A Hobble Around Argentina's Vineyards

The vineyards surrounding Cafayate

Seconds after Chile had scored a controversial last minute penalty to win their derby against Bolivia our train pulled into Uyuni station and we were able to scramble on board, narrowly escaping the baying mob of disgruntled locals as we fled towards Argentina.  Despite the best efforts of the company to make their carriages comfy the train clunked along the old rails jolting us awake with unfortunate timing just as we were drifting off to sleep.  We eventually arrived at the border although queuing in the freezing cold for our exit stamps did little to brighten up our morning.  Having eventually reached Argentina we decided we could face no more travel and checked into a hostel for the night.  Despite the typically dishevelled border town living up to our low expectations when hot water flowed out of the bathroom taps of our hostel it felt like we had arrived at the pinnacle of human existence after three months of cold water!  Unfortunately this was the high point of our stay as I soon discovered that all the shops shut at midday. With restaurants a wishful dream we ended up eating scrambled eggs, potato and tomato for the day but at least we were clean!

Panoramic from Cerro San Bernando

Despite the best attempts of the ticket touts at the station we managed to board a bus the following morning for the correct price and set off to the city of Salta, some 6 hours south of the border.  The road wound past incredible red mountains as we gradually descended to below 2000m for the first time in six weeks.  Founded in 1582 Salta is famous for its colonial architecture and beautiful surroundings but unfortunately with Hannah still incapacitated and taking lessons from the ministry of funny walks our options were slightly limited.  With this in mind it seemed the best course of action was to savour the amazing food and wine from the region and I set out to consume as much vino tinto as possible whilst still managing to maintain the allure of a connoisseur rather than a typical British tourist.  This proved increasingly difficult when I discovered that I could get four Salteñas (delicious meat pasties) and a huge cup of local red wine for less than £2!  It was nice to be able to save some money and cook again in our hostel as well as sampling the local food although much to my amusement Hannah tried to 'borrow' some cooking oil from the staff cupboard setting off a deafening alarm.  When the owner appeared  Hannah sheepishly gave a priceless excuse by claiming that it was a natural instinct to open cupboards in kitchens in her broken Spanglish.

We failed to eat it in one sitting

Salta itself was a sprawling town of low rise colonial buildings with a beautiful central plaza lined with restaurants, crusty hippies selling junk (including chopped off dreadlocks) & small orange trees.  Continuing with our culinary themed visit I gratefully stumbled upon a number of small street stalls barbequing every cut of meat imaginable.  In a fit of excitement I ran the kilometre back to the hostel, dragged Hannah out and we embarked on what turned out to be an endurance test trying to consume the weight of food that was placed in front of us – it was epic!  Needing to burn off some meat I walked through town and climbed Cerro San Bernando (a hill) that overlooks the town and which offered panoramic views of the city and mountains beyond.  The rest of our time in Salta was spent roaming the small town centre and trying to get Hannah walking without throwing her left arm out at other pedestrians in an attempt to speed up her hobble.   Delaying our onwards journey I also managed to watch the England v Wales match with another Englishman, Paul before we set off into the surrounding countryside.

The gardens of Bodega Nanni, Cafayate

Cafayate

With my birthday fast approaching and the red wine flowing the decision was taken to celebrate in the small village of Cafayate, Argentina’s second biggest wine producing region.  The quaint village lies four hours south of Salta down Ruta 68 which provided one of the most beautiful journeys of our trip through Valles Calchaquies.  The road crisscrossed over a river that ran between towering red mountains that had been eroded into weird shapes.  As we left the valley behind beautiful vineyards surrounded us on both sides glinting red and brown in the bright winter sun as huge flocks of parakeets circled overhead.  Cafayate itself is a tiny picturesque village of single story colonial buildings set around a beautiful central plaza.  The tree lined dusty tracks around the village pass through vineyards and walking through them felt like taking a step back in time to the Roman Empire.  Our accommodation was within hobbling distance (three blocks) of five different bodegas selling produce from their own vineyards setting the scene for an epic cultural vineyard crawl.  

Birthday celebrations

FOOOOOD!!!

To make our stay less of an alcohol fuelled adventure and more of an educational journey we started my birthday celebrations with a trip to the wine museum to understand the local vineyards.  The vineyards are some of the highest in the world and with the dry climate, rocky soil and extreme temperature fluctuations at night the area is famous for producing very strong aromatic wines.  Armed with our new found knowledge we set off to do some scientific testing. With copious amounts of red wine, steak, pasties and a fantastic cured meats and cheese stall we discovered on an intoxicated stumbling it is safe to say that I was like a pig in shit.  The wine also had a healing effect on Hannah’s ankle and we discovered a positive correlation between how far she could walk and the volume of red wine we tasted.  After a successful few days however we decided that for our health we should probably move on and so with our bottles of wine we set off on the arduous journey to Buenos Aires.   Deciding to do it in two legs we spent a quiet day relaxing in a huge park in the city of Tucuman before our overnight bus to Argentina’s capital. 

