more clean cut looking than most of the students traveling here, and they speak English well. The whole group is majoring in social communication, a degree that combines sociology and journalism. They are worried about getting jobs and said they hope they can avoid working for the government.
I finished my mudger mystery and am now reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by the Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Márquez. It is interesting so far, but I can understand the confusion the similar names have created for others I knew who have read it. I will probably read quite a bit of it in the next 20 hours until I leave to go back into less remote areas.
_____
It is 8:00 p.m., and it is beginning to darken outside. I went through the streets of town one more time about an hour ago. I looked to see the changes in the colors of the mountains as it darkens. Many of the natives were out on one particular street. They were all friendly with verbal greetings. I stopped at an empanada place and bought 8 empanadas. I ate 6 of them and gave the others to a guest here.
The facilities here are basic. I won´t bathe or shave until I get to Jujuy or Salta tomorrow night. I will brush my teeth in the backyard at a sink there. I am avoiding water in hopes I can go all night without having to use the toilet (which is nowhere near my room). I don´t know if people undress to their underwear in comunal rooms like this or keep their clothes on. I will go to bed first, I imagine. I think I will wear a t-shirt and boxer shorts, because I will sleep better than I would with my clothes on. I´ll also use my earplugs so that the nearby animals and my roommates will be less of a disturbance for me.
Walking: 8500 stpes (1271 aerobic stpes), 392 calories, 5.78 km (3 1/2 miles)
Friday, Jan. 21
It is sunny and beautiful today. I imagine I will zip the legs off my pants and take off my windbreaker and be quite comfortable.
I didn´t sleep well because of my cold. I couldn´t breathe easily. Combine that with the problem of less oxygen at such a high altitude, and I found myself occasionally gasping for air through my mouth since not enough was coming through my nose.
I went to stand in line to buy my ticket this morning. The crowd didn´t form so early. I was #3 in line, and I didn´t get there until 30 minutes before opening. I squatted while waiting, because I didn´t want the seat of my pants to get dirty. As a truck came around the corner, I raised up too fast. My legs had gone to sleep, and the oxygen couldn´t get to my head fast enough. I passed out for about a second. I was already coming to when I felt my rear hit the ground. It was due entinrely to the altitude, so I knew not to worry. But my legs tingled for 5 minutes before the blood circulation was back to normal. That must have been due the the low exygen levels, too.
I have six hours before the bus leaves. I will read and relax I guess. There´s really nothing to do here except to hike or relax.
_______
The time passed slowly. I read almost half of the book I started yesterday. It was too hot to be in the sun and too cool to be in the shade, so I alternated between the two. At 12:30, I went to lunch and had sort of an Andean version of osso bucco--thin slices of tail meat around the bone served with a stew of potatoes, onions, and carrots and also served with rice. I am not sure what animal the tail came from. I stopped back at my place to use the toilet (good I had my own paper) and pick up my luggage. I SLOWLY walked back downhill with it all, arriving just after the buses had arrived with their new loads of tourists. I sat there on the square for an hour until time for us to leave, watching the local kids try to hit each other with water balloons--one of the ways they celebrate Carnival here.
It was tiring making the zigzag return trip, but I was lucky. As soon as we pulled into Humahuaca, there was a bus ready to leave for Jujuy. Then there was bad luck. There is an Argentine checkpoint on the road similar to the inland checkpoints the U.S. has along the Mexican border. It only took them 2-3 minutes to check our bus, but we had the misfortune of being behind an international bus going from Bolivia to Buenos Aires. We had to wait our turn for 45 minutes while they checked each individual and his luggage from that bus.
It was 9:00 p.m. when we got here to Jujuy, and the streets were lined with people awaiting an event. I had to go to 3 hotels before finding an overpriced room about 4 blocks from the bus station. Unlike other hotels, they made me pay in advance, so that´s another sign that it isn´t the best establishment. I went back to the station to bug a ticket to Salta for tomorrow morning, and whatever the event had ben, it had already happened. It was probably a processional for a saint´s day. Anyway, the computer was down at one bus company, and the other had sold out its 9:00 a.m. bus. I will see if I can get there early enough for the 8:15 bus tomorrow. If not, I will probably have to wait until 11:00. I am so tired from my cold, too much sunshine, and 6 hours on buses that I don´t really care much about tomorrow right now.
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Exciting Change in Itinerary
I am leaving Salta. I have changed my itinerary to include an excursion further northward into the Andes Mountains. I feel the need to get to a village in the mountains. I hope to do some walking through some beautiful territory. My plans have to be tentative, since this is a remote area. Sometimes there is only one bus per day where I will be. And this is the rainy season. If it rains, a road may close for a day. So the plans are both tentative and flexible:
Jan. 18 Salta to Jujuy--2 hours, then Jujuy to Humahuaca, 3 hours
Jan. 19 Humahuaca to Iruya--3 hours leaving only at 10:30
Jan. 20 Iruya
Jan. 21 Iruya to Humahuaca--3 hours leaving only at 15:15
Jan. 22 Humahuaca to Purmamarca (Schedules unknown at present time)
Jan. 23 Purmamarca to Jujuy (Schedule uncertain), then Jujuy to Salta--2 hours
Jan. 24 Salta to Cachi--4 hours (only one bus
Jan. 25 Cachi to Cafayate (One bus only on Wednesdays and Sundays leaving at 9:05), then Cafayate to Tafi del Valle if not too late in the day
If you look back at my previous schedule, this puts me back on track. I will go from Tafi del Valle to Tucuman and continue as planned then. Now here are some images:
Humahuaca http://images.google.com/images?q=Humahuaca&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
Iruya http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Iruya
Purmamarca http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Purmamarca
Cachi http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=cachi
Cafayate http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=cafayate
Tafi del Valle http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=tafi+del+valle
I am leaving Salta. I have changed my itinerary to include an excursion further northward into the Andes Mountains. I feel the need to get to a village in the mountains. I hope to do some walking through some beautiful territory. My plans have to be tentative, since this is a remote area. Sometimes there is only one bus per day where I will be. And this is the rainy season. If it rains, a road may close for a day. So the plans are both tentative and flexible:
Jan. 18 Salta to Jujuy--2 hours, then Jujuy to Humahuaca, 3 hours
Jan. 19 Humahuaca to Iruya--3 hours leaving only at 10:30
Jan. 20 Iruya
Jan. 21 Iruya to Humahuaca--3 hours leaving only at 15:15
Jan. 22 Humahuaca to Purmamarca (Schedules unknown at present time)
Jan. 23 Purmamarca to Jujuy (Schedule uncertain), then Jujuy to Salta--2 hours
Jan. 24 Salta to Cachi--4 hours (only one bus
Jan. 25 Cachi to Cafayate (One bus only on Wednesdays and Sundays leaving at 9:05), then Cafayate to Tafi del Valle if not too late in the day
If you look back at my previous schedule, this puts me back on track. I will go from Tafi del Valle to Tucuman and continue as planned then. Now here are some images:
Humahuaca http://images.google.com/images?q=Humahuaca&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search
Iruya http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Iruya
Purmamarca http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=Purmamarca
Cachi http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=cachi
Cafayate http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=cafayate
Tafi del Valle http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&lr=&q=tafi+del+valle
At the Base of the Andes Mountains
Hi Everyone,
I am in Salta at the base of the Andes. I think I am going to change the itinerary I posted a few days ago. I am ahead of schedule on it anyway. I will probably go north of here into the mountains. I feel a need to be in a smaller village that is actually in the mountains rather than at the base of them. Maybe there will be something interesting to report in 2-3 days!
Monday, Jan. 17
Poor me. I had to spend 13 1/2 hours squeezed next to Blubber Lady! I always worry about who will sit beside me on long bus journeys (and planes, too). I prefer someone small or normal in size and someone nice. When I took my seat last night, I noticed the lady across the aisle from me was large enough to take up more space than just her seat, and I was so glad she was there and dnot next to me. Then a young couple consisting of a big man (big from fat) and a slender woman. I sighed with relief when she sat beside me and he sat across the aisle next to BL (Blubber Lady). He immediately talked to BL, however, and I knew what he was asking. I lost my thin seatmate through an exchange of seats. My bet is that his concern was more about being squeezed together with BL than it was about wanting to be with his wife!
It was supposed to be a 12 1/2 hour trip and stretched to 13 1/2. There was no center armrest, so her body just molded over against mine. Her thigh was against mine, her arm was against mine, her every movement moved me. The worst, however, was when she would try to coil up in her seat for sleeping. That caused her whole butt to be pressed against me. I could even feel her crack! I spent 13 1/2 hours counting each one of them--SLOWLY!
It was a back highway that has not been maintained because, I guess, the area is so sparsely settled. The road was so potholed it was like a lunar landscape. Vehicles have made paths to the sides of the pavement, but they are not wide enough to keep from being partially on the pavement. We spent HOURS weaving from one side of the road to the other and sometimes going so far that the bushes were scraping the bus. Yet we still were bouncing from hitting potholes. And each bounce, of course, made BL´s body move like a water bed, shifting but keeping constant contact with mine.
We were supposed to arrive in Salta at 7:30, and at 7:50 we pulled into a station where everyone, it seemed, started piling off the bus. I was so glad to get away from BL that I joined the crowd and got my luggage. Myh guidebook had said that the bus station was being reconstructed and there was supposed to be a park across the street. I didn´t see a sign of either as I walked out of the station. Then I saw the highway sign: "Salta 57." We weren´t in Salta. This was a station where everyone going to Bolivia had to get off and change buses. I looked back, and my bus was pulling out of the station. I ran toward it waving my arm, and I banged my fist against it as it appeared that it might not stop. It did, however, and guess who was my seatmate for 40 more minutes!
Salta is a pretty town set on a flat valley between foothill mountains of the Andes. The air is fresh, and it is an active place. I will probably be here for 3-4 days and maybe in the area 1-2 more days. I have to check with the tourist office about bus connections between various places.
My hotel room is so nice. It has only a fan, because a/c isn´t needed here in the mountains. But it has a TV; there are a wardrobe, a desk, a lamp table, bed frames, and a wooden shutters all in the same medium-tinted wood; the beds have nice sheets, attractive bedspreads, and an extra tailored pillow with nice buttoned covered; the bath has inner and outter areas with a marble vanity in the latter and a toilet, a bidet, and a shower in the former; and the floors are tiled with an area rug between the beds. Just outside my room is a small sitting area if I want a more open area to read or relax. All of this, including breakfast, is just $10 U.S. per night.
_______
After stopping by the tourist office for some information, I explored some of town looking for the market, a barber shop, extc. I was tiring fast when I came across an Arab take-away place. It is operated by a Syrian Christian. I had seen their large church earlier. It is imposing with an Easter Orthodox corss above one of its blue tiled domes. What really got my attention was the Arabic writing above the portico. The writing made me guess it was a big mosque, but then I glanced up to see the cross. Anyway, I ordered kebab and rice for one person. Three other people received their orders while mine was being prepared. It consisted of 5 patties of spiced ground meat (each 8 cm [3 inches] in diameter and 5 mm [1/4 inch] thick). They were juicy and freshly cooked and placed on a bed of rice pilaf. I brought it back to the room and ate it Arabic style (using my fingers), since I had no knife or fork in the room. It was a great and filling lunch for $1.34 U.S.
I napped for two hours and read in the afternoon. Everything closes here from 1:00-5:00 p.m., and I was exhausted from the uncomfortable overnight close encounter with BL. Now I will bathe and go back out for the late afternoon and evening.
_______
I found some nice areas of town. Salta has many old buildings like the colonial cities of Mexico. I was too tired to stay out long, however. I felt the same as when I have made time changes via overnight flights. I bought a bottle of wine (Tittarrelli Malbec Reserva 2001) and two sandwiches (dried ham on French breead and a loaf with beef and eggs on a bun with sweet peppers) and dhad dinner in the room.
Walking: 24,979 steps (19,649 aerobic steps), 1020 calories, 16.86 km (10 miles)
Hi Everyone,
I am in Salta at the base of the Andes. I think I am going to change the itinerary I posted a few days ago. I am ahead of schedule on it anyway. I will probably go north of here into the mountains. I feel a need to be in a smaller village that is actually in the mountains rather than at the base of them. Maybe there will be something interesting to report in 2-3 days!
