2001 tagged posts

In America, Argentina, Highlight, Traveled places On  20/12/2001  No comments

See the posts on Argentina 2001

• Salta
• Quebrada de Humahuaca
• Back to Brazil – Border Argentina Brazil

In America, Argentina On  18/08/2001  No comments

I arrived in Pozadas at 10am. I went to get my backpack and it wasn’t in the bus. Neither the one from a German friend that came from Salta with me. They told us that our luggage was sent (by mistake) to Glorinda, a city in the border with Assuncion (Paraguay). We had changed the bus at 5am, they told us to not worry with the bags that they would move from one bus to another. They just forgot to tell us that they usually forget some.

We complained at Nueva Estrella Office. They told us this happens a lot, and we would have to wait until 1am when a bus from Glorinda arrives. It was a cold and rainy day. There was not to do in town, we would have to wait the whole day in the bus station.

Since my parents live near the Argentinean border, they had gone to meet me in Pozadas. When they got there to get me, they found out that they would have to wait 16 hours. If we had driven to Glorinda, the way and back, it would take the same amount of time...

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...