Sucre, Bolivia

Sarah studying our Bolivian guide book we found in a book exchange

Sarah studying our Bolivian guide book we found in a book exchange


Sucre, Bolivia. What a beautiful city , set in a valley surrounded by low mountains, boasts numerous churches , museums, funky restaurants and old houses. All buildings in the center of the city are either whitewashed or painted white. It is also a city of scholars and when we arrived it had two more, as we decided to brush up on our Spanish , so we did four afternoons from 2.30 – 6.30 pm, we surprised ourselves on how much we already knew, but still a long way to go! I guess it is much easier when you have your teacher beside you prompting and helping you along, rather than when you are out on your own trying to negotiate stuff!.
The city is small and compact and very easy to find you way around. The climate here is lovely and being a city of learning it has a youthful atmosphere so it was right up my alley ! The Plaza is very tranquil and is a great place to sit and people watch and have your orange juice squeezed right in front of you!!!! One of the days when we were sitting here before we went to our Spanish Class , three Bolivian boys, all age ten, came and sat beside us, so we rocked up a conversation with them both in Spanish and English, and we asked them to check our homework for us, which they did and we passed with flying colours. Mind you we were very impressed on how good they were at reading English, much better than we were at reading Spanish.
Sarah studying her Spanish homework in Sucre

Sarah studying her Spanish homework in Sucre

Fresh orange juice vendor in Sucre, Bolivia

Fresh orange juice vendor in Sucre, Bolivia

We visited Museo de la Recoleta, which has served as a convent,a museum, a barracks and a prison,and is surrounded by a courtyard brimming with loads of colour plus from here you have the most magnificent view over the whole city. The Cathedral and its bell tower is a landmark of Sucre, which apparently came from London, and at night time it looked particularly nice.

a couple overlook Sucre in Bolivia

a couple overlook Sucre in Bolivia

Sucre rooftops

Sucre rooftops

The food market ‘Mercado Central’ is wonderful here, you can buy the most fantastic fruit and vegetables, in fact you could find anything you want
here from a needle to a haystack, and all at very cheap prices. The atmosphere is great as the vendors (mostly women) are never happy no matter how much you buy from them, so as you can imagine there is great banter. The fruit salads and juices are not to be missed, plus you can eat here as well as buy. We got great tomatoes here, so Merv was in his element making pasta sauce!

Fresh tomato pasta

Fresh tomato pasta

Dinner time in the Mog

Dinner time in the Mog


Here too we went to the Immigration Office to extend our visa,( fellow over landers this is now on Calle Bustillos 284, between Colon y La Paz), an easy enough process. We found a photocopying shop close to the Immigration Office, got our Passports photocopied to give to the Immigration Officer , and he then added more days to our visa, job done, no hassle.
Photocopy shop in Sucre

Photocopy shop in Sucre

Immigration office  in Sucre

Immigration office in Sucre


In the evening time the city was alive with people young and old, the smell of cooking, the sound of music, people laughing and chatting together on street corners, the colours of the local Bolivian people’s clothes, oh what a buzz everywhere, the hussle and bustle was fantastic. We came to Sucre thinking we would spend 2/3 days, but ended up staying 6 days, I thing that says it all, a definite city to return to some day.
Handing in the Laundry in a shop. It gets weighed along with the vegetables

Handing in the Laundry in a shop. It gets weighed along with the vegetables

Guess who helps you at the Zebra crossing....

Guess who helps you at the Zebra crossing….

Bling. Bolivian Style

Bling. Bolivian Style

Funky menus in Sucre

Funky menus in Sucre

8.5 bolivianos to the Euro.......

8.5 bolivianos to the Euro…….

