Sounds Good on Paper

Year: 2011

  • Salta to La Serena – maybe rain isn’t so bad

    I hate rain.   I don’t like thunderstorms, drizzle, sprinkles, mist, or showers.   So, after 2 months in Salta during the rainy season, a Chilean  desert sounded like a good change.

    Everything started well enough.   Our landlord Bernardo drove us to the Salta airport.  Getting Jeff’s bike suitcase into the car was hard.

    That's so not going to work.

    But it fit and after some hefty luggage overage charges we flew to Iquique, Chile without problems.  When we landed we weren’t allowed off the plane until someone came through the aisles to disinfect us with a can of insecticide.

    I find it hard to believe this really did anything bug-wise

    Iquique is in the NW part of Chile. It is on the ocean, but is also on the outskirts of the Atacama desert, the driest place on earth.

    The beach was beautiful and the town was full of brightly colored houses against sand dunes.  Being an old mining town it felt like the old west.


    We stopped at the bus station and asked about leaving for the city of Antofagasta the next day.   There were many buses with quite a few seats on each one.  They weren’t sure if all our luggage would make it on the bus which caused me hours of anxiety, but Jeff assured me that with buses leaving hourly, surely one of them could take our luggage.

    That bus looks great, can't wait to take it.

    We left the bus station and got an Iquique beer.

    Jeff tired of hearing me worry about the luggage.

    The next day we got to the bus station with all our luggage and what do you know, all the buses were sold out.   Why didn’t we buy the tickets the day before when we were at the station? Good question. This is why we can’t be on the show Amazing Race.

    Another day in Iquique would have been fine except we had a non-refundable hotel and flight out of Antofagasta for the next day.    I stayed with the luggage while Jeff went on a reality TV type “challenge.” Find us a way out of town.  Two hours later he returned with Chilean cell phones for both of us and a rental car. Maybe he could be on Amazing Race.

    Plan B

    The drive from Iquique to Antofagasta was amazing.  For seven hours we had the coast on one side and dry desert on the other. Besides a few small mining towns along the way there was no signs of life. No trees, grass, tumble weed, birds, nothing.  This desert never gets rain, N-E-V-E-R. Entire years go by with no rain. After 17 years in Seattle and 2 months in Salta during the rainy season, this seemed like a great place to live.

    The first two hours were breath taking. Driving this close to the water for hours reminded me of Caramel, CA.  I was ready to move here.

    Hours three and four were still beautiful but, I realized that perhaps no plants and animals lived here because there was no rain. And land without plants or animals is kind of stark.

    We stopped for lunch in a tiny little mining town where this stray puppy sat by our table. He would have been cute no matter what, but after 4 hours driving in the desert without any sign of live he was especially adorable.

    Desert puppies are especially cute.
    Wait is that a bird? No, just a piece of paper.

    After six hours of driving I half expected a spaceship to land next to the car.  So much land without plants and animals started to feel like the surface of Mars.

    could you ever get sick of this view? Yes, after 6 hours you can.

    It started to feel like a highway treadmill, no matter how long we drove there was just blue ocean on one side, and dry, brown sand on the other.  Once in awhile we’d see a small town flash by in the rear-view mirror.

    It’s amazing to see these small towns and some really really poor people living with an amazing view, but hard hard landscape.

    Then at almost the end of the drive we came across this cemetery.

    Is that a cemetery on the right?

    We drove right by it at first and had to do a double take. It was shocking to see this cemetery with all wooden grave markers in the middle of nowhere.


    It was a far cry from the elaborate cemeteries we had seen in Buenos Aires.  It was eerie to see these wooden, weather beaten graves in the middle of such  lifeless desert.

    Then, after 7 hours, we made it to Antofagasta,  We made the flight the next day and landed in La Serena. We both were relieved to see some grass near the runway.

  • Coca leaves – an altitude wimp’s best friend

    There’s no way around it. I’m a wimp.   I get winded going up stairs, have to eat every two hours, need lots of water and sleep, don’t like cold, hot,  humidity, wind, snow, rain, and worms.

    So, it’s no surprise that I’m sensitive to high altitudes.     When we stopped in the town of Humahuaca at 9,100 feet above sea level Jeff and Dean felt fine,  I felt weird.

