"You may carry a backpack but you are no 'backpacker'..."

I'm back in good old Provo, Utah.  I meant that too, Provo is my home.  It may not be the most diverse and I realize people get culture shock coming out to Utah County, but I love it just the same.  

After we got back from our backpacking trip throughout Argentina things were crazy and I didn't make time to blog about my adventures so here it goes now...

I should start of by admitting that I am NOT a real backpacker.  I proudly admit that I am a fake, a backpacker wannabe. 

1. I carried too many clothes because I refused to "make do" with two outfits.
2. I refused to camp.
3. I bought things everywhere I went... let's just say that real back-packers are a lot more frugal.
4. I tried eating really simply to save money (because eating out gets expensive)... cheap empanadas and sandwiches from kiosks.  It lasted ONE day before I said to hell with it
   and ate what and where I wanted.
5. I forked out 130 pesos for a private room.  It was towards the end of the trip after two weeks in hostels.  I walked into our 6-person, female-only, hot and humid, smelly, hostel room and there was some weird Israeli guy lying in bed with a girl in her undies. Wouldn't you have said "oh hell no!!!" and gotten your own room too?
6. I insisted on cama-suite for every bus trip we took (like taking first-class instead of coach when traveling by bus).
7. I whined about my ugly toes.  I desperately needed a pedicure.

Even though I am not a real backpacker, my backpacking trip was amazing just the same.

  

Stop One: San Carlos de Bariloche

We arrived after a 25 hour bus ride from Cordoba.  We decided to do laundry, pack, buy bus tickets, say goodbye to our Spanish teachers and book a flight the day we left for our big trip. We basically planned the trip the day we left (after having stayed out all night saying goodbye to friends from church), but don't worry, we made it to the bus station 10 minutes before the bus left.  I was neurotic and ready to strangle one of the bus conductors because he wouldn't let me take my back pack up with me- he made me check it under the bus.  I've decided last-minute doesn't work so great for me (yet here I am blogging while I should be doing my homework that I've just about put off until last-minute).

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous throughout Patagonia.  As we got about an hour away from Bariloche I started looking in my travel book for things we wanted to do, places we wanted to eat and also for a place to stay.

After checking into the hostel we took a tram to the top of a hill to get a scenic view of beautiful Bariloche and Nahuel Huapi Lake.

We woke up early the next day and set out horse-back riding.  I had so much fun... my horse was kind of a dud the guy leading the tour had to kick his butt into gear to get him going but it was fun all the same.

Later that day we took a small bus ride out to Hotel LLao-LLao-

I don't remember why the tour book recommended it but it was a neat trip that only took a few hours.  Someday when I'm rich I'm going to stay at hotel LLao-LLao instead of some rotten old hostel (okay hostels aren't that bad I'm just not a real backpacker, remember?).

The next day we took a really neat tour and saw some more scenery and lakes

behind me is Mount Tronador- a glacier

Up close view of the glacier

It was really amazing.  You can see where glacier has fallen and melted down in the water below.

We then walked up to see a waterfall... it was really lovely.

We had fun in Bariloche.

Stop Two: El Calafate- Perito Moreno Glacier

We took another 30 hour bus ride from Bariloche further south to a town called El Calafate.  It is the gateway to the Glaciers National Park.

We started the day by going out to see the famous Perito Moreno (expert Moreno- named after the geologist Moreno who was an expert I guess).  It is one of three glaciers that is not retreating... it still is moving forward with ice chunks fall off into the lake.  It was amazing, while we were there we heard and saw a bunch of ice chunks fall off and crash into the lake.

It was cold and windy... very windy.  You can see Amanda through the front window of the tour bus hiding out from the cold and being a wimp.

The glacier was absolutely incredible- I have never seen anything like it.

We took a ferry across the lake and strapped these "crampons" (I know, it sounds like tampons) onto our shoes.

Can you see the hooks?

We didn't actually strap them on, the tour guides did.

We went hiking on top of the glacier.  It was expensive but completely worth it!  It was scary at first because I was sure those silly little crampon things weren't going to hold me and I was going to go plummeting to my death, but they turned out to be pretty sturdy.

The consistency of the ice on top of the glacier reminded me of regular ice you'd buy at a gas station- it wasn't like solid ice, but gravely pieces about the size of regular ice cubes.

There were deep crevices where the glacier was melting... they were so incredibly blue and clear!  Absolutely amazing.