Monday, Jan. 17
Poor me. I had to spend 13 1/2 hours squeezed next to Blubber Lady! I always worry about who will sit beside me on long bus journeys (and planes, too). I prefer someone small or normal in size and someone nice. When I took my seat last night, I noticed the lady across the aisle from me was large enough to take up more space than just her seat, and I was so glad she was there and dnot next to me. Then a young couple consisting of a big man (big from fat) and a slender woman. I sighed with relief when she sat beside me and he sat across the aisle next to BL (Blubber Lady). He immediately talked to BL, however, and I knew what he was asking. I lost my thin seatmate through an exchange of seats. My bet is that his concern was more about being squeezed together with BL than it was about wanting to be with his wife!
It was supposed to be a 12 1/2 hour trip and stretched to 13 1/2. There was no center armrest, so her body just molded over against mine. Her thigh was against mine, her arm was against mine, her every movement moved me. The worst, however, was when she would try to coil up in her seat for sleeping. That caused her whole butt to be pressed against me. I could even feel her crack! I spent 13 1/2 hours counting each one of them--SLOWLY!
It was a back highway that has not been maintained because, I guess, the area is so sparsely settled. The road was so potholed it was like a lunar landscape. Vehicles have made paths to the sides of the pavement, but they are not wide enough to keep from being partially on the pavement. We spent HOURS weaving from one side of the road to the other and sometimes going so far that the bushes were scraping the bus. Yet we still were bouncing from hitting potholes. And each bounce, of course, made BL´s body move like a water bed, shifting but keeping constant contact with mine.
We were supposed to arrive in Salta at 7:30, and at 7:50 we pulled into a station where everyone, it seemed, started piling off the bus. I was so glad to get away from BL that I joined the crowd and got my luggage. Myh guidebook had said that the bus station was being reconstructed and there was supposed to be a park across the street. I didn´t see a sign of either as I walked out of the station. Then I saw the highway sign: "Salta 57." We weren´t in Salta. This was a station where everyone going to Bolivia had to get off and change buses. I looked back, and my bus was pulling out of the station. I ran toward it waving my arm, and I banged my fist against it as it appeared that it might not stop. It did, however, and guess who was my seatmate for 40 more minutes!
Salta is a pretty town set on a flat valley between foothill mountains of the Andes. The air is fresh, and it is an active place. I will probably be here for 3-4 days and maybe in the area 1-2 more days. I have to check with the tourist office about bus connections between various places.
My hotel room is so nice. It has only a fan, because a/c isn´t needed here in the mountains. But it has a TV; there are a wardrobe, a desk, a lamp table, bed frames, and a wooden shutters all in the same medium-tinted wood; the beds have nice sheets, attractive bedspreads, and an extra tailored pillow with nice buttoned covered; the bath has inner and outter areas with a marble vanity in the latter and a toilet, a bidet, and a shower in the former; and the floors are tiled with an area rug between the beds. Just outside my room is a small sitting area if I want a more open area to read or relax. All of this, including breakfast, is just $10 U.S. per night.
_______
After stopping by the tourist office for some information, I explored some of town looking for the market, a barber shop, extc. I was tiring fast when I came across an Arab take-away place. It is operated by a Syrian Christian. I had seen their large church earlier. It is imposing with an Easter Orthodox corss above one of its blue tiled domes. What really got my attention was the Arabic writing above the portico. The writing made me guess it was a big mosque, but then I glanced up to see the cross. Anyway, I ordered kebab and rice for one person. Three other people received their orders while mine was being prepared. It consisted of 5 patties of spiced ground meat (each 8 cm [3 inches] in diameter and 5 mm [1/4 inch] thick). They were juicy and freshly cooked and placed on a bed of rice pilaf. I brought it back to the room and ate it Arabic style (using my fingers), since I had no knife or fork in the room. It was a great and filling lunch for $1.34 U.S.
I napped for two hours and read in the afternoon. Everything closes here from 1:00-5:00 p.m., and I was exhausted from the uncomfortable overnight close encounter with BL. Now I will bathe and go back out for the late afternoon and evening.
_______
I found some nice areas of town. Salta has many old buildings like the colonial cities of Mexico. I was too tired to stay out long, however. I felt the same as when I have made time changes via overnight flights. I bought a bottle of wine (Tittarrelli Malbec Reserva 2001) and two sandwiches (dried ham on French breead and a loaf with beef and eggs on a bun with sweet peppers) and dhad dinner in the room.
Walking: 24,979 steps (19,649 aerobic steps), 1020 calories, 16.86 km (10 miles)
Sunday, January 16, 2005
Off to Salta
Sunday, Jan. 16
It is a quiet Sunday morning, and I am sitting beside the Paraná River in Corrientes. After breakfast at the hotel (a limited one where I had croissants, toast, butter, jam, fake juice, mate [a type of herbal tea they drink here], and wonderful watermelon), I left my luggage and took the bus here to Corrientes. It is an old city with a well-preserved main square and this nice waterfront area. It is only 10:20, so it is rather quiet so far, and the air feels fresh. Of course, that will probably change as the day progresses. This region, especially just southwest of here, is the hottest region in all of South America.
Brief Notes:
1. Argentina is quieter than Brazil on Sundays. Almost everything remains closed all day. Few people are out anywhere, including the parks.
2. Corrientes was intersting. The square there is supposed to be one of the best preserved in all of Argentina, and it was nice with impressive buildings from the 1800s all the way around it. The rest of the Center also had lots of old buildings.
3. Corrientes also had beaches. Like on the Amazon, the Paraná River is so big that it creates sand and deposits it to form beaches along its banks. There were several nice beaches along the riverfront where people were sunning and swimming.
4. Today has remained mild. This is the second time there has been a mild day after a day of rain. Tomorrow will probably be super hot again.
5. I feel the need to slow down now. I will stay several days in Salta at the base of the Andes Mountains after traveling there on the overnight bus tonight. I hope to get a haircut, to get my teeth cleaned by a dentist, and to do laundry while there, too, in addition to seeing the sites. Here is a website with a photo of Salta:
http://www.argentinatotal.com.ar/info_turis/provincias/salta/ciudades/salta/salta.htm
Note that you can keep this website available and check it for other places I will be visiting as I travel through Argentina. The list of provinces is to the right side of the screen. I just finished traveling through Missiones and through Chaca, so you can click on those to see where I have been.
6. Resistencia is known for its statues. There are over 100 of them scattered around town. Some are nice. The most expensive looking one I have seen has been a gold-colored one of Eva Peron, but it is an ugly statue with her standing at attention in her body-tight dress suit. Many of the statues are modern, abstract ones; some are small while others are large; etc.
7. I ate lunch in a restaurant section of a supermarket--a place that charged by the weight. I had a meat dish that was stuffed and seemed to be either chicken or turkey. I also had a piece of pork roast with a mustard sauce. I had rice, corn, and tomato salad to go with the meats.
8. The bag Evy and Arvind gave me for my birthday works very well for my travels. It holds everything I need, has enough compartments to keep things separated, and is lighter in weight than my old bag.
9. I am looking forward to getting away from the bugs that are everywhere here. Mosquitoes swarm everywhere I got, expecially, however, in tight spaces indoors. I have seen big grasshoppers, cicadae, and cockroaches dead on the sidewalks. Last night, I had to fight the bugs off me and my food as I ate dinner. It´s just too hot and there is too much moisture here. Salta should be a big improvement.
Sunday, Jan. 16
It is a quiet Sunday morning, and I am sitting beside the Paraná River in Corrientes. After breakfast at the hotel (a limited one where I had croissants, toast, butter, jam, fake juice, mate [a type of herbal tea they drink here], and wonderful watermelon), I left my luggage and took the bus here to Corrientes. It is an old city with a well-preserved main square and this nice waterfront area. It is only 10:20, so it is rather quiet so far, and the air feels fresh. Of course, that will probably change as the day progresses. This region, especially just southwest of here, is the hottest region in all of South America.
Brief Notes:
1. Argentina is quieter than Brazil on Sundays. Almost everything remains closed all day. Few people are out anywhere, including the parks.
2. Corrientes was intersting. The square there is supposed to be one of the best preserved in all of Argentina, and it was nice with impressive buildings from the 1800s all the way around it. The rest of the Center also had lots of old buildings.
3. Corrientes also had beaches. Like on the Amazon, the Paraná River is so big that it creates sand and deposits it to form beaches along its banks. There were several nice beaches along the riverfront where people were sunning and swimming.
4. Today has remained mild. This is the second time there has been a mild day after a day of rain. Tomorrow will probably be super hot again.
5. I feel the need to slow down now. I will stay several days in Salta at the base of the Andes Mountains after traveling there on the overnight bus tonight. I hope to get a haircut, to get my teeth cleaned by a dentist, and to do laundry while there, too, in addition to seeing the sites. Here is a website with a photo of Salta:
http://www.argentinatotal.com.ar/info_turis/provincias/salta/ciudades/salta/salta.htm
Note that you can keep this website available and check it for other places I will be visiting as I travel through Argentina. The list of provinces is to the right side of the screen. I just finished traveling through Missiones and through Chaca, so you can click on those to see where I have been.
6. Resistencia is known for its statues. There are over 100 of them scattered around town. Some are nice. The most expensive looking one I have seen has been a gold-colored one of Eva Peron, but it is an ugly statue with her standing at attention in her body-tight dress suit. Many of the statues are modern, abstract ones; some are small while others are large; etc.
7. I ate lunch in a restaurant section of a supermarket--a place that charged by the weight. I had a meat dish that was stuffed and seemed to be either chicken or turkey. I also had a piece of pork roast with a mustard sauce. I had rice, corn, and tomato salad to go with the meats.
8. The bag Evy and Arvind gave me for my birthday works very well for my travels. It holds everything I need, has enough compartments to keep things separated, and is lighter in weight than my old bag.
9. I am looking forward to getting away from the bugs that are everywhere here. Mosquitoes swarm everywhere I got, expecially, however, in tight spaces indoors. I have seen big grasshoppers, cicadae, and cockroaches dead on the sidewalks. Last night, I had to fight the bugs off me and my food as I ate dinner. It´s just too hot and there is too much moisture here. Salta should be a big improvement.
Thunderstorms in Argentina
Saturday, Jan. 15
I was awakened by thunder around 7:00 this morning. By 8:30, it was raining hard. Mark commented that he was glad we didn´t wait until this morning to see the ruins (which we considered doing due to the cooler temperatures in the mornings). We decided to pack and catch a bus to Posadas if there was a break in the rain. In the meantime, the lady who ran the place cooked breakfast for her family and shared it with us. It was chipas (or chipitas?) which was simply just fried dough strips. They were filling, but they provided no real nutrition for either us or her family. It´s something cheap to eat, however, and this is one of the poorest regions of Argentina.
Well, it kept raining most of the morning, but there was a break from about 9:30 until 10:15 that allowed us to get to the bus stop and catch a bus to Posadas at 10:05 without getting wet at all! We hoped to both be able to catch other buses once we arrived there, since we had already determined that the only thing to see there, a museum about the Guaranì Indians, was closed on weekends.
I bought a ticket to continue to Resistencia while Mark ran all over the Posadas station trying to find a line with a seat for Buenos Aires without staying overnight. He had given up and was going to Resistencia with me (in hopes of getting a BA bus from there or at least seeing something interesting while staying overnight for a bus the next day) when he found that the company selling the ticket to Resistencia had had a cancellation for BA and, therefore, had one free seat for him to travel as he had hoped tonight. He bought it.
We had lunch together awaiting my departure--a friend empanada filled with ground beef and cheese and a baked empanada filled with ham. At 1:00, he saw me off for my 5 1/2 hour trip to Resistencia. He was going to be on the Internet and do other things to pass the 7 hours until his night bus departed.
I traveled through Chaca, a province that is so wet it is almost swampy. It had beautiful, dark green, clumpy grasses, and there were lots of water birds standing in the fields. The cows were sometimes almost buried to their knees with the ground being so moist. Mosquitoes were everywhere, including swarming inside the bus. I got several bites during the trip. Finally, after crossing the Paranà River, which is as wide as the Mississippi, I arrived at the bus station on the edge of town.
Because I wanted to be safe, I bought a ticket for the bus to Salta for tomorrow night rather than waiting and taking a chance that all the seats would be sold by the time I return to the station tomorrow. Then I caught the local bus into town. The tourist office at the bus depot was closed, and I had to worry about finding the recommended hotels without a map. (There was no map for this city in my guidebook either.) I got off the bus in the center of town. Fortunately, two women pointed the way to Obligato Street where two places were listed in the guidebook. Both had rooms, but the nicer one had a/c and breakfast. I went for it at $15 U.S.