A Life on Mars

Flamingos on the Altiplano

Feeling exhausted from the harsh climate of the Andes and eleven months on the road we decided to head south quickly through Bolivia to the world famous Uyuni Salt Flats.  Having researched the option of taking a train through the Altiplano we headed three hours south by bus to the former mining city of Oruro and the start of the rail network.   After a peaceful journey however we encountered one of Bolivia’s regular protests a few kilometres outside of the town where wagons had crudely blocked the road south.  To the untrained eye the blockade seemed like a standard working day for many of the workers of Latin America as they lounged about complaining about long working hours whilst accomplishing the sum total of bugger all (I love Latin American culture but having spent a total of nearly three and a half years here over the past decade I have become a little cynical about their everyday productivity).  Luckily we had spare time and we were able to walk the few kilometres through the protest, catch a minivan through town and make it in time for our train south – nothing is ever as easy travelling as it appears in the planning!

Llamas on the Altiplano

Our Chariot

The train through the Altiplano came with luxury that we thought did not exist in Bolivia and reminded us of good times on the Trans – Siberian some eight months before.  The Altiplano is the highest plain outside of Tibet and as we travelled between the two towering Andean ridges that flank the plain we passed huge lakes full of flamingos.  After dinner in the restaurant cart and a spectacular orange sunset we arrived in Uyuni at around 10pm.  The ice cold town is set 25km away from the Salt Flats in a wind sheered expanse of land.  It seemingly only survives due to the mass influx of tourists using it as a base and eating in the numerous pizza restaurants!  The wind chill was almost painful and thankfully we had only one night to survive before we set off the next morning with Red Planet Expedition on a three day tour of the area. We ended up in a Toyota 4x4 with a couple from Lithuania and a young man from Singapore, two of our favourite places on our trip so far.  After brief introductions and a slightly strange stop at a graveyard for trains that have been left to rot we headed off into the Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats).

The graveyard for trains

The vast plain covers over 10,000  square kilometres and was created when a giant prehistoric lake (Lake Minchin) dried out.  This left behind a thick layer of salt crust that covers a pool of brine which contains 50% - 70% of the world’s lithium.  Flat as far as the eye can see and glowing white due to the mirror like effect of the salt in the intense sun it was one of the strangest and most captivating places I have ever seen. It felt like we had left earth and ended up on a uninhabited planet!  Although flat the salt crust is not smooth and it is covered in a hypnotic hexagonal pattern formed by convection currents.  After spending time taking strange perspective photographs that were made easy by the absence of landmarks we headed to some former islands in the centre of the lake.  The Inca Wasy Island was covered in giant cacti and provided us with a panoramic view of the flats and the mountains beyond.  These views proved a little too enchanting though and I looked around in time to see Hannah pirouetting with surprising grace having twisted awkwardly on a rock before hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes.  After initially making sure the camera was ok attention quickly turned to Hannah who was in a lot of pain but she manfully got up and hobbled down the steps in some discomfort back to the 4x4.  Thinking she would be able to sleep it off we set out to the small hamlet of Atulcha where we stayed for the night in a hostel made of salt bricks, a new experience for both of us!

Inca Wasy Island

The Siloli Desert (AKA Mars)

Waking up in the morning Hannah’s foot had swollen to seemingly impossible dimensions and was almost black from her toes to half way up her calf.  With no option but to carry on and armed with a vat of ibuprofen we headed off into the freezing cold.  Passing valleys filled with grazing llama we headed higher leaving the salt flats behind as we rose into the strange Chiguanna Desert.  This area was surrounded by distinctive volcanoes which rose to 6000m, some of which were smoking.  We carried on south through the desolate landscape that seemed to be full of only small shrubs until we spotted a Lesser Rhea (a mini ostrich) and herds of what looked like deer.  During our lunch we were invaded by a gang of Squirrel – Rabbits (a rabbit with a squirrels tail) who apparently wait every day for the tour to arrive before eating the inevitable scraps.  From here the scenery grew even more spectacular as we reached the highest and apparently driest desert in the world.  Siloli Desert is at 4500m altitude and looks like every film set on Mars that has ever been produced.  It is a part of the Atacama Desert and its amazing rock formations and mountains seemed to contain tens of different colours that streaked down the sides of them to the red sand below.   We stopped at a dried lake which had been made white due to the high levels of Barium and provided a spectacular vantage point for photographs although by this point the winds had reached 70km/hr making it a little chilly outside of the 4x4.