    Walking around town I was headachey, dizzy, and tired.   It must have been obvious, because as I staggered by a row of stalls, every woman held up a green bag of coca leaves.

    coca leaf sellers

    I bought a bag for the equivalent of 75 cents, took out some leaves and started chewing.  They taste exactly like you would think dried leaves would taste like, bitter, hard and kind of gross.

    But they really did help. By the time I walked up a giant set of stairs to meet Jeff and Dean  I felt like myself again.  The only effect besides not feeling altitude sick  was my lips and tongue went numb.

    That night in Ticara at 8,200  I started feeling sick again, so pulled out more leaves at dinner.  After chewing several mouthfuls I felt much better.

    Then the next day when we hit the pass on the way to the Salinas Grandes and got up to 14,000 feet I felt positively awful.  But, after chewing a wad of leaves I felt better

    Coca leaves are chewed and legal in Boliva, Peru, Ecuador and parts of Chile and Argentina, but not legal everywhere. They are illegal in the US in the “out of the bag” form.

    They’re illegal because they are one of the ingredients in cocaine. But in the amount I was chewing they had no drug effect.    You would need tons and tons of leaves, and other chemicals to have any cocaine effects.

    Surprisingly, they are also an ingredient in Coca Cola.   They are specially imported into the US and “de-cocained.”   You can also buy them on Amazon.com  Not sure if they are “decocanied” or not.

    All I know is that as I was legally chewing them, I had no drug-like effects, but did feel much much better at 14,000 feet.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYRmPiUknvg

  • Putting the salt into our stay in Salta

    We just got back from a road trip to see this giant salt flat.  You might think, “Well of course you’re living in the city of Salta.” But, this giant field of salt is not in the city of Salta, or even the province of Salta. It’s in a province called Jujuy.   I’m not sure what Salta is named after, but I don’t think it’s this.

    It’s always surreal the first time you see someone from home in a foreign country.   Our Seattle friend Dean is in town and when I met up with Jeff and Dean after my Spanish class, they were in the main square eating empanadas and drinking malbac as if it was the most normal thing in the world to meet for dinner in Salta Argentina.

    When Dean suggested a road trip through the mountains north of Salta, we jumped at the chance to join him.

    We started in Salta, drove up to Purmamarca, continued on to Humahuaca, circled back, slept in Tilcara, then drove to the Salinas Grandes the following day.

    To say the mountains and canyon were breathtaking  sounds cliche, but I really don’t know how else to describe it.    We went through lush green valleys, dry cactus studded canyons, a torrential downpour, dry bare mountains and ended in a blinding white field of salt. And, in between we stopped in some incredible small mountain towns.


    The town of Purmamarca was the most striking with multi colored mountains behind adobe  buildings on dusty streets.


    In Humahuaca the city was truly nestled in the mountains with lots of craft stalls and indigenous women and children selling blankets.

    We spent the night in Tilcara, a town we’ve been to before.   It was fun to be able to walk the streets at night, hear some late night music, and walk around as the town came to life in the morning.

    I was thrilled to come upon these hamburger patties in a store in Tilcara.

    Who wants a barfy?

    The next day we drove through part of the Andes.  They weren’t the snow covered peaks you think of when you think Andes, but we did get up to 14,000 feet.  I do not have that many photos from this part of the trip because most of it was spent in the backseat with my hands over my eyes. Dean drove these the mountains really well, but I don’t do that well with heights.

    Can you tell I'm on a the verge of a panic attack?

    Once we were through this mountain pass we came to the salt plains.  It was unlike anything I’ve seen before, just a giant field of salt for as far as you could see.   It looked like you were walking on a giant cloud or snow field. But, it was hot and the salt crunched underfoot. We of course had to try it and…it tasted like salt.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Cafayate wine tasting score: Zeunerts 1-siesta 5- bus 1

    I’d love to say that we just came upon this llama out grazing or perhaps carrying a load of goods for a it’s owner.  But, in reality this was a photo op with a tourist llama. We paid fifty cents to get our photo taken with him.

