Thursday, August 30, 2007
The Premature End
Iguazu
Iguazu Falls
BEAUTIFUL FALLS. We hired a tour guide and had a nice and intelligent guide, Lucas who showed us around the falls. We expected to have other people on the tour with us, but being slow season, we had a private tour! Very nice! We learned a lot about the falls and Iguazu as well. It was well worth the money for the guide. See pics, I can’t explain enough how much we enjoyed ourselves. The only bad thing about Iguazu is the town itself. They really stick it to the tourist. We were charged 4 pesos for a 1.5 liter of water at the local Kiosco and it is always less than 2 pesos in the stores everywhere else in Argentina. Oh well, we were only there for a few days. Our hotel was nice and Payton played in the pool with me. Jen no longer has a bathing suit. Her bikini bottom became merely a see through piece of fabric, so she threw it away. I thought she just wanted to fit in with the locals…
Back to Buenos Aires
Back to Buenos Aires
Back to Buenos Aires staying on the same street as our last apartment, but a few blocks away. We are actually 6 blocks away and now we are in the heart of strip joint central. We have at least 7-8 cabaret establishments within rocks throw away from our apartment. Our apartment isn’t the best, but it will work for the next 7 days, 3 of which we will be at the Iguazu Falls. We are also 100 yards from the Hard Rock Café. We were initially excited about this, however, after one quick dinner at the restaurant we soon realized that we will not be eating there anymore. Overpriced and under flavored. They don’t even have ranch dressing for their “ranck chicken salad.”. I thought Jen was going to lose it…
We took care of all of our car selling paperwork the following day in a matter of 3 hours. Not bad for a couple of non Spanish speaking Americans. We were told it would take us two to three days to complete the process. We called the buyer of our car that night and arranged to sell the car on Wednesday. In addition, we are trying to figure out how to bring the Thule back to the states or sell it. After finding out how much it was going to cost to send it back, 800 USD (more than we paid for the Thule) we decided to sell it and take a loss.
The best news so far, is that I was able to talk to an American Delta airlines customer service agent who sympathized with us regarding the huge misinformation we received when we purchased our tickets prior to coming to BsAs. Originally, we had been told that we were able to purchase a 90 day ticket and could stay longer in Argentina if we wanted to. All we would have to do is pay 100 USD for a change fee and pay the difference in the price of a ticket, which we were told was roughly 300-500 USD. That sounded good at the time so we booked the tickets. Well, when it became time to purchase our return tickets, since we no longer have a car and Payton is really searching for structure and stability, guess what, Delta wanted 4000 USD per person for the flight since we were beyond three months and a 1 year ticket was roughly 5000 USD. It was cheaper to purchase another round trip ticket for 1100 USD and only fly the one-way leg of the trip. I called the South American Delta call center and was on the phone for roughly 1 hour before being transferred to the States. After being on the phone for Payton’s entire nap (2 hours) we finally ended up paying only 300 USD, not per person, for all of us! Our experience with Delta was great from the US to Argentina and even though we had some problems with the details of our return ticket they definitely came through and straightened things out for us. We are happy with Delta.
La Cumbre
La Cumbre & Merlo
We left Salta and drove down to La Cumbre. La Cumbre lies on the western slopes of the Sierras of Cordoba. I wish we could have stayed at least 1-2 weeks here. It is a beautiful mountainside town with great restaurants and plenty of activities for all. Unfortunately, we were only here for a night and one run in the morning before heading south on our trip toward Buenos Aires.
After leaving La Cumbre, we headed towards the National Park of the Condors. Unfortunately, after driving up a very steep mountain, no condors were to be seen. Therefore, we drove down the other side of the mountain which was equally steep and finally landed in the valley before reaching our destination town of Merlo.
Merlo is a quaint “microclimate” town approximately 6 hours from Buenos Aires. It lies on the hillside of the Southern Sierras of Cordoba. It is a very nice tourist town with friendly people. We stayed at the Howard Johnson and Payton enjoyed the indoor heated pool tremendously. Many things to do here, unfortunately, not enough time…We are in a hurry to get to Buenos Aires to sell our car.
Salta
Salta
Salta. Every guidebook and everyone from Argentina raves about Salta. It definitely is a unique town compared to the rest of Argentina, but it also has many similarities. This town is beautiful in its own right; with many historical buildings and friendly people. However, if you’re not in the town square it becomes a little run down and dingy. The hotels in town are over priced and at best are a couple of “stars” below their current ratings. We decided to leave the city and head 11km west to a beautiful town called Villa San Lorenzo. This place was amazing! It has its own microclimate which allows for the town to be green and cooler than Salta all year. The people in Villa San Lorenzo are extremely nice and our hotel was perfect for us, Las Moras. There is a nature reserve a few kilometers from town as well as a city park that follows a river upstream to the top of the mountain. We went on a hike in that area and unfortunately we didn’t make it to the top on the day of our hike, but it was beautiful. If anyone is in the area, they should also either stay at or checkout El Castillo hotel and restaurant. An American by the name of John Johnston owns this particular hotel and he moved to Argentina 28 years ago. He married a Saltean and had two children. He has a very interesting story and is starting to write his memoirs now. The food at the El Castillo was amazing and the grounds were beautiful as well. The mountain biking was pretty good, however, in the future, I think I would have liked a guide. Oh well. I almost forgot one thing. The food in Salta is unlike anything in Argentina. They use spices in their food. We had the best picante salsa that could rival any great Mexican restaurant in the states.