This is a rather large city, and being here on Saturday night is like going back in time to the early 1950s in the U.S. Downtown was full of families. They were shopping, they were visiting with friends they met on the streets, they were having pastries and ice cream at a well-known cafe on the biggest square in town, etc. It was an exciting evening in this downtown which is about the size that downtown Corpus Christi was in the 1950s. After exploring town and stopping at a cyber cafe, I ate a pizza and returned to the hotel at 10:15.
Walking: 10,827 steps (3822 aerobic steps), 471 calories, 7.35 km (4.4 miles)
Saturday, Jan. 15
I was awakened by thunder around 7:00 this morning. By 8:30, it was raining hard. Mark commented that he was glad we didn´t wait until this morning to see the ruins (which we considered doing due to the cooler temperatures in the mornings). We decided to pack and catch a bus to Posadas if there was a break in the rain. In the meantime, the lady who ran the place cooked breakfast for her family and shared it with us. It was chipas (or chipitas?) which was simply just fried dough strips. They were filling, but they provided no real nutrition for either us or her family. It´s something cheap to eat, however, and this is one of the poorest regions of Argentina.
Well, it kept raining most of the morning, but there was a break from about 9:30 until 10:15 that allowed us to get to the bus stop and catch a bus to Posadas at 10:05 without getting wet at all! We hoped to both be able to catch other buses once we arrived there, since we had already determined that the only thing to see there, a museum about the Guaranì Indians, was closed on weekends.
I bought a ticket to continue to Resistencia while Mark ran all over the Posadas station trying to find a line with a seat for Buenos Aires without staying overnight. He had given up and was going to Resistencia with me (in hopes of getting a BA bus from there or at least seeing something interesting while staying overnight for a bus the next day) when he found that the company selling the ticket to Resistencia had had a cancellation for BA and, therefore, had one free seat for him to travel as he had hoped tonight. He bought it.
We had lunch together awaiting my departure--a friend empanada filled with ground beef and cheese and a baked empanada filled with ham. At 1:00, he saw me off for my 5 1/2 hour trip to Resistencia. He was going to be on the Internet and do other things to pass the 7 hours until his night bus departed.
I traveled through Chaca, a province that is so wet it is almost swampy. It had beautiful, dark green, clumpy grasses, and there were lots of water birds standing in the fields. The cows were sometimes almost buried to their knees with the ground being so moist. Mosquitoes were everywhere, including swarming inside the bus. I got several bites during the trip. Finally, after crossing the Paranà River, which is as wide as the Mississippi, I arrived at the bus station on the edge of town.
Because I wanted to be safe, I bought a ticket for the bus to Salta for tomorrow night rather than waiting and taking a chance that all the seats would be sold by the time I return to the station tomorrow. Then I caught the local bus into town. The tourist office at the bus depot was closed, and I had to worry about finding the recommended hotels without a map. (There was no map for this city in my guidebook either.) I got off the bus in the center of town. Fortunately, two women pointed the way to Obligato Street where two places were listed in the guidebook. Both had rooms, but the nicer one had a/c and breakfast. I went for it at $15 U.S.
This is a rather large city, and being here on Saturday night is like going back in time to the early 1950s in the U.S. Downtown was full of families. They were shopping, they were visiting with friends they met on the streets, they were having pastries and ice cream at a well-known cafe on the biggest square in town, etc. It was an exciting evening in this downtown which is about the size that downtown Corpus Christi was in the 1950s. After exploring town and stopping at a cyber cafe, I ate a pizza and returned to the hotel at 10:15.
Walking: 10,827 steps (3822 aerobic steps), 471 calories, 7.35 km (4.4 miles)
Saturday, January 15, 2005
Hot Argentina
Friday, Jan. 14
Somehow, I got off a day in writing dates. I had yesterday as Thursday, Jan. 15, and had to go back and change it. It is hard to keep track of time. I only noticed the discrepancy because I thought they had put the wrong date on my bus ticket.
I traveled 6 hours on a local bus today to get to San Ignacio. It was a trip through beautiful countryside--slightly hilly and green with nice flowers, fruit trees, etc. This is a very nice part of the world.
The only problem I had was the fact that towns are not announced on the bus. I was scared I would miss mine. I watched business signs carefully to try to determine the name of each town so I could see on the map how much closer we were getting. I didn´t realize until the last minute, however, that we were there and had to rush to get my bags from the overhead compartment and get downstairs.
My guidebook recommended the home of an artist who has two rooms for rent. I went there and children were playing outside. I knocked at the open door and said, "Hola," and got no response. I repeated the process twice. I think they must have been napping and the children had been told not to disturb them. I walked back 6 blocks to the hotel to find they were full except for rooms for 5! Then I came to this last choice and got the only room available. It is an old home of a rather poor family. The sheets are very thin from wear, but they are clean. it will be fine for a night. I am only paying $3.33 U.S.!
The best part of staying here is the Polish guy in the other room. He is young (maybe 28) and an engineer. And he is so funny. He has exaggerated eye and facial expressions when he is exicted, and he gets excited about all kinds of just little things. He is off now to see the ruins. I am waiting another hour before I go, hoping it will be a little less hot. I hope he and I can eat together tonight. It would be nice to have an evening with someone.
______
I went to the mission ruins about 5:00 p.m. As expected, they only took me about 45 minutes to see them. There are no roofs--only partial walls. The missions were built here at the same time the San Antonio missions were built--in the mid- to late-1700s. I didn´t feel that I really saw anything different. This one is built of lava stones rather than the limestones used in SA, but it was essentially a big chapel and other buildings for housing of the natives. Of course, the big differences are: 1) These missions had far more people than the ones in San Antonio, and 2) the governments allowed slave traders to come in and wipe out most of these missions.
I explored the town some. All the restaurants seem to be clustered around the ruins. The Polish guy didn´t want to eat so early, and I was starving. I hadn´t eaten anything since lunch yesterday except for a few peanuts in my room last night and a few more on the bus this morning. I got another steak-ham-cheese-egg-tomato sandwich, and it really tasted great. The steak was about 3-4 mm (3/16 to 1/4 inch) thick and was so tender.
A family at at the table near me, a poor family. The man had watches which he had been selling at the ruins. His wife and son were with him, and the restaurant had expected their arrival. Without ordering, a plate of 6 empanadas and a 1.5 l bottle of Coke were brought to them. I bet they have that as their dinner regularly at the time the ruins close. It wasn´t much food for 3 people, and it was even less in terms of nutrients.
Mark, the Polish guy joined me and had the same sandwich, too, and shared one of the big beers. We visited for an hour. He has been living in Australia. He is a telecommunications engineer. When he finishes a contract, he takes an around-the-world trip making a stop in Poland to see his family. Then he works again. It seems a smart way to live his life while he is young, but he said he will probably want to buy an apartment in a few years. He now lives in a communal complex so that he has no living costs when he is traveling. He said that most of his friends quickly bought an apartment after getting their first job and have never been able to affort to travel (or to have the time for it, since they must keep their jobs going to pay their normal expenses).
After he ate, we went to the light and sound show at the ruins. Admission to the show was included with the tickets we had bought in the afternoon. It was all in Spanish, and the ruins are a little simple to light. So it wasn´t very exciting. I watched the stars a lot, since we were in a big, open courtyard that provided a nice view of the sky with little conflict from lighting.
Walking: 13,048 steps (7950 aerobic steps), 542 calories, 8.87 km (5 1/3 miles)
Friday, Jan. 14
Somehow, I got off a day in writing dates. I had yesterday as Thursday, Jan. 15, and had to go back and change it. It is hard to keep track of time. I only noticed the discrepancy because I thought they had put the wrong date on my bus ticket.
I traveled 6 hours on a local bus today to get to San Ignacio. It was a trip through beautiful countryside--slightly hilly and green with nice flowers, fruit trees, etc. This is a very nice part of the world.
The only problem I had was the fact that towns are not announced on the bus. I was scared I would miss mine. I watched business signs carefully to try to determine the name of each town so I could see on the map how much closer we were getting. I didn´t realize until the last minute, however, that we were there and had to rush to get my bags from the overhead compartment and get downstairs.
My guidebook recommended the home of an artist who has two rooms for rent. I went there and children were playing outside. I knocked at the open door and said, "Hola," and got no response. I repeated the process twice. I think they must have been napping and the children had been told not to disturb them. I walked back 6 blocks to the hotel to find they were full except for rooms for 5! Then I came to this last choice and got the only room available. It is an old home of a rather poor family. The sheets are very thin from wear, but they are clean. it will be fine for a night. I am only paying $3.33 U.S.!
The best part of staying here is the Polish guy in the other room. He is young (maybe 28) and an engineer. And he is so funny. He has exaggerated eye and facial expressions when he is exicted, and he gets excited about all kinds of just little things. He is off now to see the ruins. I am waiting another hour before I go, hoping it will be a little less hot. I hope he and I can eat together tonight. It would be nice to have an evening with someone.
______
I went to the mission ruins about 5:00 p.m. As expected, they only took me about 45 minutes to see them. There are no roofs--only partial walls. The missions were built here at the same time the San Antonio missions were built--in the mid- to late-1700s. I didn´t feel that I really saw anything different. This one is built of lava stones rather than the limestones used in SA, but it was essentially a big chapel and other buildings for housing of the natives. Of course, the big differences are: 1) These missions had far more people than the ones in San Antonio, and 2) the governments allowed slave traders to come in and wipe out most of these missions.
I explored the town some. All the restaurants seem to be clustered around the ruins. The Polish guy didn´t want to eat so early, and I was starving. I hadn´t eaten anything since lunch yesterday except for a few peanuts in my room last night and a few more on the bus this morning. I got another steak-ham-cheese-egg-tomato sandwich, and it really tasted great. The steak was about 3-4 mm (3/16 to 1/4 inch) thick and was so tender.
A family at at the table near me, a poor family. The man had watches which he had been selling at the ruins. His wife and son were with him, and the restaurant had expected their arrival. Without ordering, a plate of 6 empanadas and a 1.5 l bottle of Coke were brought to them. I bet they have that as their dinner regularly at the time the ruins close. It wasn´t much food for 3 people, and it was even less in terms of nutrients.
Mark, the Polish guy joined me and had the same sandwich, too, and shared one of the big beers. We visited for an hour. He has been living in Australia. He is a telecommunications engineer. When he finishes a contract, he takes an around-the-world trip making a stop in Poland to see his family. Then he works again. It seems a smart way to live his life while he is young, but he said he will probably want to buy an apartment in a few years. He now lives in a communal complex so that he has no living costs when he is traveling. He said that most of his friends quickly bought an apartment after getting their first job and have never been able to affort to travel (or to have the time for it, since they must keep their jobs going to pay their normal expenses).
After he ate, we went to the light and sound show at the ruins. Admission to the show was included with the tickets we had bought in the afternoon. It was all in Spanish, and the ruins are a little simple to light. So it wasn´t very exciting. I watched the stars a lot, since we were in a big, open courtyard that provided a nice view of the sky with little conflict from lighting.
Walking: 13,048 steps (7950 aerobic steps), 542 calories, 8.87 km (5 1/3 miles)
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Off to the Misson Ruins
Wednesday, Jan. 12 (Part II)
Note: I am on another strange computer. The symbols are not where the keys show they are. For instance, the colon was on the key that shows the period and the greater-than sign and the dash I just used was were the colon and the semi-colon signs are shown on the key. So you may need to figure out what is supposed to be where, since I am using touch typing and cannot search for every right key!
It is 7:30 p.m., and the sun is about to set. I have arrived just in time to the point known as Tres Frontieras (Three Borders). I am sitting in Argentina and looking just across the juncture of two rivers to both Brazil and Paraguay. There is a small crowd here. All seem to be locals. I see a few people on the banks of the river in Brazil, but no one in Paraguay; the cities are just too far from the points there, I guess. For me, it was only about a 30-minute walk to here, and several others were making the same hike. It is a nice evening with clear skies and cicadae humming in the background.
I was not very hungry at breakfast this morning although the hotel had a big, nice buffet. I skipped lunch due to not really being hungry and due to not having any small bills. The ATM gave me only 100s and 50s, and a lunch is no more than 8-12. I just went to the room and ate a few peanuts and took a nap. I also finished reading Boys of Life by Paul Russell.
Before going to the Tres Frontieras, I wandered the streets near downtown. it is a strangely planned downtown with triangular-shaped blocks. That makes it easy to get turned around. I looked for a place to get a haircut, but all I could find were unisex salons with women doing the cutting. I have always had trouble with a woman understanding how short I want my hair around the edges. Women don`t want their hair that way, and I have always had trouble finding a woman barber who could do it the way I asked her to do it. I will just wait for another town where I can maybe find a male barber.