Funky restaurant

Funky restaurant

Street vendor in Sucre, Bolivia

Street vendor in Sucre, Bolivia

Small streets in Sucre

Small streets in Sucre

Sucre Plaza

Sucre Plaza

Sucra Plaza

Sucra Plaza

Sucra Church

Sucra Church

Now we were leaving the warmth of Sucre , heading to Salar de Uyuni where the temperatures were going to be at least -15 at night, driving through some great scenery along the way. We saw the signs that the weather was changing, frost and ice by the road-side but yet great sunshine during the days. Before we got to the Salar , we visited the semi-ghost town of Pulacayo, which is tucked under coloured rocks of blue, yellow, red and green. In its heyday this town which mined mainly silver employed 20,000 miners, but now the mine is closed, and less than 800 people live there. It had a very desolate and empty feel to it, loads of houses not occupied , shops locked up, basket-ball court with nobody using it, no atmosphere as you walked through it, sad really, to go from what ‘was’ to what ‘is’. You can explore the mine tunnels here, provided you can find a guide to take you! This little town is also home to several decaying steam locomotives that were originally imported to transport ore, and it also includes Bolivia’s first steam engine which dates back to 1890, pretty old. Here too we saw the ore train that was robbed by the legendary bandits Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, plus the wooden rail-car with the bullet holes.

No, We did not cross this bridge

No, We did not cross this bridge

we do not often see clouds, but when we do....

we do not often see clouds, but when we do….

Ice by the road.

Ice by the road.

Sarah checking out some rocks

Sarah checking out some rocks

Look close - Sarah is in there.

Look close – Sarah is in there.

Llama's in the wild

Llama’s in the wild

Llama's own the road. Did you not know?

Llama’s own the road. Did you not know?

Big change in the weather. And quickly!

Big change in the weather. And quickly!

Train Museum at PulacayoTrain Museum at PulacayoTrain Museum at Pulacayo

Train Museum at Pulacayo

Train Museum at Pulacayo

Sarah at the Train Museum at Pulacayo

Train Museum at Pulacayo

First train ever in Bolivia

Pulacayo Basketball plaque

Pulacayo Basketball plaque

Pulacayo plaza

Pulacayo plaza

Sarah thinking of taking a flight

Sarah thinking of taking a flight

Train Museum at Pulacayo

Train Museum at Pulacayo

Now its time for the padded trousers, merino wool layers, hats, gloves in fact all our warm clothes as we head into the long-awaited Salar de Uyuni, here’s hoping we won’t be disappointed.

Categories: Bolivia | 2 Comments

Bolivia – for Starters!

Leaving Argentina might have been sad for us, but on the other hand it was exciting as we were entering a whole new wonderful country called Bolivia which is probably the highest and most isolated of the Latin American countries.

This long and windy road took us to Tarija, Bolivia

This long and windy road took us to Tarija, Bolivia

The paper work at the  border crossing was relatively easy, we got 30 days on our visa, but the truck got 60 days !!  Funny! Never mind we said, as we knew  we could extend it by an additional 30 days by visiting Immigration in some of the bigger towns throughout Bolivia, for example Sucre and La Paz.  We had no food checks either by the Aduana, so fruit, veg and more importantly our  Filet was safe! Happy Days!

Tarija was our first stop, but in order to get there we had to drive through a wonderful high pass with breathtaking scenery around and below us along 179kms of Rippio,not so nice.   This was considered a main road according to the map, but we did begin to wonder as we met very few vehicles!

Bolivian Hitch Hiker

Bolivian Hitch Hiker

However we were slowed to a ‘halt’ by a local Bolivian lady thumbing a lift.  We had no idea where she had come from , as we could or had not seen a house for miles.  This lady was so tiny and delicate, years of hard work and living showed on her face and hands,and  with so many layers of  underskirts,  it was nearly impossible for her to climb up into the truck.  Mission accomplished and we were on our way.  This lady hardly spoke to us at all over the course of the 3 hours that we carried her for, and I wondered what was going through her mind.  She kept looking straight ahead, and even when I leaned over her to close the window, she never even blinked, we did think her eye-sight may not have been the best, maybe she thought we were a local bus!!!! Her life possessions were with her – a small little shopping bag with  which she hung onto for dear life,(she must have guessed she was travelling with a HANDBAG lover, lol) a large bag of sticks, yes she was carrying a large bag of sticks, and 2 large warm blankets.  We came to the conclusion that if she had not got a lift, she probably would have slept rough that night somewhere in the mountains,  hence the sticks and the blankets for warmth.   As we entered a small little village we heard a soft voice speak and say ‘aqui por favour’ (here please), so we stopped and while I held her belongings, Merv tried to help her as she lowered herself from the truck.  It was sad looking at her as she continued on her way , so frail and old, only she knew where she was going and hopefully were ever that was , she arrived safely.  We did say to ourselves afterwards , I wonder what she was thinking as she was travelling with us, hopefully they were good thoughts!