On the second day here we contacted Roberto (from El Calfate) regarding his interest in purchasing our car. Initially he informed us that he wanted the car at the end of June, however, that quickly changed, and he told us he wanted it the following week in Buenos Aires. Oh shit! We are literally 20 hours by car away from Buenos Aires. We decided to stay one more night in San Lorenzo and drive up to Catamarca, where they have artesianal goods from Bolivia. The goods are imported into Argentina and then sold as “Artesianal goods made in Argentina” after putting an Argentine flag on the products. Pretty funny! Sounds like what Americans do with products made in China, but sold as American made after a simple addition or modification of the product. We found some beautiful blankets and clothes however we have an extremely tight weight allowance for our flight home as well as limited space so we passed on any purchases.
Tafil del Ville
Tafil del Valle
Our drive from La Rioja to Tafil del Valle was interesting and beautiful. Interesting in the fact that we had been hearing a strange squeaking noise for more than 5 miles before we realized that the noise was coming from our bike rack, which had a busted strap and was only attached to the car by one upper strap. Apparently, one of the bikes handlebars had applied enough friction to cause the strap to rip. We were able to fix the bike rack and continue on. The drive was beautiful in the fact that we went through beautiful agriculture areas and we drove through a canyon with its own microclimate, which was like being in the tropics. We drove out of the canyon to be utterly surprised with the vast desert landscape that lay before us. The hotel we stayed at was very nice, but expensive. The town reminded me of Yreka, CA. No vegetation, minimal rocks, and dry grass. The town was quaint, but fairly boring.
We left the next day for a hairpin drive down the mountain toward the Quilmes ruins. Difficult to explain, see photos…It was very intriguing how these pre-Columbian tribes lived. After our short visit we left for Salta.
Villa Union
Ville Union
Left Barreal and had a beautiful drive with some red painted mountains and amazing desert views. Part of this trip allowed us to drive on a dirt/gravel road for nearly 4 hours without seeing more than 2 other cars. We were lucky we didn’t have any complications. We kept seeing signs for a radio station used for people in need of help, however, after driving by this particular location it looked like someone decided they needed the equipment more than anybody else. Let’s say this road was so dirty/dusty that we lost our brakes for a short period of time. Luckily no big hills!
We stayed at a beautiful hotel just outside of National Parque Ischilguista. This place is famous for its red rock canyons and native petrogleyths. In the guidebook they said this place resembled Bryce canyon in Utah. The National Parque actually outsourced (even in Argentina) the tourism, which translated into one company performing tours inside the park. It is required to take a bus tour in the park and to leave your own vehicle. This is the only way to see the park. Very frustrating for us because having Payton on a crowded tour bus isn’t fun for her or us. All in all it worked out for everyone. There were some beautiful sites, however, this place was greatly over exaggerated in the brochures and guidebook. I’ve never been to Bryce Canyon, but from the pictures and people I’ve actually talked to that have visited Bryce Canyon, Bryce has amazing slot canyons and Ischilguista did not.
After visiting the first park we left and drove to the second park in the area at Valle de Luna (valley of the moon). We had been told that we should see both national parks, that they were very different from each other and both were amazing. Well once again…It was pretty, however, after being at the first park (which was better) we could have passed on this one. The only nice thing about this park was that we were able to bring our car inside the park. It was a driving tour and the only stipulation was that you had to be lead by a national park personnel who rides in the lead car then gets out at designated spots and speaks about the interesting rock formations and history of the land etc. Nearly 2/3 of the way into the tour we saw some other Americans who with with their own Argentine paid guide drive away and leave the national park ranger. We decided that we wanted to do the same, so we left too. No problems. Only in Argentina.
We drove to La Rioja that night and found it to be a Shit hole! We stayed in a 5 star hotel for 100 USD which was really nice and had some amazing food.
Barreal
Barreal
We left Mendoza after spending almost the entire morning with our friends across the street, our landlords and their family. We were excited to go, but Payton seemed to want to stay. She had also made some great friends. To drive to Barreal we had two routes to chose from and the one we picked seemed like the best option. This is what is was: Drive 1 hour south and then drive west climbing nearly 7500 ft to peak well over 10,000 ft on a seasonal road. Doesn’t sound bad, right?! Well, let’s say that this seasonal road is a creek/river bed that is etched across the mountain canyons with formed ice and sand pits throughout the road. It would be a great 4x4 adventure. However in the Kangoo driving in 1st gear for a portion of the way and not knowing if we would make some of the inclines was a little nerve racking.
