In America, Argentina On  17/08/2001  No comments

I decided to do a tour to the Quebrada de Humahuaca. We left early in the morning. It was cold and foggy. After a 2 hour trip, we got at Pucamamarca – streets with colonial style houses and handcraft fair. The best is the view of the colorful mountain around the city. From there we headed to Tilcara where we visit the ruins, Pucara, and the ¨Museo Arqueológico¨. Pucara was constructed by the excavations done in the area. Among the stone walls grows lots of cactus.

Our next stop was Humahuaca. The city has a great monument in the honor of the aboriginal hero of independence, Diego. There are some handcraft shops and restaurants. Here one can see great indigenous traces on peolple and, for being near by the Bolivian border, the influence of its culture.

The way back, we stop in Uquia to visit a small church with paintings and golden objects. We also stop to see the famous ¨Cerro de las siete colores¨, a mountain with different color stripes.

We wanted to visit the center of Jujuy...

In America, Argentina On  16/08/2001  One comment

I arrived in Salta late in the evening. I went out to eat something. When I got back to the hostel I found out there was tertulia (live music) in the terrace. I went up to hear some music. Different from the music from the south of Argentina, the music here has a great influence from the indigenous sounds. It looks like the music done in Bolivia and Peru. Very good.

The city reminded me the south of Brazil: the city structure, the vegetation, the life style. It was like if I were going back home little by little. I was not in a different and exotic world anymore.

Here people complain a lot about the situation of the country. The economic problem of Argentina is easily visible on the streets. It is not necessary to talk to people to find out. It is just to see the great number of empty restaurants and shops. The strikes and manifestations are also frequent. The four days I was in Salta, I went through two manifestations in the Jujuy region...

In America, Chile On  15/08/2001  One comment

From San Pedro Atacama this trip to Argentina took 12 hours. The Chilean road was good and paved. The desert-like landscape and with impressive lagoons. When entering in the Argentinean side, the road got worse, no more pavement. We stopped at the Argentinean customs and immigration. When I saw from far away the Argentinean flag I got emotional. I felt I was getting home, getting closer to my culture.

Once more I was in line to stamp my passport. There were many Europeans, the policeman didn’t ask anything, just stamped their passports. In front of me there was a Chilean woman, on her turn, the policeman asked her lots of things: intention of the trip, where she was going to stay, if she had relatives there. My turn he also asked me where I was going, for how long, if I was going back to Brazil or if I was going to travel in Argentina. After me, he stamped all the other European passports without asking anything. Once more, prejudice…

In America, Chile On  14/08/2001  One comment

We left San Pedro early on the morning to visit Salar de Atacama. We got there for the sunrise, there was plenty of flamingos by the Chaxa lagoon. From there we went to Socaire, a small village near the salt panning. We had breakfast and visited the small church.

We started to go up the mountain toward the lagoons. Our car was the slowest, we were driving 10km per hour. The other tour groups passed us. After a few km the car broke down. We got off and walked. We were at an altitude of more than 3000m. It took us more than an hour to get to Miñiques lagoon. Then we walked a little more to Miscati lagoon. When we got there our guide showed up, the car was running. We didn’t have much time to see the lagoon because we had to go back before the last car, just in case ours break down again.

On our  first way up the car stopped again and didn’t run. A van that was behind us decided to push us to the top of the mountain. Imagine a car pushing the other one, like in a cartoon...

In America, Adventure, Chile, Cycling tour On  13/08/2001  2 comments

The small town of San Pedro Atacama looks like it is Sunday everyday. Early in the morning there is nobody on the streets, they are waking up slowly. The electricity is only during the day. It starts at 8am and goes to 1am. On Sundays and holidays it stared at 10am. On my first 2 days in town, there was no electricity because the generator was broken. For sure it is not a good place to have an ice-cream.

An interesting point of the city is Licancabur volcano, it can be seen from almost everywhere in San Pedro Atacama. It worked as a magnet for me, anywhere I had been, I was always searching for it on my landscape view.

I visited Pukara de Quitor, 3kms from town. I waked there to see the surroundings. It is a ruin, maybe it used to be a fort, constructed on the wall of a hill. Next day I rented a bicycle to go a little further, Tulor, about 11km from town. The way there it was already a good part of the trip. I went through a small unpaved road...

In America, Bolivia 2001 On  12/08/2001  No comments

Sometimes the Bolivian immigration Office in the border with Chile is closed. In order to not have problems I decided to get my exit stamp on the passport in Uyuni. In Bolivia you pay $15 Bolivianos to get out of the country. I’ve never seen that before in other countries.

When we got to the border, our tour group split. Some went back to Uyuni and others got the bus to San Pedro de Atacama. The bus stopped by the Bolivian Immigration office, this time they were open to people stamp the passport. Then we continue to Chile. On the border line we could see the difference between the countries. The Chilean road was new and paved while the Bolivian one had sand and rocks.

We stopped at Chilean Immigration and Customs Office. Everybody had to get off the bus, stamp the passport and go to a room where they check the luggage. There was a long table where everyone placed his/her backpack and waited. After a while the police came and asked very loud who was Claudio, a Chilean man answered...

In America, Bolivia 2001 On  11/08/2001  One comment

The tour starts in Colcachi, a city by the salar in which the main activity is salt extraction. We saw the salt process, the withdrawal, the drying and the wrapping up. Later we visit the salt hotels. They are all constructed with salt blocks: walls, chairs, beds. When we went back to the car, it didn’t start. We had that to push it.

We drove to “Isla Pescado”, the original name was Inca Huasi, that means ¨House of the Incas¨. There I decided to stay for the night. In the island, the only inhabitants are a couple that takes care of the place. I slept in a room offered by them. I had gotten a permit by the Turist office to sleep and photograph the island. Next day I continued the tour with my group. We went back to Uyuni to get a 4 wheel drive car. Next stop was San Cristobal, a small village where we slept.

Second day we woke up early, we had an 8 hour trip to “Lagoa Colorada”...

In America, Bolivia 2001 On  08/08/2001  No comments

I arrived in Uyuni for the commemoration of Bolivia’s independence. The small town was crowed with the parade. I photographed a little until a policeman said that it was forbidden to take photos of the parade. I agreed but I continued photographing when he left. Later another policeman came to me saying the same, then I decided to stop.

There is not much to see in town. It is a starting point to the tours to the salares (salt lakes). There is a good number of hotels and restaurants, a small church, some little stores and very cold nights.

One of the attractions is the cemetery of trains. A 20 minutes walk from downtown takes you to a place full of wagons, old locomotives and tracks. It’s in the middle of nowhere. I can be seen from far away in the desert.

In America, Bolivia 2001 On  05/08/2001  One comment

I liked the city of Potosi, even tough some people told me it was not so good. The colonial architecture is remarkable in the center of the city. The first day I went to visit the “Casa de la Moneda”, one of the most organized guided tour from the whole trip. They showed a little of the colonial and religious painting from the time. Later we found out how money was done. We started seeing the first shapes, when all the work was manual, made for slaves. Then the mechanical work, with enormous machines pulled by mules, and also the electric process with machines that run by engines. There is also in the museum a room displaying objects of anthropologists and archaeologists studies. It can be seen mummies, ceramics and tapestry.

In the second day I decided to visit one of the mines in the famous Cerro Rico mountain...

In Bolivia 2001, Errante and tour guides On  05/08/2001  No comments