While wandering, I discovered the market area. I immediately thought of my friend Bob Maroney who went down the Amazon with me, because there were many stalls with tables where they were serving the big beers he loved in Brazil. I also thought of Bob when i was in the supermarket and saw a wide selection of Bols liqueurs for only 8.60 pesos ($2.90 U.S.) and a local brand for only 6.80 pesos per 750 ml bottle. He and his wife Judy like to have local liqueurs wherever they travel, and here they have one of the widest selections of flavors at the lowest prices I have ever seen.
=======
I am at another outdoor cafe. I just had one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. It was huge (about 8 inches or 20 cm in diameter) and had steak, melted cheese, fried egg, tomatoes, and lettuce. The steak was so tender and wonderful. The stories about Argentine beef must be true. I will have to eat a big one soon. Ummm!
I bought a beer (1 liter= to go with my sandwich. As I sit here, a samba group is practicing across the street. I can hear the drums and the band. I heard another group practicing near the Tres Frontieras. They do not clebrate Carnival in Argentina in general, but maybe they do here since the border with Brazil is right here. Carnival is only 3 weeks away. Unfortunately, I will be far from the border by the time it comes around, so I will probably be in a part of Argentina where it is not observed. This group I am hearing tonight is good. it is much better than the Carnival groups I have heard in Copenhagen, including the ones they have brought from Brazil.
======
I am in my room and just had a very refreshing cold shower. On my way here, I stopped to watch the samba band. They were so good! The drumbeats were electrifying. There were only two trumpeters for the music, but they were all that was needed and were very good. The leader, a guy about 35 years old, was a high-energy type person and really had command of his whistle! Listening to them and then watching them was the highlight of my day. So exciting!!!
Walking: 24,647 steps (14,839 aerobic steps), 1026 calories, 16.75 km (10 miles)
Spending Update: I was in Brazil for 7 days (through this morning). I spent a total of either $165.82 or $146.13 (according to whether the hotel last night was either $31 or 31 Rais). If the former, I averaged spending $23.69 per day and if the latter, I averaged spending $20.88 per day, including the $36.33 bus ticket which raised the average by $5.19 per day!
Thursday, Jan. 13
It is 11:15 and I am waiting for the bus back to the city. I took the first bus out to the falls this morning so I could be here in the coolest (though NOT cool at all) part of the day.
This park has changed, too, since I was here. The main change is the addition of a narrow-gauge railroad to take visitors into the park. It goes not just to the two main trails that existed before, but it also goes to the Devil`'s Throat. They built it down one side of the roadway we had to walk to get to that area when I was here before.
The other big change is that they have rebuilt the catwalks to the Devil`s Throat. A portion had washed out in a flood in 1992, and we had to take a boat to connect to the creaky remains going there on my first visit. Now, there are new, sturdy catwalks all the way without having to take a boat.
It was good to see the falls again. This side is definitely nicer to visit because of the combination of distant views and close encounters. My battery went dead for my camera, however, on my first photo of the day. And my replacement battery, although I thought it was, was not charged. So I did not get any photos today. That would have bothered me if I did not have great photos from my previous visit when I was here with Trixie from Denmark, her boyfriend Richard from England, and an American student who were all staying at the same pousada where I stayed then.
The movie The Mission was filmed here. It is about the Jesuit missions that were established in the area, and the opening scenes of the film show the missionaries having to climb the falls. They have the music from the movie piped onto the train, and all the guides mention that the movie was filmed here.
I hiked part of the day with an American young man in his late 20s or early 30s. He travels a lot and said that he decided not to go back to the U.S. after Bush was relected. He plans to just continue traveling for 4 years! He is headed to Brazil and spends most of his time visiting beach resorts. I am not sure how he gets the money for his expenses, but he gets his air tickets cheaply because a friend who works for United Airlines has listed him as a life partner.
=====
I ate lunch downtown and was disappointed. Many locals were eating there, so I figured it would be good. I ordered a piece of chicken with spaghetti sauce and served with rice. The sauce was rather plain, and the rice tasted as if it were instant. The bread, however, was good, and it was served with pats of both butter and bleu cheese.
I was so tired that I went to bed and napped for 3 hours. There is a reason for the tradition of siesta. It is so hot and muggy here that napping comes naturally.
I have started a new novel, The Murder Room by P.D. James. I know she is a prominant and popular novelest, but I have never read one of her books before. I do not normally read murder mysteries. But Robert had bought and read this one and gave it to me before I left Copenhagen.
Tonight, I have limited plans. I will go to a cyber cafe and I will find another good sandwich place. The skies are clear, so I also will try to find a place to look at them. The stars are so bright in remote areas like this, plus these are the skies of the southern hemisphere and are different from those I normally get to see. Last night I got a glimpse of the sky on my way home, but I was too tired to try to find a place with a good view.
Walking: 21,512 steps (15,728 aerobic steps), 880 calories, 14.62 km (8 3/4 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 12 (Part II)
Note: I am on another strange computer. The symbols are not where the keys show they are. For instance, the colon was on the key that shows the period and the greater-than sign and the dash I just used was were the colon and the semi-colon signs are shown on the key. So you may need to figure out what is supposed to be where, since I am using touch typing and cannot search for every right key!
It is 7:30 p.m., and the sun is about to set. I have arrived just in time to the point known as Tres Frontieras (Three Borders). I am sitting in Argentina and looking just across the juncture of two rivers to both Brazil and Paraguay. There is a small crowd here. All seem to be locals. I see a few people on the banks of the river in Brazil, but no one in Paraguay; the cities are just too far from the points there, I guess. For me, it was only about a 30-minute walk to here, and several others were making the same hike. It is a nice evening with clear skies and cicadae humming in the background.
I was not very hungry at breakfast this morning although the hotel had a big, nice buffet. I skipped lunch due to not really being hungry and due to not having any small bills. The ATM gave me only 100s and 50s, and a lunch is no more than 8-12. I just went to the room and ate a few peanuts and took a nap. I also finished reading Boys of Life by Paul Russell.
Before going to the Tres Frontieras, I wandered the streets near downtown. it is a strangely planned downtown with triangular-shaped blocks. That makes it easy to get turned around. I looked for a place to get a haircut, but all I could find were unisex salons with women doing the cutting. I have always had trouble with a woman understanding how short I want my hair around the edges. Women don`t want their hair that way, and I have always had trouble finding a woman barber who could do it the way I asked her to do it. I will just wait for another town where I can maybe find a male barber.
While wandering, I discovered the market area. I immediately thought of my friend Bob Maroney who went down the Amazon with me, because there were many stalls with tables where they were serving the big beers he loved in Brazil. I also thought of Bob when i was in the supermarket and saw a wide selection of Bols liqueurs for only 8.60 pesos ($2.90 U.S.) and a local brand for only 6.80 pesos per 750 ml bottle. He and his wife Judy like to have local liqueurs wherever they travel, and here they have one of the widest selections of flavors at the lowest prices I have ever seen.
=======
I am at another outdoor cafe. I just had one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. It was huge (about 8 inches or 20 cm in diameter) and had steak, melted cheese, fried egg, tomatoes, and lettuce. The steak was so tender and wonderful. The stories about Argentine beef must be true. I will have to eat a big one soon. Ummm!
I bought a beer (1 liter= to go with my sandwich. As I sit here, a samba group is practicing across the street. I can hear the drums and the band. I heard another group practicing near the Tres Frontieras. They do not clebrate Carnival in Argentina in general, but maybe they do here since the border with Brazil is right here. Carnival is only 3 weeks away. Unfortunately, I will be far from the border by the time it comes around, so I will probably be in a part of Argentina where it is not observed. This group I am hearing tonight is good. it is much better than the Carnival groups I have heard in Copenhagen, including the ones they have brought from Brazil.
======
I am in my room and just had a very refreshing cold shower. On my way here, I stopped to watch the samba band. They were so good! The drumbeats were electrifying. There were only two trumpeters for the music, but they were all that was needed and were very good. The leader, a guy about 35 years old, was a high-energy type person and really had command of his whistle! Listening to them and then watching them was the highlight of my day. So exciting!!!
Walking: 24,647 steps (14,839 aerobic steps), 1026 calories, 16.75 km (10 miles)
Spending Update: I was in Brazil for 7 days (through this morning). I spent a total of either $165.82 or $146.13 (according to whether the hotel last night was either $31 or 31 Rais). If the former, I averaged spending $23.69 per day and if the latter, I averaged spending $20.88 per day, including the $36.33 bus ticket which raised the average by $5.19 per day!
Thursday, Jan. 13
It is 11:15 and I am waiting for the bus back to the city. I took the first bus out to the falls this morning so I could be here in the coolest (though NOT cool at all) part of the day.
This park has changed, too, since I was here. The main change is the addition of a narrow-gauge railroad to take visitors into the park. It goes not just to the two main trails that existed before, but it also goes to the Devil`'s Throat. They built it down one side of the roadway we had to walk to get to that area when I was here before.
The other big change is that they have rebuilt the catwalks to the Devil`s Throat. A portion had washed out in a flood in 1992, and we had to take a boat to connect to the creaky remains going there on my first visit. Now, there are new, sturdy catwalks all the way without having to take a boat.
It was good to see the falls again. This side is definitely nicer to visit because of the combination of distant views and close encounters. My battery went dead for my camera, however, on my first photo of the day. And my replacement battery, although I thought it was, was not charged. So I did not get any photos today. That would have bothered me if I did not have great photos from my previous visit when I was here with Trixie from Denmark, her boyfriend Richard from England, and an American student who were all staying at the same pousada where I stayed then.
The movie The Mission was filmed here. It is about the Jesuit missions that were established in the area, and the opening scenes of the film show the missionaries having to climb the falls. They have the music from the movie piped onto the train, and all the guides mention that the movie was filmed here.
I hiked part of the day with an American young man in his late 20s or early 30s. He travels a lot and said that he decided not to go back to the U.S. after Bush was relected. He plans to just continue traveling for 4 years! He is headed to Brazil and spends most of his time visiting beach resorts. I am not sure how he gets the money for his expenses, but he gets his air tickets cheaply because a friend who works for United Airlines has listed him as a life partner.
=====
I ate lunch downtown and was disappointed. Many locals were eating there, so I figured it would be good. I ordered a piece of chicken with spaghetti sauce and served with rice. The sauce was rather plain, and the rice tasted as if it were instant. The bread, however, was good, and it was served with pats of both butter and bleu cheese.
I was so tired that I went to bed and napped for 3 hours. There is a reason for the tradition of siesta. It is so hot and muggy here that napping comes naturally.
I have started a new novel, The Murder Room by P.D. James. I know she is a prominant and popular novelest, but I have never read one of her books before. I do not normally read murder mysteries. But Robert had bought and read this one and gave it to me before I left Copenhagen.
Tonight, I have limited plans. I will go to a cyber cafe and I will find another good sandwich place. The skies are clear, so I also will try to find a place to look at them. The stars are so bright in remote areas like this, plus these are the skies of the southern hemisphere and are different from those I normally get to see. Last night I got a glimpse of the sky on my way home, but I was too tired to try to find a place with a good view.
Walking: 21,512 steps (15,728 aerobic steps), 880 calories, 14.62 km (8 3/4 miles)
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
In Argentina Now
Tuesday, Jan. 11 (Part II)
I spent 1 1/2 hours on the Brazilian side of the falls this afternoon. It really is beautiful. I was able to enjoy it much more previously, however, because the weather wasn´t so oppresively hot then. Everyone was miserable today except down at the end where a catwalk allows visitors to go into the mist of the big, curved fall called the Devil´Throat. The mist was so refreshing there, and people lingered creating a crowded situation. Fortunately, I had my hand fan with me during the climbing and hiking part. I am sure others were envious when they saw me fanning away. And children would give me the happiest look when I would turn the fan on them and wave it a few times!
There have been changes at the falls. First, there is a new visitor center. Before, the local bus stopped for us to buy tickets at a gate and then took us to the falls. Now, the park has its oown buses, air-conditioned downstairs and open, yet covered, upstairs. A nice result of that change is that there are no longer touts on the buses trying to sell special concesions--a kayaking trip, a jungle tour, etc.