Old stone walls mark farms from hundreds of years ago

Old stone walls mark farms from hundreds of years ago

We arrived into Tarija to the mayhem of the mid-morning traffic, so many people everywhere, compared to tranquil Argentina this was all a bit of a shock.  We stopped at a little plaza to get our bearings, as we were really looking for somewhere to park and to get wi-fi, when a man called Danielle  knocked on our window and asked us were we looking for somewhere to park?.  We hesitantly said we were looking for ‘wi-fi’ and then  he told us that we could park and have wi-fi at his brothers hotel Los Ceibos 100 meters up the road.  Happy days we said, wondering would the truck fit,not a problem he said there is loads of space there and so we took him up on the offer and met his brother Christian.  What an introduction to Bolivia!!!  As the truck was parked in a 4 star hotel, safe and sound, we explored the city of Tarija and its wineries, and let me say the Bolivian wineries did not disappoint.  A case of wine was purchased , plus a bottle of Casa Real, a distilled wine !

Street vendor

We bought our Tomatoes from this lady. Real characters!

Bolivian Truck Driver

Bolivian Truck Driver

 

We had a wonderful evening at the Bolivian National Observatorio Astronomico. They have an old telescope that was donated by Russia and it is housed in the building pictured below.  The night we visited them was clear, so we had a great view of the sky, and could easily see Saturn. They gave us a talk in Spanish, and while some of it was lost on us, it was great to see it. It is free, and we think they take a large number of school groups. Well worth the visit.

Observatorio Astronomico Nacional Tarija Bolivia

Observatorio Astronomico Nacional Tarija Bolivia

Observatorio Astronomico Nacional Tarija Bolivia

Observatorio Astronomico Nacional Tarija Bolivia

bolivia silver tin mining

Wellies required for our Mine visit

Wellies required for our Mine visit

Now it was time to get down and dirty and to do some mining in Potsoi. Here we took a guided tour which began
with a visit to the miners market. Here the miners stock up with dynamite, cigarettes, coca leaves, and as a tourist you can also buy these items and leave them for gifts for the miners as their earnings are very little. LUCKY FOR US WE WERE ABLE TO USE THE DYNAMITE THAT WE BOUGHT. Before entering the cooperative mine on Cerro Rico we were kitted out with boots, protective clothing, lamp and hard hat. In this mine, all the work is done with primitive tools and Dynamite, with underground temperatures varying greatly from freezing near the entrance to over 30 degrees deep in the mine.

The altitude here is over 4200 m.  In some places the ceilings were very low and steep with some muddy passageways, and you could smell the chemicals and gases, plus there was a huge  amount of dust everywhere, naturally.  The cooperative mines are owned by the miners themselves so they do all the work usually helped by their young sons, some as young as 10 and 12 years old, plus buying all their own tools and equipment.  They prepare for their work by chewing coca leaves , and this is the only food they have during their 15 hour day while down in the mine, a far cry from a ham and cheese sandwich, or steak and chips!

Sitting with the Devil

Sitting with the Devil

Miners believe that there is a god in heaven, they also believe that there is a devil below the ground in such a place that is so hot and uncomfortable .  Since ‘hell’ (traditional name of the place, The Job from Hell) must not be far from where they work they believe that the devil owns the minerals that they are digging out and in order to appease this character they have set up a little figurine in his honor and they bring gifts to him to invoke his protection of them while in the mine.  They usually pour some alcohol on him, put a lit cigarette in his mouth and then some cocoa leaves within easy reach of him.  This is all taken very seriously by the miners, plus it helps them relax while working and living in a very tough existence.

The Devil in the Mine from hell

The Devil in the Mine from hell

 

The working conditions here are dreadful, seeing is believing.