Hannah being blown away

The fumaroles in the creator

Our final hour of the day saw us enter a national park that contained a red lagoon (due to the sediment and algae) which should have contained hundreds of flamingos but it was a little cold and there were only about half a dozen stupid birds remaining.  From here we climbed even higher to the summit of a volcano just over 5000m high where we dropped down into the crater to see fumaroles (openings in the earth’s crust emitting gases) and pools of mud bubbling at nearly 200ᵒ.  We descended 600m to our ‘accommodation’ for the evening which proved to be a freezing cold series of rooms where the other 18 inmates had bought wine to keep themselves warm.  The wine turned out to be port and due to the altitude the drinking pace was slow leading to many generous offers to share.  Sitting in the middle of the table this put me in prime position and within an hour I was suitably merry (but at least very warm) and we set off down the hill a few hundred metres to some natural hot springs.   Surviving the short dash from the changing hut in the arctic conditions we continued to enjoy the port in our 40ᵒ pool under a sky lit up by the Milky Way in the most amazing display of stars I have ever seen.

Life on Mars

Waking up with a banging headache that was definitely due to the altitude we checked on Hannah’s ankle only to discover that the hot water had not helped.  In fact it turned out the opposite was true and the increased blood flow had made her ankle swell like a balloon.  Thankfully a nurse was in the group and was fortunately carrying a sports bandage for her ankle which she kindly gave to Hannah to help with the swelling.  Our final day was spent heading back north but only after a final stop at a green lagoon where testing for the famous Mars Rover took place before it was launched into space.  After a 7 hour drive through the incredible landscape we finally made it back to Uyuni where we said our goodbyes to the other members of our tour before holing up in a restaurant with the Copa America where we waited out of the cold for our overnight train to the Argentinian border.

The City Built on Llama Foetuses & the Coca Plant

The view over La Paz

La Paz is without a doubt one of the strangest places we have visited this year and during our stay we found that if it wasn’t the altitude that was taking our breath away, the bizarre shops, markets and traditions did!  The administrative capital of Bolivia (it shares power with Sucre) sits between 3,200m and 4,100 as it gradually spread up a canyon formed by the Choqueapu River and spills over onto the flat planes of the Altiplano (high planes).  Simple red brick houses cling to the canyons steep sides as the magnificent peak of Mount Illimani (6000m) looms over the city.  Despite its less than charming exterior La Paz is an intriguing city with a lot of Bolivian tradition and culture as a lack of development seems to have allowed the city to escape extensive globalisation, for better or for worse. La Paz was founded as Spain’s centre of power in the Andes and as such traditional markets and indigenous people share the city with colonial buildings and decedents. The city often seems like a giant market and cholitas (indigenous woman) dressed in thick skirts and bowler hats line the streets with stalls full of fresh food.  Alongside the cholitas tiendas around the city sell dried llama foetuses to be buried under new houses as an offering to Pachamama (mother earth) for disturbing the land.  It is a crazy place and even with the lack of apparent tourist sites the vibrant streets and unique nature of the city made it an interesting stop and a great insight into Bolivian culture.

Llama Foetus!

Entrance to San Pedro Prison

The walking tour around La Paz was one of the better ones we have taken this year as a guide was able to explain some of the strange things you cannot help but notice walking around the city.  We started our walk at the infamous San Pedro Prison (setting for the book Marching Powder) which houses mainly drug related offenders.  Ironically the prison apparently produces the finest quality cocaine in South America and the prisoners pay to rent their rooms with the money, some of which are akin to a 5* hotel.  Some families live inside the prison with the inmates and the children leave for school whilst their mothers often run shops and restaurants inside the prison which is set on a square bloc of prime real estate in the city centre.  Tours of the prison run by inmates to earn money on the side have recently stopped after one backpacker was attacked and some had to pay extortionate bribes to the guards to be allowed out!  Jorge (our guide) also spoke about the government, led by Evo Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous President (and according to the locals Bolivia’s first true President).  In 2008 Morales removed the Drug Enforcement Agency from Bolivia saying they fuelled the drug problem and has refused to make illegal the growing of coca due to the indigenous population’s tradition of using the leaves to combat altitude sickness and other illnesses.  The issue is very controversial as Bolivia’s coca production has increased and there is even a bar called Route 36 which is known as the world’s first cocaine bar in La Paz. 

