Shrines

No, it’s not rubbish. It’s a shrine for the trucks and other serious road users.

Roadside shrines are a big thing in Argentina. They can be seen on almost every road, and we previously wrote a post about Gauchito Gill, an infamous Argentinian cowboy. Back then we never imagined how many of these shrines we would actually see. People here really go in for this, and there are different types of shrines for different groups. The truckers have a habit to leave a bottle of liquid at a shrine, usually water.

Some of these were all over the place, and could pass for a plastic bottle full of water recycling center, with not much centre or recycling going on. But some are very well cared for. These shrines mean a lot to people here.

This truckers shrine was spic and span

Most of the shrines we have seen have been by the roadside, but that is probably because we are mainly on the road. We’ve seen a few in villages, but most are out on the open road. We’ve even seen a few on cliff edges, mountain tops and in peoples gardens. We’re not sure why these locations are picked, but similar to the some of the small roadside crosses we see in Ireland, it’s probably the scene of a tragedy.

These shrines can be anywhere, including on mountains.

A whole van became this shrine, there for ever unlike the 4×4 whizzing by.

We even spotted some in trees!

This inside a larger one. Note they can be built in concrete, with plaques set into the walls.

This little tree mounted shrine had a few characters in it.

There must be a booming trade in models of Gill!

Many shrines have locked steel boxes in the middle with toys, car parts, shoes, hats…..