 

bolivia silver tin mining

The gate into the Mine

bolivia silver tin mining

Sarah in a good part of the Silver Mine

Icicles hang from mine tunnel roof near entrance

Icicles hang from mine tunnel roof near entrance

Near the entrance, the air is so cold the ice never melts, however once you get a few hundred meters underground, it gets quite warm, closer to 30 degrees.

Dark Mine in Potosi Bolivia

It is dark in the Mine, the only light is from the headlamps

Ladders in Bolivian silver mine

We had to use ladders go between levels in the mine.

Rock with Tin Ore in Bolivia Mine

Rock with Tin Ore in Bolivia Mine

Sarah squeezing the dynamite stick into a ball

Sarah squeezing the dynamite stick into a ball

Sarah and our guide putting the finishing touches to the charge

Sarah and our guide putting the finishing touches to the charge

 

 

Fuse is lit

Fuse is lit

Merv wondering how fast the fuse burns….

 

We were a full two hours underground in the mine, and at certain times I must say I felt a little faint with the excessive heat , and then all of a sudden it would get really cold,  plus the high altitude takes a while to get used to.  All told this was a memorable experience and really worth doing, provided you don’t suffer from claustrophobic, or mind getting dirty!!

Flags and bunting left over in the mine from a festival

Flags and bunting left over in the mine from a festival

Miners huts in Potosi, Bolivia

These huts are home to the miners during the week

Sarah in her Miners protective clothing about to go down the mine in Potosi, Bolivia

Sarah in her Miners protective clothing having been down the mine in Potosi, Bolivia

 

Categories: Bolivia | Tags: , | 7 Comments

Don’t cry for me Argentina

Oh come on, you knew it was coming! We almost shed a tear leaving as we have fallen in love with Argentina and it’s people. I am just hoping it misses us as much as we miss it!  We left Salta, in the North of Argentina, intending to go across into Chile by Pass Sico to see the Atacama and then on to Bolivia. However our plans got changed by the weather as it decided to dump over a metre of snow on the pass, and closed it. We found this out when we got to the town of San Antonio de Los Cobres.  This was not great news but we had a backup plan to use Pass De Jama but it turns out this was also closed due to snow.  After some deliberation, we decided to cut our losses and instead of waiting for an unknown number of days for the passes to open, go directly north to Bolivia. This turned out to be a great idea as we saw some beautiful scenery and towns along the way.

The drive from Salta to San Antonio de Los Cobres is great. it’s mainly gravel road, but in pretty good condition, also some of it is tarmac.  We could see snow on the tops of the mountains,and  as we were up pretty high it was very cold at night, below freezing for sure.  The road follows very roughly the same route as the famous train journey that you can do on Saturdays called “Tren de las Nubes” – Train of the clouds. If you are ever in Salta without a car, it is worth making this trip. The highlight for us was to see the famous viaduct that the train crosses – Famous for being so high. “La Polvorilla” is at 4220 metres above sea level. As we had been at high altitudes a couple of nights now, we had got into the habit of parking the truck in an easterly direction so the sun hits the engine in the morning, hence easier to start.  It’s a bit like Sarah, doesn’t like the cold.!!
Stunning road in Argentina

Stunning road in Argentina

 

Viaduct from The train in the couds

Viaduct from The train in the couds

On our way back from seeing the Viaduct, we bumped into our Swiss friends, Simon and Angelina again! They were on route to see the viaduct, so we arranged to meet later in the day at the only wifi come coffee shop in San Antonio de Los Cobres (it’s at the tourist information centre). We discussed with them about the pass being closed, and they told us that the passes further south were also closed, they had intended going into Chile at the Paso  de San Francisco but it was also closed due to snow. In fact they had to use snow chains on their truck for a few hundred metres to get through a fresh snowfall as no vehicle had gone through before them.   They decided to visit Salta for a few days and we decided to go North to Bolivia.
From San Antonio de Los Cobres, we took Route 40 heading towards Abra Pampa, but we turned right once we hit route 52 so that we could go through  “Quebrada de Humahuaca”, which is a stunning geological marvel. Our first stop was the town of Purmamarca which  is really set up for tourists, very quaint little places  to eat and stay.This little place is nestled under the Cerro de los Sieto Colores – The Hill of the Seven Colours.  The contrasting shades of the rocks strata range from grungy  orange to psychedelic purple and are really at their best at sunset and we did the  3km hike you can do to see them. I guess sunrise would be also good to see these colours, no doubt  different rock faces lit with the morning sun. You could have done much  longer walks here and it would have been a great place to base yourself for a couple of days.
Purnamarca