    We hadn’t planned a day of tourist llamas, the day was supposed to be spent wine tasting.   Cafayate is the center of high altitude Argentinian wine production.  We’ve been drinking some excellent wine from the region and wanted to taste it at the actual wineries.

    There are several ways to wine taste in Cafayate. You can rent a car, go by bus, stay several nights, or go on a one day tourist excursion.  We opted for the excursion.  The tour was to stop at several sites along the way, the we’d have from 12:00 to 3:00 in the town of Cafayate.  There are about five wineries in town.   Jeff and I are experienced high speed wine tasters.  Smell, swirl, sip, run like hell to the next winery has always been our method of tasting wine.  We were confident that we could hit five wineries in three hours no problem.

    The ride to Cafayate was stunning. We went through a gorge and canyon stopping along the way for photos.   The multi colored rocks, and formations like Devil’s Throat alone were worth the trip.

    Devil's throat

    The bus got to Cafayate around noon and stopped at winery number 1, Nanni.   We had a great tasting there.

    The other two couples on the tour weren’t interested in tasting wine. You can see them in the background in the photo.   We left them to have lunch while we quickly scarfed down some empanadas and coffee.  We couldn’t wait to taste more wine.  We walked quickly to winery number two.

    Winery #2 – closed for sietsta

    Wintery #3 – closed for siesta

    Winery #4 – closed for siesta

    Winery #5 – closed maybe forever

    You would think after almost three months in Argentina, we’d realize that businesses close from 1:00 to 4:00. Honestly, it never crossed our minds before doing this tour.  Finally we accepted the fact that we weren’t going to get into any wineries.

    We raced to a wine bar.   We asked to see a wine menu. They didn’t know what we meant. We asked if we could do a tasting.  The waiter didn’t understand. Maybe several half glasses?  Still didn’t get it. How about just a glass of wine? No, they didn’t offer glasses of wine, only bottles.

    not exactly Purple or Poco (2 Seattle wine bars)

    We wandered around town, circled back and retried several wineries. Finally with only fifteen minutes before the bus left, we ran to a restaurant and ordered any two random glasses of wine. We chugged them and got back on the bus.

    On the way back to Salta we stopped at a winery…just to take photos. We weren’t actually allowed into the winery.  We did stop and see more really beautiful scenery.

    But the tourist llama really was really the best part of the trip.

     

  • Salta market – this sure ain’t Pike Place Market

    **Vegetarian warning – this post contains some super gross looking cow parts about half way down the page.**

    **Don’t read this if you are eating or planning on eating in the next 12 hours.**

    The Salta market started out innocently enough. As with all markets, this one had the usual interesting and photogenic items for sale. Cheese, spices, veggies, Jesus.

    It even sells cocoa leaves which are chewed or brewed in tea to alleviate altitude sickness and as a mild stimulant. They are illegal in some countries and some parts of Argentina.

    As in most markets, this one also  has a gross meat section.

     

    Hooves aren't edible are they?

    When I go to a market, I’m always prepared for the gross stuff. It’s almost like a horror movie, getting scared is half the fun.   I walk around sort of shielding my eyes, preparing myself for some gross thing.

    This stack of hooves (cow maybe?) seemed to do it. It was a nice “OMG that’s so gross,” moment.

    I wasn’t however, prepared for this next site.

    holy crap, what is this?

    I mean really, what is that?  And, why is it hanging like that?  And, what is this white stuff?

    don't know what this is either, but I know it's gross.

    The sheer largeness and casual way it was displayed added to the horror.  Look closely below. There is an advertisement for a religious festival, then to the right of the photo is a hanging bit of grossness, and then standing between the two hanging…what to call them….animal parts(?)  is a woman at the counter.  One move left or right and that white hanging thing will swing into her arm or head.

    Religious advertisement, hanging meat, and a woman

    I’m not sure how they decide what to put behind glass and what to leave hanging in the below photo.  Seems like it would be better all behind glass.

    I’m going to be taking a short break from my cow eating (tonight I had pork for dinner.)  I need some time to erase these images from my brain.    I know that all meat comes from animals, and no matter how clean and neat it looks cooked on a plate, it all starts off like this.  But come on, it was like entire cows hanging by their large intestines.   That’s enough to gross anyone out, even a entire cow eater like myself.