The water was so refreshing and clean tasting

When we got to the end of the hike the tour guides had a little "bar" set up.  Everyone had whiskey on the rocks (glacier rocks of course). 

Us little BYU chicks had ice water... it was fun all the same.

I absolutely loved Perito Moreno.  Ironically I planned my Argentina trip for winter semester so I could avoid cold and snow... I didn't know I'd be going so far south and that I would encounter extremely cold weather and humongous chunks of snow...

Tomorrow (or whenever I get around to blogging again) I will add more pictures from El Calafate and then talk about Iguazu Falls, and the ruins of San Ignacio.

I'm in Bariloche

Hello everyone who reads my blog,

I'm in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina (you should google it).

I have been so busy the past few weeks and haven't had time to blog. I have all kinds of fun things to write about but will do so later. I spent last week frantically finishing up my research in the lab and writing my paper... I think it turned out okay.

We took a 22 hour bus ride from Córdoba to Bariloche and got here yesterday. After Bariloche we are heading further south to El Calafate to see some cool glaciers. We decided to travel around Patagonia instead of Machu Picchu; it would have taken three days (by bus) to get to Peru and we just didn't have time to do it. I guess I'll have to come back to South America, oh darn.

I went horseback riding today... not sure how the cowboys were able to do it all day because my tookas is SORE after only three hours (maybe because I don't know what I'm doing?).

more adventures to come later.

Quebrada de Humahuaca

I'm too lazy to re-order my photos. When you upload them onto blogger it puts the new ones at the top; basically the photos from the beginning of the day are going to be at the end of this post.

We ended the day (day after Purmamarca) in San Salvador de Jujuy inside the justice building in the flag room learning about the flag of Argentina, and some other really old flag that General Belgrano (important in the Argentine war of Independence) made and gave to the province (I think? It was in Spanish and I wasn't listening that closely).

I do remember that the face of the sun is Incan-inspired; the straight lines of the sun rays represent European influence and the wavy lines are indigenous influence (if you are Argentine and reading this, correct me if I'm wrong).

View from the Plaza of San Salvador de Jujuy- looking at justice building.




Some nice scenery (on the way to Jujuy)- our tour guide Juan and Marie (Marie and her husband traveled with us the second day).

Along the highways they have tolls and different check-points; sometimes you get pulled-over and sometimes you don't. This time we did; I'm pretty sure Juan is passing 10 pesos to the guy under his license (to avoid some kind of ticket). I had to do the touristy thing and snap a photo.



This is Humahuaca. It was a very important stopping point when travelers went from Buenos Aires to the Spanish Viceroy in Peru. The tour guide explained that there were other routes they could have taken but this was the easiest because it wasn't as high in altitude as the other route (the animals carting everyone around could find stuff to eat). There was a third route they could have taken (can't remember where) but it was more jungle and was dangerous because of pumas and venomous bugs and mosquito's and so on.


This is a monument to Argentina's independence.



View of the city:


Pucará de Tilcara (fortress of Tilcara)

We stopped along the Quebrada de Humahuaca (gorge of Humahuaca) at the Pucará de Tilcara (I think Pucará is a Quechua word signifying fortress).


These buildings/ruins were re-built in the 1950's (I think with the materials from the original ruins that date back to the 15th century). Before the Spanish brought adobe bricks to South America, they used stone- like with these buildings. The roofs were made out of mud and madera de cardón (wood from them big cactuses you see in the background).



Along with homes, there were corrals (for llamas) and agricultural fields and so forth.




I wish I had written this a week ago when I remembered more.

EL ROBO

As I was walking back from the travel agency in Alta Córdoba (our barrio) and texting the agent a message to confirm that Amanda would leave the money (for the trip to Salta and Jujuy) with her sister (who is our Spanish teacher) some SOB, B@$#@&d came up behind me and stole my phone.  Can you tell I'm still bitter, not quite over it yet? 

He drove up behind me on the sidewalk, plucked it out of my hand and drove off. I know I should have been paying attention and not texting while walking but still, I'm pissed. It seems the exact same thing has happened to everyone I talk to.  People snatch their phones while they are talking or messaging. The phone was old (I bought it in Malaysia 5 years ago) but it was MINE and I knew how it worked. 