The tourist district

As a socialist leader Morales is unpopular in the west having reversed many of the previous leader’s corrupt policies of selling off many of Bolivia’s natural resources to global corporations with no benefit to the people.  As with Ecuador the former president known as ‘The Gringo’ (he studied in America) fled to the States with chunks of the country’s wealth where he has been granted asylum with America who have rejected numerous extradition attempts to make him stand trial.  Standing outside the government buildings Jorge was keen to point out that Morales is not perfect (he does still have 67% approval ratings after 12 years despite trying to change the constitution to allow him to serve another term) but as the country’s economy has grown and indigenous rights have improved during his time he has an almost cult following across the nation.  Despite this Jorge told us that Bolivians like a good protest including over such things as removing The Simpsons from TV, closing a popular chicken and chips chain and an attempt to increase the population by banning condoms across the nation (all were successful).  Bolivia is currently embroiled in a UN law suit against Chile over her access to the Pacific (Bolivia is South Americas only landlocked nation) after they were defeated in a war and forfeited 400km of coast to them.  Flags hang from the government buildings in a show of unity with their former state and the UN has recently stated a trial must take place to determine the future of the land in 2016, a huge moment in the future development of Bolivia.

Plaza Murillo (the Presidents offices)

Cholitas

All day cholitas (women) can be seen on every street heading down from the higher red brick houses in the city to sell their products.  Locals are known as ‘potato heads’ due to their love of potatoes (coming from the Incas) and thousands of types of potatoes are sold as well as fruits and flowers by the women.  Cholitas are dressed in bowler hats because when the English arrived wearing bowler hats to make the rail network local men bought the hats without realising they were too small for them.  They were subsequently given to the cholitas as a present with men claiming they were at the height of European fashion – the women still wear them today!  An area in the centre known as the witches market sells everything from dead llama foetus’s to potions and powders aimed at improving your sexual prowess and each shop has a strange offering outside to improve their luck in business. 

Car Parts & a Lama??!!

Every Sunday in the neighbouring city of El Alto one of the biggest markets in the world takes place.  We caught the newly installed cable car (aimed to improve life for the poor and connect the two cities – 3 lines are open and 7 more are being built)  up the hill which offered amazing views across the city and the mountains beyond. It was a very strange experience travelling over multi-story buildings! Unfortunately some people have toilets on the roof of their houses with no doors leaving them to conduct their business in full view of the passing commuters!  At the top the market stretched as far as the eye could see and sold everything you could possibly need from kitting out a new house to building a new car from scrap parts.  My favourite stall sold golf clubs, crutches and toilet seats but less comical were the numerous shady people selling phones that were clearly stolen (we were told to take nothing of value with us) and other electrical equipment. 

On our final day we took a walk down to the base of the canyon and up the other side (much to Hannah’s delight) to Mirador Killi Killi which offers the best views across the city.  We sat and enjoyed a saltena (Bolivian meat pasty) at the top and gazed out across the sprawling city and glaciers beyond – even Hannah admitted it was worth the hike!  On the way down we passed back through the Presidential Plaza where I thought it would be a good idea to buy some corn to feed to the pigeons.  In a Bolivian remake of 'The Birds' they descended upon me and sat everywhere from my head to my toes. I decided it may not have been the best idea and threw corn over Hannah in a successful attempt to distract them.  We recovered with a look around the Coca Museum which was aimed at teaching tourists abut the history and use of the plant by the indigenous population and distinguishing the difference between the plant and the drug.  Without a doubt La Paz was an interesting stop over (we probably stayed a little longer than we needed!) and certainly opened our eyes to life in Bolivia, the good the bad and the bizarre!

Lake Titicaca - More Than Just a Funny Name

View from Isla del Sol on Lake Titicaca

Having read a number of horror stories about the bus from Cusco to Lake Titicaca (100 dead in the past month) we decided to err on the side of caution and take the lazy safe option by catching the more expensive and pre-organised Bolivia Hop Bus.  This service arranged flexible transport (it was founded by Europeans) all the way to La Paz across the tricky Bolivian border and allowed us the luxury of not having to plan our 31^st border crossing of the year!  After a somewhat limited night’s sleep on the bus due to the winding road we arrived in Puno.  Not the most attractive town, Puno is full of crumbling buildings set along dusty streets where modified tuc-tucs hurtle in every direction through the early morning smoke of the wood fires.  I had experienced the charms of the town before so we had opted to stop for just three hours, long enough to see the town’s only real draw – the floating villages of Lake Titicaca.  The lake is the birth place of the Incas according to legend when the creator god Viracoca rose up from the lake to create the moon, stars and first humans.  It was therefore an important stop on our journey through the former ancient empire.