Another change that I don´t like is that they have extended the trail so that the first sight is of about 2/3 of the falls. The original entrance, which is till there and can be taken, allowed a view of only about 1/4 of the falls. I remember that first time thinking, "Well, that´s impresive, but it´s not as much as I expected," and then turning a curve and being shocked to see how much more there was. They took the tease away by extending the walkway and, in effect, made the experience less impresive.
I didn´t see any of the animals (coatis?) that used to hang out at the beginning of the trail and pester tourists. I saw several kinds of reptiles related to lizzards with the biggest one being about 16 inches (40 cm) long. Also, there was a wonderful flock of birds with light yellow chests, blue wings, and red-orange "eyebrows" in one tree. As usual here, there were gorgeous bright and friendly butterflies. They will actually land on people if you stay rather quiet and still. I saw bright orange ones and irridescent blue ones today.
I have now had a second shower of the day. It may not be my last either. It is imposible to go out without getting damp and sticky here. And from what I have read in the guidebooks, some of the places I will visit later this wek in Argentina will be even worse! I may have to reconsider being in South America this time of the year. I could reverse my routing so that I am in Asia in January-April, Texas in May-Sept., and in South America from November through December. I know that is the best (and most expensive) time of the year to be in Asia because of the dry season. I am not sure if November and December are any better months here in South America or not.
I went out to get a snack and decided to have a wrap at an Arabic restaurant. There are many Arabics living here. Besides their owning several restaurants, they have a large mosque and there is an Arabic channel on TV. My wrap was unique. Besides the chicken cooked in layers on a skewer and the typical vegetables, it also had French fries inside the pita bread! It was good, however, after I learned to pour, rather than drip, the hot sauce on it.
I got out of Sao Paulo just in time. All the news channels are showing flooding there today. Of course, there is no way for me to know if it was localized or not, but I am happy to have avoided a rainy day.
Walking: 17,025 steps (5051 aerobic steps), 741 calories, 11.57 km (6.9 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 12 (Part I)
Argentina, here I am! I have been here on a day trip to the falls before, but this is my first time to travel in Argentina. Before, the country was more expensivethen traveling in Texas. I knew the set value of their currency was too high and could not be sustained, so I just waited. I am sorry the people had to suffer from the collapse of their currency, but it was caused by the government reaching too high, too fast; their economy just could not support such a high value. The prices here are now more in line with those of the major neighboring countries when translated to a third currency for comparison purposes.
I thought I was paying $31 U.S. for my room in Brazil last night. Now, I am unsure. It may have been 31 Rais. If so, it was as bargain. The posted price on the wall was 80 Rais, so I figured the 31 was a conversion into dollars. When I paid this moring with a credit card, it was for 31. Maybe their machine charges in dollars, but that would be unusual in another country. I will see what my bank statement says when the charge is posted. Surely it was $31 U.S. The hotel was too nice for 31 Rais, but it really wasn´t worth $31.
Crossing the border was easy. The bus let us off for Brazilian customs check-out, leaving us with tickets for the next bus. That bus took us to Argentinian customs and waited while we checked in there. He only waited 5 minutes, however. I was back on the bus, but some Germans were left behind. They probably had to pay again for another bus. The driver was telling someone about the fact that the ticket says he only has to wait 5 minutes at the border. He was driving fast, so she probably gets paid by the number of paying passengers or the number of trips.
I like Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentine side of the border. It is like a village, whereas Foz do Iguacu, the Brailian city, is a fairly big place. (Cuidad del Este, the city in Paraguay across the other border here, is the worst. It is huge, crowded, and has a junky feel to it.)
I had trouble finding a single room. I gues that will be a problem everhwhere this time of year. I went back to the tourist office at the bus station three times to be suggestions. I eventually took a room from a man I met while walking. He has 4 rooms lined along one side of his back yard. There is a nice porch along the front with a table and chairs for each room. I am sitting at my table now. There is a breeze. The yard is filled with tropical plants and fruit trees, and I can hear wonderful bird sounds in the distance. I like relaxing here. Today, I will read, go to the bank, eat, read some more, etc. Tomorrow I will go to the falls on this side. Then Friday I will head to my next stop, San Ignacio Mini, the best of the ruins of the old Jesuit missions in the area.
NOTE: This keyboard has problems. Often double letters don´t register even though I type them. Also, some of the keys are closer together to put special keys in spaces. Hope you can figure out what I meant if letters are missing or others are inserted where they shouldn´t be!
Tuesday, Jan. 11 (Part II)
I spent 1 1/2 hours on the Brazilian side of the falls this afternoon. It really is beautiful. I was able to enjoy it much more previously, however, because the weather wasn´t so oppresively hot then. Everyone was miserable today except down at the end where a catwalk allows visitors to go into the mist of the big, curved fall called the Devil´Throat. The mist was so refreshing there, and people lingered creating a crowded situation. Fortunately, I had my hand fan with me during the climbing and hiking part. I am sure others were envious when they saw me fanning away. And children would give me the happiest look when I would turn the fan on them and wave it a few times!
There have been changes at the falls. First, there is a new visitor center. Before, the local bus stopped for us to buy tickets at a gate and then took us to the falls. Now, the park has its oown buses, air-conditioned downstairs and open, yet covered, upstairs. A nice result of that change is that there are no longer touts on the buses trying to sell special concesions--a kayaking trip, a jungle tour, etc.
Another change that I don´t like is that they have extended the trail so that the first sight is of about 2/3 of the falls. The original entrance, which is till there and can be taken, allowed a view of only about 1/4 of the falls. I remember that first time thinking, "Well, that´s impresive, but it´s not as much as I expected," and then turning a curve and being shocked to see how much more there was. They took the tease away by extending the walkway and, in effect, made the experience less impresive.
I didn´t see any of the animals (coatis?) that used to hang out at the beginning of the trail and pester tourists. I saw several kinds of reptiles related to lizzards with the biggest one being about 16 inches (40 cm) long. Also, there was a wonderful flock of birds with light yellow chests, blue wings, and red-orange "eyebrows" in one tree. As usual here, there were gorgeous bright and friendly butterflies. They will actually land on people if you stay rather quiet and still. I saw bright orange ones and irridescent blue ones today.
I have now had a second shower of the day. It may not be my last either. It is imposible to go out without getting damp and sticky here. And from what I have read in the guidebooks, some of the places I will visit later this wek in Argentina will be even worse! I may have to reconsider being in South America this time of the year. I could reverse my routing so that I am in Asia in January-April, Texas in May-Sept., and in South America from November through December. I know that is the best (and most expensive) time of the year to be in Asia because of the dry season. I am not sure if November and December are any better months here in South America or not.
I went out to get a snack and decided to have a wrap at an Arabic restaurant. There are many Arabics living here. Besides their owning several restaurants, they have a large mosque and there is an Arabic channel on TV. My wrap was unique. Besides the chicken cooked in layers on a skewer and the typical vegetables, it also had French fries inside the pita bread! It was good, however, after I learned to pour, rather than drip, the hot sauce on it.
I got out of Sao Paulo just in time. All the news channels are showing flooding there today. Of course, there is no way for me to know if it was localized or not, but I am happy to have avoided a rainy day.
Walking: 17,025 steps (5051 aerobic steps), 741 calories, 11.57 km (6.9 miles)
Wednesday, Jan. 12 (Part I)
Argentina, here I am! I have been here on a day trip to the falls before, but this is my first time to travel in Argentina. Before, the country was more expensivethen traveling in Texas. I knew the set value of their currency was too high and could not be sustained, so I just waited. I am sorry the people had to suffer from the collapse of their currency, but it was caused by the government reaching too high, too fast; their economy just could not support such a high value. The prices here are now more in line with those of the major neighboring countries when translated to a third currency for comparison purposes.
I thought I was paying $31 U.S. for my room in Brazil last night. Now, I am unsure. It may have been 31 Rais. If so, it was as bargain. The posted price on the wall was 80 Rais, so I figured the 31 was a conversion into dollars. When I paid this moring with a credit card, it was for 31. Maybe their machine charges in dollars, but that would be unusual in another country. I will see what my bank statement says when the charge is posted. Surely it was $31 U.S. The hotel was too nice for 31 Rais, but it really wasn´t worth $31.
Crossing the border was easy. The bus let us off for Brazilian customs check-out, leaving us with tickets for the next bus. That bus took us to Argentinian customs and waited while we checked in there. He only waited 5 minutes, however. I was back on the bus, but some Germans were left behind. They probably had to pay again for another bus. The driver was telling someone about the fact that the ticket says he only has to wait 5 minutes at the border. He was driving fast, so she probably gets paid by the number of paying passengers or the number of trips.
I like Puerto Iguazu, the town on the Argentine side of the border. It is like a village, whereas Foz do Iguacu, the Brailian city, is a fairly big place. (Cuidad del Este, the city in Paraguay across the other border here, is the worst. It is huge, crowded, and has a junky feel to it.)
I had trouble finding a single room. I gues that will be a problem everhwhere this time of year. I went back to the tourist office at the bus station three times to be suggestions. I eventually took a room from a man I met while walking. He has 4 rooms lined along one side of his back yard. There is a nice porch along the front with a table and chairs for each room. I am sitting at my table now. There is a breeze. The yard is filled with tropical plants and fruit trees, and I can hear wonderful bird sounds in the distance. I like relaxing here. Today, I will read, go to the bank, eat, read some more, etc. Tomorrow I will go to the falls on this side. Then Friday I will head to my next stop, San Ignacio Mini, the best of the ruins of the old Jesuit missions in the area.
NOTE: This keyboard has problems. Often double letters don´t register even though I type them. Also, some of the keys are closer together to put special keys in spaces. Hope you can figure out what I meant if letters are missing or others are inserted where they shouldn´t be!
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Off to Iguaçu Falls
Monday, Jan. 10
I was uncomfortable last night. I should have taken a shower. I was warm and sticky. The night was the hotest so far. I haven´t used the fan at night before, but last night I had it on me and still felt warm. It never cooled down the way it has on privous nights.
I reorganized my luggage, had breakfast, and went to town to a cybercafe. It took 2 hours to deal with e-mail and updating my blog. On the way back, I stopped at a local place with a self-serve buffet. I had chicken, pork chop, brown beans, rice, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, and some stalking green vegetable with a light cola to drink. It was well prepared.
It was hot, hot, hot as I made my way to the Metro with all my luggage. And I made a wrong turn that took me at least two blocks out of my way. But I made it and am now at the bus station waiting to leave in 35 minutes on my long, long journey.
I´m surprised that Arne has been on my mind as much as he has since I left Denmark. I guess it is because I am alone with lots of time to think. Last night I dreamed that I felt a movement in the bed and that Arne had rolled over and raised himself on an elbow and was looking down on em. I instinctively knew it was a dream and that he was dead, but I enjoyed every moment of "being with him" again.
______
I just had an experience that was so nice, but was too short. As I took a seat to wait for the bus, I noticed a young Brazilian man who was with two older women. He smiled at me. Then he smiled again and made a motion of understanding when he saw me take out my hand fan and start using it to try to cool myself off. I didn´t expect him to speak English, because so many Brazilians don´t. But I was uncertain about something related to my ticket. I got the impression that I might have to change buses and wanted to see if I was right or not. When I asked, I found out he speaks excellent English. In fact, he teaches English and Portuguese and has traveled throughout the British Isles. He was with his mother, who is a professor of didactics, and his aunt. They were traveling home to Recife. I found myself wishing they lived in Foz do Iguaçu, because it would have been so nice to visit with him longer and to get to know him better. His name is Wesler (Wes) Rocha. We exchanged addresses. Maybe I will be in Recife or he will be in Texas someday. I am sorry I didn´t think to take out the camera and get a photo before I left.
Oh, I forgot to mention about the abandoned case on the Metro. I had noticed the beat-up satchel setting on the floor and figured that it belonged to one of the people standing or seating nearby. When the train stopped at a major station, however, everyone who was around the case left the area. Of course, the first thought through my mind was that it might be loaded with explosives with a remote-control opr timer detonator. I thought about trying to move away from it, but it would be awkward to do so with all my luggage. I donly had 4 stations to go, so I turned my back and tried to get my mind off it. I am writing this, so it obviously didn´t explode. I wonder what was in that bag and how it came to be abandoned? Or could it have been a Candid Camera setup just waiting for someone to be curious enough to open it? Or could it have been a detonator set off by opening it?
It´s 8:30 and we have stopped at the same place we stopped the last time I went to Iguaçu. I remember the curving wall in the toilets. And I remember what I bought last time--some coconut candies. Today I bought two salgados (snacks) and 3 pieces of the same coconut candies.
