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.
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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)