We arrived in Barreal, (which is famous far its car sailing on perfect sand flats) upbeat and ready to have a wonderful stay. The westerly view from this tiny (1000 population) town is amazing with snow capped Andes mountains as far as the eye can see. We arrived at our destination hotel, only to be astonished (really an understatement)!!! There was no availability at the hotel in this small town. We initially laughed because this has never happened to us before and since there were no cars in the parking lot, we were mystified. We thought we were being rejected because of our nationality. We left this particular posada (which was written up in many magazines and newspapers including the LA times) for the second best hotel in town. Let me remind you, this is a very small town. We were once again surprised to find out that they also had no availability. What was going on you ask… Apparently, there was a motorcycle expedition that booked the only nice hotels in town for this particular week. We ended up at a hostel, Jen said this is “as low as she goes” for accommodations. None of us walked around barefoot and I was the only one that showered. It was a place to stay and it included homemade toast for breakfast and coffee cooked the old fashion way (aluminum pot on a wood burning stove). Yippie Kiah!
There is only one restaurant in this town that is worth eating at, so we were told, and we showed up at opening hour only to find out that it was reserved for the night. By this time we were pissed. The motorcycle group took our nice Posada we wanted and the second hotel and now they are taking food from us. I DON’T THINK SO. After a lengthy, but nice conversation with the owners in Spanglish we came up with the important information of the reservation being at 10:00pm. Since it was 8:00pm we simply sat down and told them that we would be in bed by 10:00pm and that we would like to order. The owner/waitress laughed and started serving us German beer.
After all this amazing fun, we find out that it was the wrong time of year for car sailing. Basically, our trip here was a big out of the way MISTAKE!
Mendoza II
Mendoza II
I know it’s taking a while for us to publish things to the blog, but that’s the way things work on vacation. Different priorities and situations arise all the time. For instance, this week our focus was on crime and President Kirshner’s (Argentina’s president) visit to Mendoza. The city was virtually in lockdown around the outside amphitheater that Kirschner was speaking at. He actually had 35,000 Porteno’s (Buenos Aires residents) flown/bused to Mendoza in order for him to appear to have supporters within the area. Apparently, from what we were told, Kirshner is not well liked in this city. After his lengthy speech (elections are in 6 months) he informed Mendoza that the city was going to be a focal point for better police control and support. Typical politics at its best!!! Why do I mention crime? Well, simply put, our car was broken into in front of our “safe” neighborhood apartment in the middle of the day. Very interesting that there were not any witnesses. They took our stereo, (piece of shit, not worth more than 50 USD) Payton’s backpack (filled with diapers, food/snacks, medicine, hat, gloves, blankey, sunglasses), IPOD, first-aid kit with my new stethoscope and worst of all, our Chariot. Oh, I forgot, they broke the passenger side window to get into the car. All I can say is that they are lucky we didn’t find them. The following day I went to have our window replaced and asked the very nice salesperson from MH parabrisas where local thieves sell stolen goods. I got directions and later in the day our neighbor and I went to this shady place to find the chariot. Needless to say, it wasn’t there. However, this place was very interesting. Everything at this particular location (5 or more acres) was items that were stolen. The most abundant items were fruits and vegetables. I was astonished. Who steals fruits and vegetables? Apparently it’s a lucrative business. The second largest stolen item was baby diapers. A pack of 48 Huggies diapers for 3 USD? SOLD!!! Walking around this place was sketchy. I can’t tell you how many strange/peculiar looks I received. Is it the hair, or the fact that I’m 6’1” tall and white?
Two days later at the ultra safe park down the street from our apartment we witnessed a robbery 25 ft from the park Payton was playing at. We decided to leave the city the following week. We occupied our time with visiting a few more wineries and experienced a traditional asado (BBQ) with our neighbors. A traditional asado with Argentine’s is an experience everyone should have. We must have eaten over a period of 3-4 hours and talked and drank. Payton loved it more than us. She fell in love with the daughters of the hosts, also our landlords, and the also adored Payton. We will truly miss them all. We felt like we had made some great friends!
What about biking? I went to this awesome area north of Parque San Martin, however, after riding for a little over an hour by myself I came across a few bikers who informed me that I was being watched by people above the canyons. The bikers stated that the observers would stop me at gunpoint and take my bike and valuables. Needless to say I rode out of the park with the other bikers. We planned on meeting at the park the following Tuesday for another ride, however, that didn’t work out. Temperatures had dropped to the low 20-30’s with a wind chill and with a shortage of gas in the area we decided to leave the following day. When I say the shortage of gas, I mean natural gas. With the extremely cold temperatures there was an abundance of people using gas to heat their homes and our hot water heater wasn’t receiving enough gas to keep the pilot light lit.
