Tucuman Update. Argentina GDP is up! Spend a leisure day and a half in Tucuman. They even have a McDonalds for that less than $1 small soft serve cone. We were scheduled to leave on the bus for Mendoza at 9PM, but about 2PM the old grab, snatch and get away on a motorcycle trick ended up with the wrong guys winning. Denyse and I were walking down a street a couple blocks from the main Plaza. I had my hand on my billfold as a couple young kids seems to stand up and follow us closely a few yards back. We let them pass but then they ducked into a store and were behind us again. Suddently someone grabbed by camera and stuck his hand in my pocket grabbing the wallet. I went down but got up and ran after him. Unfortunately he had a co conspirator on a motorcycle and I couldn´t run quite that fast. Couple police happened by and I jumped on the back of their motorcycle. We sped down the street straight but couldn´t find them (obvious...
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After Cafayate to moved for two nights to Tucuman, Argentina. Staying in a real hotel (but hostel price) in this city of 800,000. Busy place just after Christmas with still lots of shopping going on, streets closed off for walking malls and 90 degree temperatures. TV is reporting flooding in another part of Argentina and heat warnings in Buenos Aires due to temperatures over 100 F. After our two night here we will do a 12 hour overnight bus with hopefully flat seats to Mendoza, Argentina. Then it will be on to Santiago, Chile and our meet up with the Dragoman tour company.
Christmas in Salta, Argentina then back in the Bus After a quiet time in Salta we did the 4.5 hour bus ride to Cafeyate, Argentina. This is wine country which claims to be the highest wine valley in the world producing really good wine. Their specialty is Tronnones (a white, fairly sweet wine) and Malbec which already has Argentine wine fame but usually from lower Mendoza region. One reason I wanted to visit Cafeyate is that an author I´ve following for 40 years has declared it his favorite place on earth. But then he is also promoting an ex-pat gated community for those with an extra $500,000 to put together a country club/wine estate get away for like minded freedom loving American and Europeans. Not in my circle of friends but made it interesting. Cafeyate is already a vacation destination for South America with favorable climate, plenty of restaurants and accomodations. In addition to bodega tours and buying one bottle of a Malbec we did a 12 mile...
Three nights and two days in Salta, Argentina AFter that 12 hour bus ride we collapsed at a hostal in Salta, Argentina. Salta is a commercial center of Northern Argentina. Here are some observations. Last week Argentina peso declined in value by 30 percent. Long lines at ATMs...which didn't work well with our cards but dont know if that is due to devaluation or Christmas shopping. Even with devaluation prices are close to that of the US..overpriced in many ways. We paid $30 a night for an ok hostel. Young population with plenty of children. Pushing tourism in a big way. Some restaurants very good.....some not so. Good to carry US dollars in case ATM network doesn't like you. Merchants are more likely to accept debit cards than credit cards. Same handwork at artisan shops as Peru but higher prices. Hot. 90 degrees in late December. Shops really do close during siesta. Retaurants dont fill until after 8PM. Other hos...
Chile to Argentina Monday, Dec 21 took the 12 hour bus ride from San Pedro de Atacama to Salta, Argentina. Although 12 hours in a bus that starts 2 hours late is a little tiring this must be one of the most interesting geological routes in the world. Starts with a slow climb to the Andies Continental Divide thru what is claimed to be the worlds dryist desert and I believe it. Starts with no trees to go to no vegetation at all...just rocks and sand. After going thru joint immigration/customs one of the biggest decents yet with too many switchbacks to count. We saw one pair of motorcycles making this trip and it would be even more fantastic on a bike. Bicycle I don't think so...too high and too far between services ...and too windy...but truly spectacular. Put it on your list.
Exploring San Pedro de Atacama Sunday, Dec 20 we took what promised to be an expensive excursion to see some of the sights around San Pedro de Atacama. Turned out a little better than that. With a bilingual guide and about 8 other tourists we ventured above 4000 meters to salt flats with flamingos, high altitude desert with llamas and vicuna seemingly wild and a couple lakes. Spectacular scenery. We even passed by the entrance to ALMA which is a 47 radio dish telescope that I watched on a PBS special back in the fall. If you ever get to this part of the world, sign up early for the free public tour every Saturday. I missed it as reservations via internet fill fast but it would be a facinating trip. Google PBS ALMA for more information. Several near perfect cones from volcanic activity were also seen along with rocks formed from the volcanic ash. Seems the Andies are the result of both tutonic uplift and volcanic action....