Walking: 11,306 steps (7258 aerobic steps), 477 calories, 7.68 km (4.6 miles)
Tuesday, Jan. 11 (Part I)
Well, the long bus ride is over. It will be a while before I have another one that long. Most of the upcoming ones are no more than 4-6 hours in length.
It is HUMID here! It is the rainy season, so the rivers will be up and the water will really be flowing over the falls. The guidebook suggests wearing a swimsuit and raincoat. Since I have seen them before, I will just avoid the areas that provide the wet experience.
I am on the Brazilian side today. I will stay only one night here before heading to Argentina tomorrow. As soon as I got into my room, I took a shower. The air conditioner is working overtime to keep up with the heat and humidity. I will just stay inside for a while and rest.
I am not pleased with my room. For what I am paying, it should be bigger. But the bed is good. And there is a TV, although probably nothing is in English. Not even CNN broadcasts in English in South America.
I have no idea what has happened in the world during the past week. I can see why there were backpackers in Asia unaware of the tsunami. It is easy to know nothing about what is happening. And it is kind of nice, too.
Planned Itinerary through Argentina and Uruguay
Puerto Iguazu--2 Nights
San Ignacio Mini--1 Night
Posadas--2 Nights
Resistencia--2 Nights with a day trip to Corrientes
Salta--3-4 Nights
Tafi de Valle--2 Nights
Tucuman--1 Night
Cordova--3-4 Nights
Alta Gracia--1-2 Nights
Mina Clavero--1-2 Nights
Villa General Belgrano--2-3 Nights with a day trip to La Cumbrecita
Santa Fe--1-2 Nights
Paraná--1-2 Nights
Victoria--1 Night
Rosaria--2-3 Nights
Buenos Aires--Approximately 7 Nights
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay--2-3 Nights
Montevideo--4-5 Nights
After that, I will head back into Brazil.
Monday, Jan. 10
I was uncomfortable last night. I should have taken a shower. I was warm and sticky. The night was the hotest so far. I haven´t used the fan at night before, but last night I had it on me and still felt warm. It never cooled down the way it has on privous nights.
I reorganized my luggage, had breakfast, and went to town to a cybercafe. It took 2 hours to deal with e-mail and updating my blog. On the way back, I stopped at a local place with a self-serve buffet. I had chicken, pork chop, brown beans, rice, carrots, potatoes, cauliflower, and some stalking green vegetable with a light cola to drink. It was well prepared.
It was hot, hot, hot as I made my way to the Metro with all my luggage. And I made a wrong turn that took me at least two blocks out of my way. But I made it and am now at the bus station waiting to leave in 35 minutes on my long, long journey.
I´m surprised that Arne has been on my mind as much as he has since I left Denmark. I guess it is because I am alone with lots of time to think. Last night I dreamed that I felt a movement in the bed and that Arne had rolled over and raised himself on an elbow and was looking down on em. I instinctively knew it was a dream and that he was dead, but I enjoyed every moment of "being with him" again.
______
I just had an experience that was so nice, but was too short. As I took a seat to wait for the bus, I noticed a young Brazilian man who was with two older women. He smiled at me. Then he smiled again and made a motion of understanding when he saw me take out my hand fan and start using it to try to cool myself off. I didn´t expect him to speak English, because so many Brazilians don´t. But I was uncertain about something related to my ticket. I got the impression that I might have to change buses and wanted to see if I was right or not. When I asked, I found out he speaks excellent English. In fact, he teaches English and Portuguese and has traveled throughout the British Isles. He was with his mother, who is a professor of didactics, and his aunt. They were traveling home to Recife. I found myself wishing they lived in Foz do Iguaçu, because it would have been so nice to visit with him longer and to get to know him better. His name is Wesler (Wes) Rocha. We exchanged addresses. Maybe I will be in Recife or he will be in Texas someday. I am sorry I didn´t think to take out the camera and get a photo before I left.
Oh, I forgot to mention about the abandoned case on the Metro. I had noticed the beat-up satchel setting on the floor and figured that it belonged to one of the people standing or seating nearby. When the train stopped at a major station, however, everyone who was around the case left the area. Of course, the first thought through my mind was that it might be loaded with explosives with a remote-control opr timer detonator. I thought about trying to move away from it, but it would be awkward to do so with all my luggage. I donly had 4 stations to go, so I turned my back and tried to get my mind off it. I am writing this, so it obviously didn´t explode. I wonder what was in that bag and how it came to be abandoned? Or could it have been a Candid Camera setup just waiting for someone to be curious enough to open it? Or could it have been a detonator set off by opening it?
It´s 8:30 and we have stopped at the same place we stopped the last time I went to Iguaçu. I remember the curving wall in the toilets. And I remember what I bought last time--some coconut candies. Today I bought two salgados (snacks) and 3 pieces of the same coconut candies.
Walking: 11,306 steps (7258 aerobic steps), 477 calories, 7.68 km (4.6 miles)
Tuesday, Jan. 11 (Part I)
Well, the long bus ride is over. It will be a while before I have another one that long. Most of the upcoming ones are no more than 4-6 hours in length.
It is HUMID here! It is the rainy season, so the rivers will be up and the water will really be flowing over the falls. The guidebook suggests wearing a swimsuit and raincoat. Since I have seen them before, I will just avoid the areas that provide the wet experience.
I am on the Brazilian side today. I will stay only one night here before heading to Argentina tomorrow. As soon as I got into my room, I took a shower. The air conditioner is working overtime to keep up with the heat and humidity. I will just stay inside for a while and rest.
I am not pleased with my room. For what I am paying, it should be bigger. But the bed is good. And there is a TV, although probably nothing is in English. Not even CNN broadcasts in English in South America.
I have no idea what has happened in the world during the past week. I can see why there were backpackers in Asia unaware of the tsunami. It is easy to know nothing about what is happening. And it is kind of nice, too.
Planned Itinerary through Argentina and Uruguay
Puerto Iguazu--2 Nights
San Ignacio Mini--1 Night
Posadas--2 Nights
Resistencia--2 Nights with a day trip to Corrientes
Salta--3-4 Nights
Tafi de Valle--2 Nights
Tucuman--1 Night
Cordova--3-4 Nights
Alta Gracia--1-2 Nights
Mina Clavero--1-2 Nights
Villa General Belgrano--2-3 Nights with a day trip to La Cumbrecita
Santa Fe--1-2 Nights
Paraná--1-2 Nights
Victoria--1 Night
Rosaria--2-3 Nights
Buenos Aires--Approximately 7 Nights
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay--2-3 Nights
Montevideo--4-5 Nights
After that, I will head back into Brazil.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Headed toward Argentina
Friday, Jan. 7 (Part II)
It´s 11 a.m. and I am at the market. It is wonderful! First, it is in a beautiful stone and concrete building from the late 1800s/early 1900s. There are huge stained glass windows showing harvest scenes in vivid colors. And glass skylights run across the roof. The foodstalls are filled with exotic foods, both local and imported, that are displayed in ways that put our U.S. markets (including HEB´s Central Markets) to shame. Dried meats, bottles of olive oil and other items are hanging via hooks around the tops of the stalls. Everything else is stacked and displayed attractively. Dried fruits, spices, nuts, etc., are piled high in attractive plexiglass bins and/or ceramic bowls. Meats and fish are in glass coolers and hung and piled nicely. The restaurant stalls provide lots of choices although one called Hocca serving freshly made sandwiches is obviously the local favorite. The whole market is unbelievably clean, and everything is handled in sanitary ways. I can´t be at a place like this without thinking of Arne. He would have loved it, and I have seen so many things he would have enjoyed eating--dried bananas and other fruits, bahcalau (dried fish), nuts, smoked meats, etc. And the best part for him would have been the clean, free toilets!! Of course, this market building houses only the best of the best. The REAL market has grown for blocks around, and the more ordinary stalls are located there.
______
From the market I walked to the Luz Station and the State Museum of Art. The station is a wonderfully ornate one in gold-colored concrete and orange brick. It has a huge clock tower and nice roof lines and has recently been restored. There is ornate grillwork that incorporates the letters SPR for Sao Paulo Railroad, I guess. It´s a base only for commuter trains today.
The State Museum is the nicest museum I have visited in Brazil. First, it is in a wonderful building, whereas most museums here are in creaky unkept facilities. They have modernized an old building so that it feels like a new building incorporating ruins of a palace. And the collections are wonderful. I especially enjoyed the many paintings of Brazil in the 1800s. It was fun to see how places I have visited looked 100-150 years ago. But there were also modern, abstract works; photographyç and lots of sculptures (including several by Rodin). I liked their display plan, too, with one room having only portraits and another having only still lifes. All the works seemed to be of high quality and well maintained. The special exhibit was an extraordinary one from the University of Coimbra in Portugal. It consisted of writings and mechanical devices from the late 1700s which represented the great progress of science under the Enlightenment. It is amazing to me that these devices have remained intact and undamaged for over 200 years. They included scales, cranes, telescopes, microscopes, vacuums, steem generators, sextants, etc., all quite intricate yet well preserved. It would be a great exhibit for any museum to show.
Behind the State Museum is Luz Park. It used to be the botanical gardens, but they have moved to a larger area. Now it is a big sculpture garden. There are scultures everywhere throughout the 4-square block-sized park. Many people were lounging on benches or walking in the park, but they all seemed to be rather poor; apparently few others visit it.
It was 2:30 and time for lunch when I left the park. I walked back to the Center and ate at a "por kilo" (by the weight) place. I selected from an open buffet something like an enchilada, some mixed rice and vegetables, a chunk of stewed beef, a piece of eggplant stuffed with a ground meat mixture, a rather dry meatloaf-like wedge, and some brown beans. My plate was put on the scale to see what I owed (6.07 rais--$2.22 U.S.) after it being heated in the microwave. With it, I got a canned Coca Cola Light for 65 cents U.S.
People advertise for companies by handing out printed sheets and by wearing sandwich-type boards on their bodies. I had seen a man with a sandwich board advertising a cyber cafe on the 6th floor of a building near where I ate lunch. I went there and updated my blog. It took 1 1/2 hours to do it today (along with reading my e-mail). I hope to be online more often now that I am traveling and cyber cafes can be found at reasonable prices. (The one today was $1.10 U.S. per hour.)
A thunderstorm struck the city while I was inside the cybercafe. The rain was still coming down hard when I finished. I waited in the lobby of the building. I squated to read, but the guard reuired me to stand. He was nice about it, though, and just following rules to keep street people out. I left when the rain slowed down, but I ducked into another lobby 3 blocks down the street when it increased again. There was a lady guard, so I stood as close as I could to the sidewalk. She spoke to me insisting that I come back further to get out of the rain. Then when she realized I was a tourist, she insisted that I sit in her chair. Wasn´t that nice?!!
My pousada is in a section of town called Bella Visa. The literal translation, of course, is "beautiful view." But a more PRACTICAL translation is "long, uphill walk to get home." And with the weather we had this afternoon, it became "long, uphill walk to get home with lots of water flowing downhill all the way." I stayed fairly dry using my umbrella until the last corner just half a block from the pousada. As I turned it, so did a car at fast speed spraying water all the way down my left side from just above my waist. If anyone must have his radio stolen from his car, I hope it will be him!
There´s been no more diarrhea. I have eaten both breakfast and lunch with no problems. There´s no gurgling of the stomach either. I bought some cola light and water at the supermarket on the way home. I don´t know yet if I will stay in or go out again. It´s 6:30 p.m., and I have no need to go out. I will decide alter by how tired I feel and by whether the rain continues or not.
_____
Well, I stayed in the room. After reading my new novel a while, I began reading my gudebook to try to plan my route through Argentina. I now know where I will be the first two weeks I am there, but I am not sure what I will be doing tomorrow!
Walking: 23,420 steps (15,109 aerobic steps), 1000 calories, 15.92 km (9 1/2 miles)
Saturday, Jan. 8
I have started exploring my neighborhood today. It looks as if the most local area used to be filled with private mansions. A few still survive, but the area consists mainly of exclusive high-rise apartments, the kind with gates, guards, and sometimes large sculptures in the courtyards.
Paulista Avenue, the main street nearby, is lined with modern office buildings. It is a wide boulevard that is clean and attractive with nice shops and restaurants spread along it, too. I am sitting in a park on the avenue, although it feels as if I am far from such development. The park is a big, tropical garden which is filled with morning joggers and people walking their dogs. Unlike the park yesterday, almost everyone here appears to be middle or upper class.
