Argentina (Purmamaca, Tilcara, Humahuaco, La Quiaca)

So my feeble attempt at posting on Wednesday and Satuday lasted all but one week. I will try to keep my posts more current but hellooooooooo...I am in Bolivia now. Remember 10 years ago, circa 1994, when you went away to get a sandwich and the webpage you were trying to surf was still downloading when you came back? Ok, well, that´s what I am dealing with now. Here is the update...I am giving you Argentina first and then Bolivia to keep you all content...

Left Salta early Tuesday morning for our 2 day excursion to the Salares of Argentina. What are Saleres you ask? They are basically salt plains that were left over from dried up lakes and rivers...thousands of years ago...or maybe hundreds. Hmm. We also wanted to see the northern villages of Argentina (Purmamarca, Tilcara, and Humahuaca). Two Israelis, a German, a Swiss and a Canadian. The beginning of a bad joke??? Rented a Toyota 4x4 to get us through the rough road terrain. Most travelers rented a VW Gol (think Festiva) - a piece of crap that would definitely not survive the trip to the Salares - most took the easy paved (and longer) route to the Salt Plains.

Drove through the mountains, hugging the cliffsides. Very cool. Picked up an indigenous lady. Dropped her off and had lunch at her restaurant - in the middle of nowhere. Picked up two more indigenous hitchhikers that sold us hats and scarves. The German kept on picking them up. Feck, it was like we were providing a red carpet service for the hitchhikers of northwest Argentina. I really don`t know how these people manage. They end up hundreds of kilometers from their home and hope to hitch back. We found homes all along the countryside..by themselves with nothing around.

Anyway, arrived in San Antonio de Los Cobres, dropped off the hitchhikers and refueled. Felt like a Night of the Living Dead movie. People slowly creeped out of their houses and approachd the truck, like Zombies - asking for money and trying to sell us rocks. Just ordinary rocks that you or I may find on the street. Riiiight. We took off and wasted about an hour to look at one of the highest bridges in the world (4200 metres aboves sea level). The one that the Train de Los Nubes goes through. Yippie. Continued on to the Salares.

Reached the plains just before dusk. Amazing. Seemed like we were on another planet. Tried driving on the Salt Plains. Bad idea. Got stuck. Nobody around. Desolate. All you could see for miles was white salt and mountains about 200km away. Dug holes, put rocks under the tires, pushed and pushed. No budge. Oh oh. Not good. Was this the going to be the sequel to Alive? In the distance saw some black dots. Could it be a fellow earthling? Andre and I started running...and running...and running. Ran about 10k to the black dots. The black dots turned out to be workers, that were extracting raw salt (like blocks of ice) from the plains to be shipped and processed at local refineries (and later shipped throughout Argentina for commercial consumption). Carlos, with his Tonka looking dump truck, pulled us out in seconds. He followed the proper route, to get to our truck, using a buoy kind of system (similar to ship navigation). Sweet. Flipped Carlos 60 pesos or $20 for his help. This was probably what he made in a week. It`s brutal. He was so happy. I felt good.

Arrived in Purmamarca at dusk. Tired. Got into an argument with the Swiss guy over a few pesos. Daft. Needed sleep. Checked out the village the next day. Cool little village. Filled with dogs in heat, running around after each other...they made me witness things I did not want to see...made me nauseous. Continued on to Tilcara and then on to Humahuaca. Same deal here. Little villages with local economies supported by touristy markets...i.e., tourist traps. Said our good-byes to the Swiss, the German, the Swedes, and the Israeli who were going back to Salta. Oad (Israeli #2) and I stayed in Humahuaca to go onto Bolivia. I would live in Humahuaca. Tiny village with character (cobblestone streets, hanging street lanterns, tranquil, friendly people). This place is all about the simple life.

Ran around the back routes of the village. Srambled up a mountainside to take photos overlooking the village. Ran into a herd of goats. Cool. Came back down. Hungry. Walked into Freddy´s Restaurant. Turned out to be Freddy´s living room. Freddy and his buddies were watching the Boca/ Newell´s soccer match. Talked to Freddy´s buddies while Freddy fired up the grill and put on a couple of empanadas. Glass of wine and empanadas...$2. Long day but very relaxing. Came back to my rotten egg and ham smelling dorm. Must have beent the Germans. Wish I had orange Lysol on me.

Next day Oad and I took off for the border. Yes, for all those wishing to comment I will save you the trouble...I ran for the border. Took some bus (that looked nothing like its advertised photo) with no working washroom to the Argentinian/ Bolivian border (La Quiaca). We stopped at some small town where I jumped off the bus to take a much needed pee break. Bus starts leaving. I am still peeing and I have a lady yelling at me, ¨40 centavos, 40 centavos¨! Flip her a 50 centavo and I start running after the bus. Bus stops at an intersection. I jump on. Freakin buses. We arrive in La Quiaca 3 hours later. Time to go to Bolivia.