Purnamarca

Tourists standing on a rock in Purnamarca

Tourists standing on a rock in Purnamarca

Purnamarca shops

Purnamarca shops

Purnamarca square

Purnamarca square

Tilcara town has a well restored pre-columbian fortification called “Pucara de Tilcara”. This fort was here for 5 centuries before the Inca’s showed up. It is an open air museum, whereby you pay an entry fee to go into the well maintained and preserved spectacle. IT contains a botanical garden that shows native cacti, and some grasses. We parked just by the bridge on the way into town as the streets were a bit tight to try bring the Unimog around without collecting a few stalls, bushes and people on the front bumper. We walked the kilometer or so to the fort, and ended up walking with an Australian guy who was on a 5 week trip around Argentina. We had a short but interesting chat about current affairs, and it’s interesting that Australia is still looking for Irish folks to come over and work. Some things never change! We said our goodbyes to Ed, and went to the doors of the Complex. There was a lady selling bread freshly made on her charcoal bbq, and the bread was filled (lightly) with ham and cheese. We bought 2, and quickly went back for another one! Yum! This was a great appetizer to keep us going for the few KM walk through the complex, and afterwards we did justice to some Llama burgers for lunch.  This is maybe a nicer town to stay in than Purmamarca as it seems to have more places to stay, and it is slightly less of a tourist town.

 

Old bridge Tilcara Argentina

Old bridge still in use in Tilcara

Cactus invasion in Tilcara (Just for Lorraine)

Cactus invasion in Tilcara (Just for Lorraine)

Tilcara

Tilcara

Tilcara Monument

Tilcara Monument

Top of Tilcara monument

Top of Tilcara monument

Cactus in Ticara

Cactus in Ticara

After Tilcara, we headed north on Route 9, and got to the border town of La Quiaca, where half the town is Argentinian, and half is Bolivian. The Bolivian half is called Villazon. We decided to stay our last night in Argentina in a little town called Yavi just 10km or so to the east. This is a nice little sleepy town, probably not worth the visit except for the Church (which has windows made of very thin onyx – they spread a warm yellow light to the interior. The highlight for us was the drive you can to do “Yavi Chico” which in the evening light is a stunning little valley where many folks live from keeping goats and sheep. Our guide book had said that Yavi had “given modernity the slip” – They were being generous!
Yavi church, Argentina

Yavi church

Yavi church, Argentina

Inside Yavi church, Argentina

Yavi chico, Argentina

Yavi chico, Argentina

Making bricks in Yavi chico, Argentina

Making bricks in Yavi chico, Argentina

late afternoon light in Yavi chico, Argentina

late afternoon light in Yavi chico, Argentina

Yavi, Argentina

Yavi, Argentina

Our last morning in Argentina was spent visiting 3 butcher shops to gather up all the beef Fillet we could before heading into Bolivia. The freezer is back on, and looking after our stock of Argentinian beef, hopefully enough to last us a couple of weeks while in the remote parts of Bolivia.
On Monday 24th of June we left Argentina for possibly the last time. We really enjoyed our time in Argentina, and the fact that we have been exploring Argentina (and most of Chile – The Atacama is still to come) for so long goes to show how interesting and welcoming it is.  Bolivia – you have a lot to live up to, Bring it on!!!
Categories: Argentina | 2 Comments

Salta Gaucho Festival

Well we are back on the road again, having said our good-byes to Martyn and Kate in Santiago ,but before we left Martyn very kindly helped us sort some new batteries for the truck. We headed to the Chilean/Argentina border but arrived just five minutes too late in the evening, as the border post had just closed, (9am – 9pm)but guess what, we were the first in the queue the next morning, yes we slept overnight at the customs, if you can’t beat them join them! We had used this border crossing (Cristo Redentor) only about 7 or 8 weeks earlier and wow what a change , snow all around and really cold, but still beautiful.

unimog snow mountains

It was cold outside the customs office between Chile and Argentina

We were heading towards Salta, which was approximately 1000 kms, passing and stopping at many beautiful places along the way. We had loads of fruit and veg checks,some allowing us to eat the last of our fruit before crossing, plus passports, but at one particular check we met 4 friendly police who also had a Unimog, so happy days. A little newer than ours I might add !