Across the street is MASP, the other major art museum in town. I guessed it would open at 10, but it doesn´t open until 11 a.m. I am, therefore, resting in the park for 45 minutes. I decided it would be better to wait for it to open than to try to return. After I see it, I want to go to the university which is far away and will give me plenty of exercise for the day.
______
The MASP was more than I expected. It had a huge section with paintings by many of the grand masters from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. There were separate rooms for the Italian, the Dutch, the French, the British, etc. The highlight of the museum, however, was a display of 100 Impressionist works. They were in a special black room which was dividied into rows by glass plans on which the paintings were hung. Each had a bright spotlight highlighting it and nothing else. The painting were glorious in this display format. It was almost as if each was backlighted. Because of the glass panels it was possible to look past the row where I was standing to see the other paintings 2-3 ros beyond. It was a display that reminded me of the special room with the best of the minerals in the museum in Ouro Preto which I have always told everyone was one of the best displays I have ever seen because of the blackness of the room and the brightness of the spotlighted minerals. Each piece of art stood out in the dark room as representative of the best of the best. And there were wonderful paintings by all the Impressionists! It was really a pleasure to see. http://www.masp.art.br
Well, I went overboard after seeing the museum. I walked all the way to the university and back. It was really too far. I should have taken a bus. But I wanted to get my exericse and burn calories, so off I went. Unfortunately, the street I chose to follow was one with the sidewalks being repaved with tiles. It was a rough walk with lots of sidestepping required. When I got near, two students told me how to go to get to the campus. It is a huge one broken into three sections. Since Education was the first section, I just explored it and started back. The buildings were spread out and the lawns were heavily wooded and lanscaped with plants and flowers. It was really a nice campus.
I took a different route back. The street was lined with prostitutes, and right at the end, within sight of the last two women, was a police station. Just past there, I came to a mall I had passed earlier. I went inside and had lunch in the food court at a place with a Brazilian food buffet sold by the size of the plate. I was starving, so I got the biggest plate and filled it with potato-carrot salad, a boiled banty hen egg, rice with vegetables, brown beans, black beans, roasted chicken, ravioli, sausage, casserole of mashed potatoes over a ground meat mixture, roast pork, and mixed vegetables. It was a big plate of food, but it was not mounded up as much as most plates were by the people around me! While standing in line, a lady was serving samples of what looked like lime juice. I took one, thinking how refreshing it would be, and it was a caipirinho, a Brazilian alcoholic drink somewhat like a margarite. It was a surprise to my taste buds, since I was expecting limeaide!
I took a different route back home from there. It took me through some very elegant and rich neighborhoods. All the residences were completely walled with electrifed fences and closed-circuit TV cameras on top of the walls. Most had a guardhouse with one-way mirrored windows built into the walls. All were clean, big, expensive looking places.
It seemed like such a long climb to get back up the hill. I finally stopped in a store and bought a 2-liter bottle of Diet Guarana. It´s a Brazilian solft drink, but Coca Cola bought the company a few years ago and now seels it in the U.S. It was cold and so refreshing. IN just an hour, I had drunk 3/4 of the bottle!
I don´t guess I will go out again. It´s 6 p.m. and I am full and tired. Even though it is Saturday night, I will just stay inside and read and go to bed early.
Walking: 32,908 steps (24,985 aerobic steps), 1363 calories, 22.37 km (13 1/2 miles)
Sunday, Jan. 9
The days keep getting hotter and hotter. It was about 24 C (mid-70s F) the day I arrived. Yesterday, it was 31 C (upper 80s F). I haven´t seen a temperature sign today, but it know it is hotter. As I write this, however, I am sitting under a pavillon with a nice breeze, so I am quite comfortable after a long walk getting here.
I slept over 10 hours last night. My body was totally exhausted. So I took my time getting up this morning. I went downstairs for breakfast about 9:10 and didn´t shower until after that. I left the pousada about 11:00.
First, I walked toward town to get to Plaza Liberdade. It is the beginning point for the oriental community here, and there is a market there each Sunday. I walked around looking at the stalls selling plants, fountains, t-sirts, skirts, paper lanterns, etc. But it was the food stalls that really got my attention. They were selling lots of things on skewers, lots of fried patties of various types, a molded dish sold in slices that seemed to have fish, vegetables, etc., in it. The most unappetizing thing I saw was a man eating small squids bunched together on a skewer. Their tiny suction-cupped limbs were dangling and dripping sauce. I first bought a large Japanese pork dumpling which I ate with the typical soy suace/green onion mixture and another tomato-onion mixture similar to pico de gallo. Then I ordered a pie plate full of mixed stir-fried dishes with chicken, pork, carrots, cabbage, and rice noodles. The latter came with 2 forks, and I could only eat about 2/3 of it. I gave the rest to a street beggar who seemed happy to get it.
I got a few photos fo the food and of the streets which have lantern-like street lights and lots of signs in oriental scripts. Then I walked back southward down the main street of that area. There were temples, oriental food stores, etc. The Buddhist temple was filled with people and there was a reular rhythm of drumbeats coming from it. The auditoriem of the Japanese Cultural Center was quickly filling up for some event. I tried to tour the Museum of Japanese Immigration, but it didn´t open until 1:30, and it was only 12:10 at the time.
I walked far south in the hot, mid-day sun to get to where I am now--Ibirapuera Park--one of the largest parks in the city. It is surrounded by expressways, so I had to zigg and zagg and rush across multiple lanes of traffic a couple of times to get here. I have really only just entered the park. As soon as I saw a seat under this pavillon, I grabbed it. It is a huge, open pavillion with a smooth concrete floor. It is filled with byciclists, skateboarders, and roller skaters taking advantage of its size and the smooth concrete. It, along with the rest of the park, was designed by Oscar Niemeijer (spelling?), the modernist architect Brazilians love. I find most of his work to be interesting to see, quick to look outdated, and typically crumbling after 20 years or so. He is definitely more into the aesthetics of design than he is into the lasting structural elements or the practical aspects.
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I went into the Modern Art Museum. It is known for its giant modern sculpture of a spider which is in its own room and viewable from outside the museum. The museum exhibits inside were okay, but they were rather limited. I am glad it was free today, because I would not have wanted to pay for what was inside.
I have been sitting on a bench in the shade for about half an hour. I am enjoying watching the poeple as they walk and cycle in front of me on a closed roadway that runs through the park. Some walk dogs. There are many whole families. Everyone is dressed casually. About 1/3 of the men are shirtless, and it has nothing to do with the shapes of their bodies! They and I are having a nice, leisurely afternoon at the park.
______
Later, while wandering the park, I discovered several nice features. There are two large lakes. The large lake has a big fountain that continuously cycles through about a 15-minute program of dancing waters. And at the main entrance to the park there is a huge sculpture by one of the artists whose work was displayed in the museum. It is supposed to represent the struggle of the people, I thin. The state legislative assembly hall is on the side of it opposite the park.
I am tired again. And I feel my face and neck have gotten too much sun, although I used sunscreen today and wore a collared shirt with it raised. It is good, therefore, that tomorrow will be a travel day. I have a 16-hour bus trip ahead of me, leaving probably about 3 or 4 p.m. tomorrow. I have made the same bus trip to Foz do Iguazu before, so I know it won´t be as bad as it sounds. The bus will have a/c and reserved seats, and it will stop every 2 hours or so for a 10-minute break and every 5-6 hours for a 30-minute meal break.
I hate transitioning, however. There is so much stress related to buying the ticket, getting the right bus, keeping track of personal items, being sure not to miss the bus at stops, determining how to get into town after arriving (since most bus stations are new, large facilities built outside of towns these days), getting to the hotel I have pre-selected as my first choice and making sure the facilities and rates match my expectations, and sometimes having to go to a second or third possible place. Unfortunately, the travel plan I have developed will have me moving often during the next few days. There are eleven places where I will stay only 1-2 nights, and 3 places where I will stay 3-4 nights before I arrive in Buenos Aires for a stay of probably a week. Before I leave tomorrow, I want to re-pack my suitcase and backpack. They were originally packed based on airline checked luggage procedures and rules. Now I need to arrange them for daily living with things I won´t need often (like books) on the bottom and shirts, underwear and socks on the top with extra pants and shorts in the middle along with my emergency items. I will move my shaving kit to my backpack now that I don´t have to worry about it containing a pair of scissor, a corkscrew, a can opener, a knife, etc.
I got hungry, since I ate lunch so early today. I went to search for a place for a snack. The only places open, for the most part, were the ones where people sit and drink beers at sidewalk tables. They serve some food, but every table was taken at every place. I figured that it must be the thing for Brazilians to do on Sunday night (going out for beers) until I made my next stop.
I remembered a large supermarket near my place. I figured I could find some kind of snack there, plus I needed a new bottle of water for tomorrow. Sure enough, I found a woman cutting pizza into rectangular slices--HOT pizza right out of the oven. I got into line behind four other people and waited my turn. When the time came, I showed her, just like the others had, where I wanted her to cut to give me the best piece in the right size for me. She packaged and wighed it, and I was off to find the water. The surprise came when I went to check out. There were long lines at every register. People were buying everything they could need for at least a week. And the process was slow. A man in front of me wanted a carton of cigarettes. Well, they are locked away; we had to wait and wait and wait for a guy with a key to come get them. Then something went wrong when they were paying. The girl with him (It was a group of four shopping together.) came back to aplogize to us in line. But ALL lines were long and going slowly. It took me 45 minutes to purchase my slice of pizza (which was cold by then) and bottle of water!!
Walking: 30,022 steps (21,223 aerobic steps), 1227 calories, 20.41 km (12 1/4 miles)
Friday, Jan. 7 (Part II)
It´s 11 a.m. and I am at the market. It is wonderful! First, it is in a beautiful stone and concrete building from the late 1800s/early 1900s. There are huge stained glass windows showing harvest scenes in vivid colors. And glass skylights run across the roof. The foodstalls are filled with exotic foods, both local and imported, that are displayed in ways that put our U.S. markets (including HEB´s Central Markets) to shame. Dried meats, bottles of olive oil and other items are hanging via hooks around the tops of the stalls. Everything else is stacked and displayed attractively. Dried fruits, spices, nuts, etc., are piled high in attractive plexiglass bins and/or ceramic bowls. Meats and fish are in glass coolers and hung and piled nicely. The restaurant stalls provide lots of choices although one called Hocca serving freshly made sandwiches is obviously the local favorite. The whole market is unbelievably clean, and everything is handled in sanitary ways. I can´t be at a place like this without thinking of Arne. He would have loved it, and I have seen so many things he would have enjoyed eating--dried bananas and other fruits, bahcalau (dried fish), nuts, smoked meats, etc. And the best part for him would have been the clean, free toilets!! Of course, this market building houses only the best of the best. The REAL market has grown for blocks around, and the more ordinary stalls are located there.
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From the market I walked to the Luz Station and the State Museum of Art. The station is a wonderfully ornate one in gold-colored concrete and orange brick. It has a huge clock tower and nice roof lines and has recently been restored. There is ornate grillwork that incorporates the letters SPR for Sao Paulo Railroad, I guess. It´s a base only for commuter trains today.
The State Museum is the nicest museum I have visited in Brazil. First, it is in a wonderful building, whereas most museums here are in creaky unkept facilities. They have modernized an old building so that it feels like a new building incorporating ruins of a palace. And the collections are wonderful. I especially enjoyed the many paintings of Brazil in the 1800s. It was fun to see how places I have visited looked 100-150 years ago. But there were also modern, abstract works; photographyç and lots of sculptures (including several by Rodin). I liked their display plan, too, with one room having only portraits and another having only still lifes. All the works seemed to be of high quality and well maintained. The special exhibit was an extraordinary one from the University of Coimbra in Portugal. It consisted of writings and mechanical devices from the late 1700s which represented the great progress of science under the Enlightenment. It is amazing to me that these devices have remained intact and undamaged for over 200 years. They included scales, cranes, telescopes, microscopes, vacuums, steem generators, sextants, etc., all quite intricate yet well preserved. It would be a great exhibit for any museum to show.
Behind the State Museum is Luz Park. It used to be the botanical gardens, but they have moved to a larger area. Now it is a big sculpture garden. There are scultures everywhere throughout the 4-square block-sized park. Many people were lounging on benches or walking in the park, but they all seemed to be rather poor; apparently few others visit it.