Arica, Chileto to San Pedro de Altacama Today started off with a little more excitement than desired!!!! We took the all night bus from Arica to Calama at 7AM we arrived with a one hour layover before the one hour ride to San Pedro. In getting off the bus and collecting our three checked bags I needed to drop my small (but most important backpack) inorder to put the big one on my back. In the process a guy pointed to red stuff (looked like and was ketchup) that they had squirted on Denyses back. As I checked that it was ketchup Denyse saw a guy walk away quickly and alerted me to my small backpack missing. I ran after him (with large backpack still on) and on seeing my small backpack in his hand started yelling THIEF, STOP, POLICE. I guess he didn{t expect an old white guy could run that fast as he dropped my small backpack and walked away. Once I got in good sight of him he just pointed to my backpack on the ground and I elected to recover it instead of pursu...
Just an idea. While traveling I have noticed an iritating activity called,...taking a selfie with a special stick to hold the camera..... Maybe Im just getting old but I am contemplating inventing what I call...Mirror on a Stick. Heres the advantages....No batteries.....No contract....Just hold the mirror out a couple feet from your face and you can see yourself and perhaps another person. And it comes with complete security. Neither Dick Cheney nor Edward Snowman will ever be able to view the image because in the future it will only reside in your head. And no past boyfriend/girlfriend or future boyfriend/girlfriend will ever be able to see the image either! Just you and your selfie partner of the moment can have it saved in your own unlimited capacity brain. Three monthly payments of $19.95 plus shipping and handling and you can have two Mirrors on a Stick! Just in case one quits working.
Inquiring Minds Want to Know A couple weeks ago an inquiring mind asked two questions...Does Peru have cell phones and or flush toilets? Since you asked.... One of the dangers in Peru is that you will be bumped into by someone walking while texting. Yes, everyone seems to have cell phones. I will add a photo of traditional Peruvian dancers on their cell phones between dances. Most are Samsung and LG but many are smart phones. Only a few Apples. Regarding flush toilets, yes even on that remote island in the middle of Lake Tikicaca there are flush toilets although you may have to dip water from a large pail and add it to the toilet bowl yourself to doing the flushing. Not really that bad. Kinda reminds me of cabin on Boot Lake on occasion. What they dont handle is toilet paper in the toilet bowl so every toilet has a small wastebasket nearby into which you put your soiled toilet paper. Something about inadequate plumbing system. ...
Arica,Chile Arica, Chile is a regional hub for Chile and a substantial port for container ships and apparently cruise lines. (A big cruise ship (Celebrity something) is in port today, which I think is Thursday, Dec 17th. We are doing three nights in Arica to get caught up, relax from traveling a little and get organized. Arica is ready for Christmas with lots of people setting up tables to wrap your Christmas presents right on the street (sidewalk actually), promotions for Star Wars movie yet to come, Disney characters and even a few camera toting drones for sale. After one night in a hotel we moved to a hostel run by a Belgium/Chilean couple with a nice patio overlooking the city. But Chile is a developed country and prices are near that in the US. Here we are paying $46 a night compared to our average of about $15 a night in Peru. It is nicer but not three times nicer!
Puno to Tazca and on to Chile After the two day, one night island adventure we returned to Puno with the expectation of one more night in the hostel then store our stuff at the hostel the next day and take an overnight bus to Tacna. From Tacna, Peru a taxi will take you through customs and into the bus terminal in Arica, Chile. This all went according to plan except while I was updating this blog at an internet cafe (no cafe was served) Denyse took her small backpack to make an international phone call and in bringing it back set it down. In a flash it was gone. So we spend the rest of the afternoon contacting various credit card/ATM suppliers to cancel cards, limit transactions etc as they got her credit cards and drivers license. We hold separate credit cards from separate banks just as a backup (which I recommend). They did not get the really important papers like passport, onward bus tickets, list of internet passwords etc. because we keep t...
Chivay to Puno, Peru To save several hours in a bus we used a tourist bus ...3 times the cost...to go from Chivay and Colca Canyon to Puno, Peru which is on the shore of Lake Tikicaca. Another high altitude ride actually somewhat reminiscent of parts of Arizona or Utah. The next day we booked a two day one night on Lake Tikicaca which claims to be the highest navigable lake in the world at aound 3800 meters. It truly is a big lake with the border betwen Peru and Bolivia running down the middle. The lake is known for its residents on the floating island ....hold on...Denyse just had her backpack stolen.....ok, Ill talk about that later. In addition to floating islands which seemed a little hokey and for tourist interest there are real rock islands which house inhabitants of which their ancestors may have left the mainland for the island to escape the Incas who were really not all that nice a people. About 500 live on this island with few services (like running wate...