Don't laugh-  I filed a police report. (and took a photo of it so I could post it on the blog... yes I'm lame)

  

I was more interested in seeing how the process worked than in getting actual justice- I didn't actually think anything would come of it.  There was a police station literally TWO blocks from where the guy stole my phone.  I told the cops what happened in my broken, gringo *gringa cause I'm a girl* Spanish and they let me drive around with them in the back of their truck (in case the guy was still in the area).

More than anything they were probably trying to calm the freaked out foreigner- they knew and I knew, that the guy and phone were long gone.  I'll be more careful from now on.

In the words of my Grandpa Martin,

"Shit happens"

Salta y Jujuy Day 2

We got up bright and early for a long day. We stopped to see some viaduct bridge that some engineer built (he was born in America and moved to Argentina, I don't remember his name...now if he were a biologist I might be able to recall it). The guide told us that a lot of people died during the construction of the railway (extensive railway that includes this bridge) and are buried along the way.


It was COLD... especially because it was morning. Argentina is going into its fall season and the altitude was really high- I should have thought to take a jacket or something but everything about the whole trip was last minute. In fact, I went to the travel agent and arranged everything the day we left.

Now to the fun parts of the trip:

The scenery was gorgeous:

We stopped to see pre-Incan ruins near Santa Rosa de Tastil. The people of Tastil lived here in the 1400s and up and disappeared one day- no one really knows why (similar to the story of the Anasazi in the U.S.).

Can I just say I LOVE this kind of stuff? I could have spent hours here walking around and exploring.  If biology wasn't so cool I'd be an archaeologist (do I sound like a dork or what?).

You can see the ruins of the buildings and houses that were once here; I think it housed over 2000 people.

There were all kinds of pottery sherds laying around! It was also fun to look for flakes.  Maybe my archaeologist friend Brian could leave a comment and explain why it's pottery "sherds" and not "shards"??  - If he's reading this.

So fun in fact, I couldn't take the time to look up and smile.

We stopped in the town of San Antonio de los Cobres for lunch.  There were women outside selling things... I bought a nice shawl or ruana hand made out of llama wool.

As we drove to the next site we saw the llamas.

The little ribbons and bows tied on signify which llama belongs to which owner.

We tried some llama while up north... It was actually pretty good.

We next headed for Las Salinas- the salt flats.  

The little pueblitos along the way were more interesting to see than the salt flats themselves- we have salt flats in Utah.

Here is a chapel and some other buildings of a tiny little pueblo we stopped at just before the salt flats.

There were some cute kids...

This little boy was smiling the whole time... really sweet.

My favorite part of the whole weekend was seeing little pueblos like this one.  It was nice to get out of the big cities and see what rural parts of Argentina are like.

So we got to the salt flats...

 

and there were groups of men selling rock etchings of different scenes of the region- I bought a cool etching of vicuñas

Vicuñas are part of the camelid family including camels, llamas, alpacas, and guanacos.

We saw some vicuñas on our way to the salt flats... they are very similar to guanacos but guanacos have black faces.

The guide was telling us that the parents and grandparents of these people worked around the salt flats (the salt is mined and the "dirty salt" is used commercially to cure leather) went blind from the intense glare and reflection of the sun.  He also said that in the future these men would probably go blind from being out there all day everyday... it was sobering to think about.

Amanda was really starting to piss me off...

So I decided to smoosh her and bite her in half.

On the way to Purmamarca- the town where we spent the night, we went through the mountains. The highest elevation was 4170 meters, or 13,681 feet.  The elevation in Salt lake city is about 4,330 feet- about three times less than where we were at.  The air was thin- we were passing out and falling asleep in the car.  When we'd walk up a few stairs or a tiny hill we'd be huffing and puffing.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous!

We stayed the night in Purmamarca.  

There were all kinds of fun things to buy in the city's plaza.  There is a phrase from one of the greatest Metallica songs ever written:

"Anywhere I roam,

where I lay my head is home"

Well, 

Anywhere I roam,

I shop.

It was chilly- I needed an alpaca sweater and a sheep's wool, hand-woven blanket.

Purmamarca is famous for its beautiful landscapes and for the famous Cerro de los Siete Colores, or hill of seven colors.

It was a busy day but we stayed up late and went to a bar/restaurant to listen to some folk music.  The music of northern Argentina is very similar to that of Bolivia- they use a lot of the same instruments and rhythms.

We woke up slightly less early the next day and prepared for another day of adventurous sight-seeing...