Argentinian police unimog with unimog camper

Police Unimog looks very new beside the moglander

In relation to the Fruit and Veg checks it is not permitted to transport fruit or vegetables across provincial borders in Argentina. Also along this route we had a few minor repair jobs to be done like fixing our hot water in the shower, changed our air and diesel filters , changed the engine oil, and also we noticed a voltage difference between the front of the truck and the back, which happened when we got our new batteries put in, so each day we had our tools out, the joys of travelling, you see its not all sunshine!

One evening, while looking for a place to park up for the night we spotted another overland truck parked up a hundred metres off the road by a cliff. We thought we would just pop over to say hello, and ended up staying beside them for the night and sharing stories over coffee late into the night. Simon and Angelika have a really nice unique truck, a Bucher which is a Swiss 4×4 truck, with portal axles but a very unique suspension system, including inboard disk brakes. They are on their way to Alaska, but we hope to bump into them again on our way through Bolivia.

Thirdgear truck

Thirdgear truck

Thirdgear truck looks nice in front of the Moglander

Thirdgear truck looks nice in front of the Moglander

For those of you that saw the video of the high Argentina pass, well despite it being so narrow in places and a little dangerous, it really was quite spectacular. We parked over night along this pass, and the views from both sides of the truck were stunning. Not so sure that either one of us want to do one like it in the near future , but I guess you never say never. I know for sure that I shut my eyes at one point, even though I was using the video camera, thinking if I don’t look , all will be okay, I think Merv did the same. We met nobody else along that pass, wonder why, but despite everything the scenery was worth it, and even though it was very rough not a cup, plate or pot was broken. I never thought I would hear Merv saying, “gosh I wouldn’t mind a bit of tarmac”!

We visited Museo Pachamama. We found this to be a unique museum because it was well-funded and had fantastic exhibits, whereas some places we have visited have been small and tired looking. It had two geology / anthropology rooms , and there was another room where tapestries, paintings and sculptures were displayed, both of which were very interesting and well done. What really made the museum was the grounds and buildings which feature huge statues made of different colour stone and representing divinities worshiping Pachamama, accompanied by cacti.

Nice sculptures at Pachamama Museum

Nice sculptures at the Pachamama Museum

Cool buildings in the Pachamama Museum

Cool buildings in the Pachamama Museum

Pachamama Museum

Sarah holding a moglander committee meeting.

Pachamama Museum Argentina

Pachamama Museum

Close to here we also visited one of the most important and best preserved archaeological sites of Argentina,the Quilmes Ruins which are the last vestiges of a city founded by the pre-Incan tribe in the 9th century AD. The population peaked here to about 6,000 in the 17th century and the people had held out for around 150 years against attacks by the better armed Spanish conqueror. The ruins have been excavated and preserved – stone walls, terraces and entire buildings can be seen and you can walk through the entire site.

Quilmines Ruins

Quilmines Ruins

Quilmines Ruins

Sarah checking out Quilmines Ruins

Our next stop was Cafayate, a very pretty town with the tranquil ambience of a village. It has many vineyards so needless to say we had to sample some of the local vino. The most famous here is the aromatic ‘Torrontes White’ and its success has made the wine Argentina’s most popular after Malbec. Cafayate has very low rainfall , but guess what the night we arrived we had a thunder and lightning storm, so when we spoke to a girl in one of the vineyards the next morning she told us that that was most unusual, normally they can boast that they have 350 days of sunshine, not bad ey. The rain was so bad not even Merv attempted going out to get ice-cream, now that’s saying something!

Wine tasting in Cafayete

Wine tasting in Cafayete

Wine tasting in Cafayete

Guy rushing to work on his bike as we went wine tasting. How great is that.