It was 2:30 and time for lunch when I left the park. I walked back to the Center and ate at a "por kilo" (by the weight) place. I selected from an open buffet something like an enchilada, some mixed rice and vegetables, a chunk of stewed beef, a piece of eggplant stuffed with a ground meat mixture, a rather dry meatloaf-like wedge, and some brown beans. My plate was put on the scale to see what I owed (6.07 rais--$2.22 U.S.) after it being heated in the microwave. With it, I got a canned Coca Cola Light for 65 cents U.S.
People advertise for companies by handing out printed sheets and by wearing sandwich-type boards on their bodies. I had seen a man with a sandwich board advertising a cyber cafe on the 6th floor of a building near where I ate lunch. I went there and updated my blog. It took 1 1/2 hours to do it today (along with reading my e-mail). I hope to be online more often now that I am traveling and cyber cafes can be found at reasonable prices. (The one today was $1.10 U.S. per hour.)
A thunderstorm struck the city while I was inside the cybercafe. The rain was still coming down hard when I finished. I waited in the lobby of the building. I squated to read, but the guard reuired me to stand. He was nice about it, though, and just following rules to keep street people out. I left when the rain slowed down, but I ducked into another lobby 3 blocks down the street when it increased again. There was a lady guard, so I stood as close as I could to the sidewalk. She spoke to me insisting that I come back further to get out of the rain. Then when she realized I was a tourist, she insisted that I sit in her chair. Wasn´t that nice?!!
My pousada is in a section of town called Bella Visa. The literal translation, of course, is "beautiful view." But a more PRACTICAL translation is "long, uphill walk to get home." And with the weather we had this afternoon, it became "long, uphill walk to get home with lots of water flowing downhill all the way." I stayed fairly dry using my umbrella until the last corner just half a block from the pousada. As I turned it, so did a car at fast speed spraying water all the way down my left side from just above my waist. If anyone must have his radio stolen from his car, I hope it will be him!
There´s been no more diarrhea. I have eaten both breakfast and lunch with no problems. There´s no gurgling of the stomach either. I bought some cola light and water at the supermarket on the way home. I don´t know yet if I will stay in or go out again. It´s 6:30 p.m., and I have no need to go out. I will decide alter by how tired I feel and by whether the rain continues or not.
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Well, I stayed in the room. After reading my new novel a while, I began reading my gudebook to try to plan my route through Argentina. I now know where I will be the first two weeks I am there, but I am not sure what I will be doing tomorrow!
Walking: 23,420 steps (15,109 aerobic steps), 1000 calories, 15.92 km (9 1/2 miles)
Saturday, Jan. 8
I have started exploring my neighborhood today. It looks as if the most local area used to be filled with private mansions. A few still survive, but the area consists mainly of exclusive high-rise apartments, the kind with gates, guards, and sometimes large sculptures in the courtyards.
Paulista Avenue, the main street nearby, is lined with modern office buildings. It is a wide boulevard that is clean and attractive with nice shops and restaurants spread along it, too. I am sitting in a park on the avenue, although it feels as if I am far from such development. The park is a big, tropical garden which is filled with morning joggers and people walking their dogs. Unlike the park yesterday, almost everyone here appears to be middle or upper class.
Across the street is MASP, the other major art museum in town. I guessed it would open at 10, but it doesn´t open until 11 a.m. I am, therefore, resting in the park for 45 minutes. I decided it would be better to wait for it to open than to try to return. After I see it, I want to go to the university which is far away and will give me plenty of exercise for the day.
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The MASP was more than I expected. It had a huge section with paintings by many of the grand masters from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s. There were separate rooms for the Italian, the Dutch, the French, the British, etc. The highlight of the museum, however, was a display of 100 Impressionist works. They were in a special black room which was dividied into rows by glass plans on which the paintings were hung. Each had a bright spotlight highlighting it and nothing else. The painting were glorious in this display format. It was almost as if each was backlighted. Because of the glass panels it was possible to look past the row where I was standing to see the other paintings 2-3 ros beyond. It was a display that reminded me of the special room with the best of the minerals in the museum in Ouro Preto which I have always told everyone was one of the best displays I have ever seen because of the blackness of the room and the brightness of the spotlighted minerals. Each piece of art stood out in the dark room as representative of the best of the best. And there were wonderful paintings by all the Impressionists! It was really a pleasure to see. http://www.masp.art.br
Well, I went overboard after seeing the museum. I walked all the way to the university and back. It was really too far. I should have taken a bus. But I wanted to get my exericse and burn calories, so off I went. Unfortunately, the street I chose to follow was one with the sidewalks being repaved with tiles. It was a rough walk with lots of sidestepping required. When I got near, two students told me how to go to get to the campus. It is a huge one broken into three sections. Since Education was the first section, I just explored it and started back. The buildings were spread out and the lawns were heavily wooded and lanscaped with plants and flowers. It was really a nice campus.
I took a different route back. The street was lined with prostitutes, and right at the end, within sight of the last two women, was a police station. Just past there, I came to a mall I had passed earlier. I went inside and had lunch in the food court at a place with a Brazilian food buffet sold by the size of the plate. I was starving, so I got the biggest plate and filled it with potato-carrot salad, a boiled banty hen egg, rice with vegetables, brown beans, black beans, roasted chicken, ravioli, sausage, casserole of mashed potatoes over a ground meat mixture, roast pork, and mixed vegetables. It was a big plate of food, but it was not mounded up as much as most plates were by the people around me! While standing in line, a lady was serving samples of what looked like lime juice. I took one, thinking how refreshing it would be, and it was a caipirinho, a Brazilian alcoholic drink somewhat like a margarite. It was a surprise to my taste buds, since I was expecting limeaide!
I took a different route back home from there. It took me through some very elegant and rich neighborhoods. All the residences were completely walled with electrifed fences and closed-circuit TV cameras on top of the walls. Most had a guardhouse with one-way mirrored windows built into the walls. All were clean, big, expensive looking places.
It seemed like such a long climb to get back up the hill. I finally stopped in a store and bought a 2-liter bottle of Diet Guarana. It´s a Brazilian solft drink, but Coca Cola bought the company a few years ago and now seels it in the U.S. It was cold and so refreshing. IN just an hour, I had drunk 3/4 of the bottle!
I don´t guess I will go out again. It´s 6 p.m. and I am full and tired. Even though it is Saturday night, I will just stay inside and read and go to bed early.
Walking: 32,908 steps (24,985 aerobic steps), 1363 calories, 22.37 km (13 1/2 miles)
Sunday, Jan. 9
The days keep getting hotter and hotter. It was about 24 C (mid-70s F) the day I arrived. Yesterday, it was 31 C (upper 80s F). I haven´t seen a temperature sign today, but it know it is hotter. As I write this, however, I am sitting under a pavillon with a nice breeze, so I am quite comfortable after a long walk getting here.
I slept over 10 hours last night. My body was totally exhausted. So I took my time getting up this morning. I went downstairs for breakfast about 9:10 and didn´t shower until after that. I left the pousada about 11:00.
First, I walked toward town to get to Plaza Liberdade. It is the beginning point for the oriental community here, and there is a market there each Sunday. I walked around looking at the stalls selling plants, fountains, t-sirts, skirts, paper lanterns, etc. But it was the food stalls that really got my attention. They were selling lots of things on skewers, lots of fried patties of various types, a molded dish sold in slices that seemed to have fish, vegetables, etc., in it. The most unappetizing thing I saw was a man eating small squids bunched together on a skewer. Their tiny suction-cupped limbs were dangling and dripping sauce. I first bought a large Japanese pork dumpling which I ate with the typical soy suace/green onion mixture and another tomato-onion mixture similar to pico de gallo. Then I ordered a pie plate full of mixed stir-fried dishes with chicken, pork, carrots, cabbage, and rice noodles. The latter came with 2 forks, and I could only eat about 2/3 of it. I gave the rest to a street beggar who seemed happy to get it.
I got a few photos fo the food and of the streets which have lantern-like street lights and lots of signs in oriental scripts. Then I walked back southward down the main street of that area. There were temples, oriental food stores, etc. The Buddhist temple was filled with people and there was a reular rhythm of drumbeats coming from it. The auditoriem of the Japanese Cultural Center was quickly filling up for some event. I tried to tour the Museum of Japanese Immigration, but it didn´t open until 1:30, and it was only 12:10 at the time.
I walked far south in the hot, mid-day sun to get to where I am now--Ibirapuera Park--one of the largest parks in the city. It is surrounded by expressways, so I had to zigg and zagg and rush across multiple lanes of traffic a couple of times to get here. I have really only just entered the park. As soon as I saw a seat under this pavillon, I grabbed it. It is a huge, open pavillion with a smooth concrete floor. It is filled with byciclists, skateboarders, and roller skaters taking advantage of its size and the smooth concrete. It, along with the rest of the park, was designed by Oscar Niemeijer (spelling?), the modernist architect Brazilians love. I find most of his work to be interesting to see, quick to look outdated, and typically crumbling after 20 years or so. He is definitely more into the aesthetics of design than he is into the lasting structural elements or the practical aspects.
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I went into the Modern Art Museum. It is known for its giant modern sculpture of a spider which is in its own room and viewable from outside the museum. The museum exhibits inside were okay, but they were rather limited. I am glad it was free today, because I would not have wanted to pay for what was inside.
I have been sitting on a bench in the shade for about half an hour. I am enjoying watching the poeple as they walk and cycle in front of me on a closed roadway that runs through the park. Some walk dogs. There are many whole families. Everyone is dressed casually. About 1/3 of the men are shirtless, and it has nothing to do with the shapes of their bodies! They and I are having a nice, leisurely afternoon at the park.
______
Later, while wandering the park, I discovered several nice features. There are two large lakes. The large lake has a big fountain that continuously cycles through about a 15-minute program of dancing waters. And at the main entrance to the park there is a huge sculpture by one of the artists whose work was displayed in the museum. It is supposed to represent the struggle of the people, I thin. The state legislative assembly hall is on the side of it opposite the park.
I am tired again. And I feel my face and neck have gotten too much sun, although I used sunscreen today and wore a collared shirt with it raised. It is good, therefore, that tomorrow will be a travel day. I have a 16-hour bus trip ahead of me, leaving probably about 3 or 4 p.m. tomorrow. I have made the same bus trip to Foz do Iguazu before, so I know it won´t be as bad as it sounds. The bus will have a/c and reserved seats, and it will stop every 2 hours or so for a 10-minute break and every 5-6 hours for a 30-minute meal break.
I hate transitioning, however. There is so much stress related to buying the ticket, getting the right bus, keeping track of personal items, being sure not to miss the bus at stops, determining how to get into town after arriving (since most bus stations are new, large facilities built outside of towns these days), getting to the hotel I have pre-selected as my first choice and making sure the facilities and rates match my expectations, and sometimes having to go to a second or third possible place. Unfortunately, the travel plan I have developed will have me moving often during the next few days. There are eleven places where I will stay only 1-2 nights, and 3 places where I will stay 3-4 nights before I arrive in Buenos Aires for a stay of probably a week. Before I leave tomorrow, I want to re-pack my suitcase and backpack. They were originally packed based on airline checked luggage procedures and rules. Now I need to arrange them for daily living with things I won´t need often (like books) on the bottom and shirts, underwear and socks on the top with extra pants and shorts in the middle along with my emergency items. I will move my shaving kit to my backpack now that I don´t have to worry about it containing a pair of scissor, a corkscrew, a can opener, a knife, etc.
I got hungry, since I ate lunch so early today. I went to search for a place for a snack. The only places open, for the most part, were the ones where people sit and drink beers at sidewalk tables. They serve some food, but every table was taken at every place. I figured that it must be the thing for Brazilians to do on Sunday night (going out for beers) until I made my next stop.
I remembered a large supermarket near my place. I figured I could find some kind of snack there, plus I needed a new bottle of water for tomorrow. Sure enough, I found a woman cutting pizza into rectangular slices--HOT pizza right out of the oven. I got into line behind four other people and waited my turn. When the time came, I showed her, just like the others had, where I wanted her to cut to give me the best piece in the right size for me. She packaged and wighed it, and I was off to find the water. The surprise came when I went to check out. There were long lines at every register. People were buying everything they could need for at least a week. And the process was slow. A man in front of me wanted a carton of cigarettes. Well, they are locked away; we had to wait and wait and wait for a guy with a key to come get them. Then something went wrong when they were paying. The girl with him (It was a group of four shopping together.) came back to aplogize to us in line. But ALL lines were long and going slowly. It took me 45 minutes to purchase my slice of pizza (which was cold by then) and bottle of water!!
Walking: 30,022 steps (21,223 aerobic steps), 1227 calories, 20.41 km (12 1/4 miles)
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