The Retro Cocktail Hour As many of you may know I am a fan of the Kansas Public Radio Saturday night show, The Retro Cocktail Hour in which ¨´Exotica´music from the 1950 and 1960s is featured. Typical artists are Les Baxter, Martin Denny and a couple themes from 1950s crime TV shows etc. I learned to like these as a teenager working at WVEM in Springfield, Il. So imagine my surprise when in Chivay, Peru we happened upon a restaurant decorated with the album covers of these artists.
At the entrance to Canyon del Colca is the regional shopping town of Chivay. Seems this town was in the middle of their December Fiesta. Finding a place to stay was easy and watching the locals compete with dress and dancing and loud poorly played band music was a treat. These portals were all four sides of the City Square. The bands and dancing lasted for hours....we gave up before they did. These unplanned local events are always the highlights of our semi planned trips.
After recovering from our ride to Arequipa, we did a bus from Arequipa to Canyon del Colca and the snall town at the end of the road, Cabanaconde. This was a good ride past Llamas, Vicuna and Alpaca apparently grazing wild within a high plateau landscape. Cabanaconde is within Colca Canyon which is said to be one of the three deepest canyons in the world. You have to hike to get to the deep part but it is still plenty impressive with farming still ongoing on the sides of the canyons utilizing terracing centuries old. Here´s a picture of Denyse viewing the Canyon a short walk from our Hostel... Lots of short or multi-day hikes are possible and I would like to return to do that someday. Following morning we took the loaded local bus to the Condor Lookout but Condors were not very cooperative in showing themselves. Interesting part of the ride was the 120 or so riders crammed into a 40 passenger bus. Many of the other passengers were the vendors who set u...
Ica and on to Ariquipa Plans sometimes go all to heck. The idea was short ride..4 hours...to Ica then 10 hours to Arequipa overnight. The Paracas to Ica went well but when getting on the bus in Arequipa about 40 minutes late the bus managed to go about 1 KM before stopping. Next bus to take us on will be in about 3 hours. So after getting downgraded on seats to accomodate the replacement bus and a very rough road we got off the bus as Noon the next day after multiple assaults of sickness from both ends from both of us. Luggage showed up an hour later on the original bus. That resulted in a day of rest at a 50 sole ...$18 a night..hostel then back to feeling ok except Denyse now with upset tummy and not ready to travel by bus for awhile. Travel between Ica and Ariquipa is mostly along the coast but coast is mostly sand dunes with occasional green valleys for small towns. Ariquipa is city of several hundred thousand. Here is a photo of typical street ne...
Paracas and South Paracas, Peru is a Pacific front vacation destination for lucky Lima residents. Basically a small town that has discovered tourism and two hour boat rides to islands Peru once had a small war with Chile to claim the islands for itself. Seems at one time it was overed with yards and yards of bird droppings which was harvested for fertilizer. Now tourist go out to see the birds, sea lions and occasional penguins while hoping the wind is in a favorable direction to resist the guano smell. Nice trip..we did it. Denyse then did another tour later in the day to a national reserve. Not as good as they forgot to tell her ahead of time that the momument-building on the tour was distroyed by an earthquake a few years ago. From Paracas we traveled to Ica. Some very nice homes south of Paracas.
Lima to the North From Lima, Peru we travelled North on a 12 hour bus ride to the town of Chiclayo. City actually as it has about half a million inhabitants. A combination of taxis, motorcycles, moto-taxis and new chinese cars seem to be the main means of transportation. Plus the combis which are a small van designed for 10 passengers but usually holding 20. Rates are best in the combis at about $1US for a 30 minutes ride for two. The overnight bus has full flat seats so was more in the style of a first class airline ticket than a USA bus. Two small meals and a hostel-hotel next to the civic center park. Earlier in the 1900s a number of antiquities of gold and silver started showing up on the market here prompting a little research to determine that what was thought to be just another hill was actually a 1500 year old burial mound. Digs and Museum followed. Same scenerio appeared in city of Trujillo which we visited a couple days late...
Well, end of November seemed like a good time to give the USA a rest. Between Islam phobia, Trump desparate attempt for headlines and general bummer newscycle a break from USA media seemed wise ...and the time away has greatly improved my mood. Starting with a six AM bus ride from Alamosa to Denver, 8PM flight from Denver to Houston, 10AM flight from Houston to Panama City and 2PM flight from Panama City to Lima, Peru the main thing learned is that the only flat spaces in the Houston airport except the floor would be the bench in the United Customer Service areas. All others have effectively been made uncomfortable. Lima, Peru is still the crowded, noisy, dirty but exciting place it was 9 years ago. Stop lights are just weak suggestions, there seems to be a rule that if you hit a pedestrian all is forgiven if you honk first. So it is reasonable to honk at all times. Denyse has finished her Spanish school of 8 weeks. Starting at a position of near zero ...