Cafayete winery in Salta, Argentina

Stunning setting for a bodega.

On leaving Cafayate we drove through the most stunning area called Quebrada de Las Conchas, along route 68, stopping oodles of times for views and photographs and even a spot of shopping. The red-rock and the towering walls of the ravines have to be seen to be believed. Wind and storm showers over the years have led to erosion leaving behind great rock formations, some of which have been given nicknames, for example La Garganta del Diablo (the Devils Throat) and a solitary rock is named El Sapo (the Toad) and Los Medanos (the Dunes) three of many which we stopped at. A really stunning drive indeed.

Pretty Desert near Salta, Argentina

Pretty Desert near Salta, Argentina

Little Cactus can ruin your morning wandering barefoot!

Little Cactus can ruin your morning wandering barefoot!

Gaucho in Traffic

Gaucho in Traffic

Gaucho in Traffic

Gaucho in Traffic

Sarah shopping on the way out of the Devils throat

Sarah shopping on the way out of the Devils throat

Salta Gaucho Festival

And so we eventually arrived in Salta ,which lies in a mountainous and strikingly beautiful area of Argentina I must add. After doing the cultural part of the city like visiting Iglesia Catedral, Iglesia San Francisco and Plaza 9 de Julio, we found that we were in time for a big Gaucho Parade through the streets of Salta. The Salta Gaucho Festival is a huge annual event , held each year on the 17th of June and over 2000 gauchos arrive into Salta dressed in their typical attire and spend the night before by campfire , singing and dancing and keeping vigil over Monument Guemes. In short this parade is to celebrate the gauchos under the command of General Guemes , fighting off the spanish and pro-spanish realistas during the Independence wars. As well as the gauchos many more clubs and associations took part in the parade as well as many divisions of the Army and Police. A wonderful experience, I now know what it must be like to be a tourist in Dublin on St. Patrick’s Day!

 

Cathedral in Salta, Argentina

Cathedral in Salta, Argentina

Mobile phones are everywhere

Mobile phones are everywhere

Traditional Music played by a campfire

Traditional Music played by a campfire

Traditional folk dancing by firelight

Traditional folk dancing by firelight

Traditional Argentinian Gaucho folk dancing by firelight

Traditional Argentinian Gaucho folk dancing by firelight

Gaucho Kids

Gaucho Kids

Dinner coming to boil on a gaucho campfire in Salta, Argentina

Dinner coming to boil on a gaucho campfire in Salta, Argentina

Gaucho in Traffic

Gaucho in Traffic

Photographer

This guy made is living from selling prints to the Gauchos. I loved his old Zenith camera.

Keen Argentinian photographer

Keen Argentinian photographer

Well dressed Gaucho

Well dressed Gaucho

Dancing girls pose with their huge desses at the Gaucho festival in Salta, Argentina

Dancing girls pose with their huge desses at the Gaucho festival in Salta, Argentina

Salta Argentina Gaucho festival

Pink skirt looks good on the horse

Gaucho parade in Salta Argentina

Gaucho parade in Salta Argentina

Young Argentinian Gaucho's

Young Argentinian Gaucho’s

mobile grill in Salta

mobile grill in Salta

Street food in Salta

Street food in Salta

a free concert in Salta ended the Gaucho festival.

a free concert in Salta ended the Gaucho festival.

Categories: Argentina | Comments Off on Salta Gaucho Festival

Narrow Argentinian Mountain Pass

Narrow Argentinian Mountain Pass can focus your mind! This road is marked as normal on our maps, but it is the worst we have seen yet. It was a bit exciting at times!

We started from Tinogasta on Route 60 to go about 40km to Route 40. It took us about 25 hours! (We did stop at sunset, and start again at dawn. Stunning stuff, but I’m not sure I would recommend it for a full size truck.

[google-map-v3 width=”450″ height=”450″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”satellite” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” kml=”http://moglander.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/tough-pass-north-argentina.gpx” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]

Categories: Argentina | 7 Comments

House sitting in Chile finished

House sitting in Chile can be fun. But for us, it’s over. We were parked up for just over a month, and we’ve now got ichy feet. This is what we have been doing.