The 'Mercedes Benz' 

We caught a small boat to the floating villages of the Uros people that are located just inside the Peruvian border.  The islands are made of totora reeds that are harvested from the shallow areas of the lake and stacked in layers that can reach a few metres thick.  These are then pinned down with rope to stop them floating to Bolivia (they pointed out they do not have passports) and they can last around 30 years although they need constant construction with new layers every three months.  Today they also add blocks of mud to the underside to make them more solid and we were given a hilarious demonstration by a unit of a woman who cheerfully used homemade model houses to demonstrate the islands in a Peruvian style Blue Peter.  It soon became apparent why everybody had the physique of a womble as the bitterly cold morning meant the reeds were covered in frost meaning the end of the demonstration was met with relief as we were able to walk around the small island to warm up.  Obviously we were treated to an array of ‘homemade crafts’ (is it to cynical to think they were made in China?)  that are available in every market across Peru before we were able to take a ride in a Peruvian Mercedes Benz.  This was the name given at least to a boat that looked a little like a Norse funeral vessel and we took our seats praying to whatever Viking god we needed that the rickety boat did not sink into the freezing waters!  A small motor boat pulled alongside us driven by a women who subsequently clung on to our boat, started her motor and propelled us a few hundred metres to the next island – well worth the $1!

Locals harvesting the crops on Isla del Sol

Copacabana

Having returned to the main land we set off on the short journey to Bolivia where the road ran alongside the water of the world’s highest navigable lake (3,800m) and South Americas largest as huge glaciers rose up in the distance.  Lake Titicaca translates as 'Rock of Puma' as its outline apparently looks like a Puma (drawn by that of a small child learning to hold a pencil) and we were lucky enough to see flocks of flamingos as we drove around the belly of the Puma where we arrived at the Bolivian border.  Having crossed, we drove the final 15 minutes to the town of Copacabana which could have not been further removed from its namesake in Brazil.  The only similarity between the two was a beach and the town seemed to have been planned by a drunk local although it held a certain charm as it is nestled between the lake and hills.  Our hostel had an amazing terrace which provided us with beautiful sunsets and a nice place to relax for a few days.

Not quite Brazil's Copacabana

As with a lot of businesses in developing countries nobody seemed to have realised that if every shop sells exactly the same goods trade might be a little slow.  In a seemingly endless row hundreds and hundreds of battered pedalo swans sat rotting in the sun and we sat in bewilderment puzzling over who had possibly thought it was a good investment as we ate trout from the lake at one of the small kiosks.  We took a long walk along the shore accompanied by a dog that trotted with us for a few hours taking in the beautiful surroundings. Amusingly halfway along the beach two men succeeded after a farcical ordeal to push two donkeys into the lake and onto a waiting boat, much to the donkey’s annoyance.  That evening we sat down to eat dinner with Hannah crying uncontrollably with laughter as the world’s worst pan pipers/ didgeridoo players performed (like a sketch from The Fast Show gone hippy-cool) before demanding money for their diabolic performance that we had been forced to endure (a massive gripe of mine).

Counterfeit Hippies, Donkey Rides and the Round Table 

Our final voyage on to Lake Titicaca took us to Isla del Sol which legend has it marks the spot where the founders of Cusco emerged from a rock.  The two hour ride gave us amazing views of the glaciers in the distance and we were eventually dropped at a small hamlet at the north of the Island and given five hours to make our way to the south where we would be collected. We initially crossed a beach where a congregation of South America’s finest counterfeit hippies (dirty travellers rather than authentic hippies) lounged about making exclusive tin jewellery whilst one enthusiastically waved flags about as though she believed she was on a runway at Heathrow. Copacabana we have since been told by a Bolivian is known as the centre of the hippie universe!  At 4000m high the walk was a little challenging as the path ascended in the blistering sun and the barren landscape offered us no protection from the elements.  After seeing the Incas version of The Round Table we walked along the top of the hill where I got completely carried away taking photo after photo of the incredible views across the lake and glaciers.  Although we had to pay tolls to each village who maintained the path (with varying degrees of success) the walk was a real high point of Peru and gave me a jolt when I stopped to think about quite where we were in the world – one of travelling's greatest gifts.   After a final day of rest and relaxation in Copacabana we left for the four hour journey to La Paz and sadly away from the heartland of the Incas.