Tennis of course

Sarah made a quick trip to Ireland and France to see family, and to check out some Tennis.  A hectic few days but worth it.

Rafa Nadal Practice court fan photo

Rafa on practice court in Paris

Roland Garros

Roland Garros

Brining out birthday cake onto court in Roland Garros

Brining out birthday cake onto court in Roland Garros

As it happens, It was Sarah’s birthday while she was in Paris at the French Open  tennis. Imagine her delight when she saw a massive birthday cake being brought out onto court! However, it was not actually for her, but for Rafa Nadael, just as good I guess!!!

Rafa celebrating being 27 years old on Phillippe Chartier court in Roland Garros

Rafa celebrating being 27 years old on Phillippe Chartier court in Roland Garros

House sitting duties

While Sarah was having fun in Europe, I was busy exercising Lorraine’s 2 dogs. I’m not quite sure who was exercising who, but we got on just fine.

Alsatian Fluffy enjoying sunshine on his walk while house sitting

Alsatian Fluffy enjoying sunshine on his walk

Street dog Luna out for her walk

Street dog Luna out for her walk

Alsatian Fluffy clifftop

Alsatian Fluffy

Luna and Fluffy are very individual dogs, they pretty much do what they want, and when they want, and can ignore you for hours if they want to. But when it comes to walkies time, they go crazy, and love to get out and about. Luckily they are happy enough for you to play about with a camera while walking. They like their walks in the early mornings, and late evenings to this suited me fine to look for the nice light that these hours bring.

 

 

Luna walking

Luna walking

Luna getting ready to hunt

Luna getting ready to hunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The views

While we were there, it was nice, We had a place to ourselves (and the dogs who were great company). We did a few DIY jobs for Lorraine while there, and got a lot of online work done as she has a great internet connection using the Entel USB stick. I’ve never seen one of those work so fast!

One of the things was to prepare and deliver a presentation on traveling by 4×4 truck in South America to the Hubb UK event in England.

Sunset view from Lorraine's windows

Sunset view from Lorraine’s windows

dog has some interesting poses in her sleep

Luna has some interesting poses in her sleep

We got a few jobs on our Unimog truck done while we were there, a major backup, and a copy of every image we took copied onto 2 hard drives and delivered home, new shelves in our wardrobe, new batteries installed, and a general service and sort out.  There was still time to enjoy the views, all these are from within a kilometer of Lorraine’s house.

 

a coastal view in Chile

a coastal view in Chile

Impressive waves in Chile on the Pacific coast

Impressive waves in Chile on the Pacific coast

Early morning sea mist on the Pacific coast of Chile

Early morning sea mist on the Pacific coast of Chile

Sea Mist over clifftop cabin

Sea Mist over clifftop cabin

Sea mists

Sea mists

Pacific Sunset in Chile

Pacific sunset

Sunlight on dew on bushes

Damp morning

Early morning light on the damp bushes

Early morning light on the damp bushes

Evening light on clifftop in Chile

Evening light on clifftop in Chile

Cobweb with early morning mist

Cobweb with early morning mist

We did get surprised a few times to find fog and mist mixed in with the usual sunshine.

Early morning fog

Early morning fog

And for all those that were so kind on Facebook to tell me all about the rashers they were having, and how much I must be missing them, Thanks to  Martyn and Kate I got a supply of rashers from Santiago. It may have taken a 3 hour bus ride each way to get them, but it was worth it!

Rasher sambos

Rasher sambos

Sausages, eggs and chips in Chile

Nice lunch with Martyn and Kate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on the road

And so, we’re on our way again. We are now traveling North in Argentina, and hope to be in Bolivia within a few weeks. Onwards and upwards!

 

Andes mountains backdrop with Unimog Moglander climbing gravel road

Andes mountains backdrop with Moglander climbing gravel road

Road closed sign

Road closed sign due to it being washed out. Guess where we just came from!

clear bue sky over Andes mountains

Clear blue sky, Winter is not that bad here

Sarah at the wheel of Unimog

Sarah at the wheel

Interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Categories: Chile | Tags: , , , , , | Comments Off on House sitting in Chile finished