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Salta Trip, Day 4: Humahuaca

While I was reluctant to leave the breathtaking beauty of Purmamarca, I looked forward to arriving in Humahuaca (pronounced Oomawacka), about an hour or so further along the highway — and higher up! We left right after breakfast to get as much of the day there as possible.

I was constantly impressed by the highway up here. It’s well paved and well maintained, and I guess it has to be to support the heavy trucks going between Bolivia and Argentina as well as the tourists like us. But there are still many sections with steep drops on one side, and although I had complete faith in Cecilia’s driving I’ll admit to a degree of nervousness.

The drive continued to be through achingly beautiful scenery. One of these days I’ll research what minerals are up there to have created such a range of colours. And the patterns! It just goes to show you our meagre human efforts are no match for Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). At one point I started to cry just out of sheer overwhelm.

We arrived in Humahuaca before lunch, and Cecilia went in search of someone to take her to a place everyone told us not to miss, El Hornacal. I had already opted not to go, because the roads were getting just a bit too scarey for me, but there are tour operators who will take you there. As it turned out, the weather closed in and the guy told her there was no point in going because she wouldn’t be able to see anything. To give you an idea why everyone recommends this place, I’m including a photo from a postcard I bought. They call it “Fourteen Colours”. Isn’t it something?

Walking around Humahuaca, we found the cabildo (town hall) side-by-side with the church. Someone told us that “the saint” would come out at noon from a window in the cabildo (I found it strange it wouldn’t be the church, but hey, what do I know?) We decided to wait, and by noon a small crowd had gathered.

Just before noon someone began to play Ave Maria (the Bach Gounod one) on a mountain flute, and the sound was so pure and clear it made me cry yet again. Right on the dot of noon a window opened and a figure of Saint Francis slowly moved forward. He was about double life size, and after a moment I realized he was moving. His head lowered towards the crowd and his hands slowly moved in a blessing. When the music finished, he moved back in.

Now for those of us from the more “sophisticated” parts of the world, this should have been an eye roller — it was just an animated figure after all — but somehow it wasn’t. There’s something very moving about the simple faith of people in remote places and I’m glad we saw this.

Then in the middle of it all, just to keep us grounded, this old woman was selling coca leaves to the crowd!

While Purmamarca was prettier, it always seemed to me to be a place made for visitors. Humahuaca, on the other hand, is a real place with real people living their lives. I loved it.

Next day would be a hair-raising marathon trip, all the way back down past Salta to Cachi. Stay tuned for this one!

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Salta Trip, Days 2 and 3: Purmamarca

Day 2 was really the beginning of the big adventure, as that’s when we started on our way up into the mountains. In fact, our next two destinations were not in Salta but in the Province of Jujuy (pronounced hoohooey). The first of those was the small town of Purmamarca (pronounced poormamarka).

There are two ways of getting from Salta to Purmamarca — one easy, on the highway, and one adventurous and beautiful. Naturally, we chose the second, which took us up through what’s known as La Caldera. As we drove just a little north of the city of Salta, the terrain began to change. Not only was it rising, but it was covered in jungle vegetation. And it was winding — very winding. And narrow — very narrow.

We stopped a couple of times at the miradores (meeradors), places where you can stop for photo opps or just enjoy the view without worrying about the road. Cecilia was driving this rental car without automatic gearshift, so she was working pretty hard. To counteract the growing effects of the altitude, we both had gobs of coca leaves in our cheeks. (This helps quite a bit, and I’ll talk about the coca leaves in a separate post. In the meantime, don’t worry about it!)

After a couple of hours of La Caldera, we emerged above the tree line and found the mountains becoming more bare and rocky. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the side of a dam and reservoir called La Cienaga. The food was great and the view was beautiful, so it was a nice break in the drive. When we left La Cienaga, however, the mountain road went into a serious climb again. This time there was no jungle to cover the sheer drops on the edges of the road, so it got a bit more scarey.

Eventually we took a left turn off the highway (Ruta 9) onto Ruta 52 and on into Purmamarca. It’s a small town nestled into a “bowl”, with the mountains not only all around but very close. And the colours are truly spectacular. I walked around with my jaw dropping for two days, surrounded by all this beauty. Every direction you turned in there was another mountain, another view and another palette.

This area is called Siete Colores, and there truly are seven colours in the mountains. And it’s not only the colours that are spectacular but the shapes of the colours. I tried to sketch one day but I was defeated. The light changed every couple of minutes, and with it both the colours and the patterns. I’m including the sketch for the record, but it doesn’t nearly do justice to the reality. Neither, in fact, to most of the photographs I’ve seen, even the professional ones, because it’s not just what you see that makes such an impact, but what you feel. I can completely understand why ancient peoples worshipped mountains as gods.

We had dinner the first night in a small local restaurant which, unfortunately for the owner but fortunately for us, was almost empty. The only patrons were Cecilia and me and a man from Paris, who sat with us at Cecilia’s invitation. There was a three-piece band playing folkloric music and they gave it their all for the whole night. Cecilia paid 100 pesos for their CD, and since I don’t have anything to play a CD on, I paid them 100 pesos for this photo opp!

Before we left Buenos Aires, Cecilia’s son-in-law, Valentin, told us we had to try llama meat. We asked if it was good, and he said no, but we had to try it! So here it is. He was right, it wasn’t good, but at least I can say I tried it. Tough and tasteless. Very tough, very tasteless. But the animals are beautiful — more on those in a later post.

One other little quirk from Purmamarca. This is our hotel room, which had this beautiful, handmade headboard. The embroidery was perfectly done and the colours typical of the area. It was a thing of beauty. But is it just me, or would it not have been better to put it over the bed??

The original plan was for us to move on next day, visiting Las Salinas Grandes (large salt fields) on our way. However, despite the coca leaves, I succumbed to a bit of altitude sickness and had to stay put. Mind you, Purmamarca isn’t a bad place to have to spend an extra day!

On Day 4, though, we headed out to our next destination. Stay tuned.

 

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Salta trip, Day 1

Although I’m back in Buenos Aires now, I do want to post about my fantastic trip to Northern Argentina with my good friend and sidekick Cecilia. There’s a lot to say, so I’ll divide it into sections and include some relevant photos. So here goes with Day 1.

We left Buenos Aires very early in the morning and flew to Salta, the capital of the province of the same name. It’s a fairly bustling city, not particularly beautiful in itself but surrounded by mountains in the distance. I did a couple of sketches, including this one of the cathedral. I love this kind of ice cream pink they use for some of the old colonial buildings! (Sorry about the blue tone — had to take the photo in my kitchen in late afternoon.)

We also went to the High Mountain Museum of Archeology, where we saw those mummies that were discovered high up on the volcano called Llullaillaco in 1999. They were apparently children of noble families who were sacrificed to the mountain by the Incas 500 years ago, and preserved extraordinarily well by the temperature and altitude. I’ve only ever seen pictures of Egyptian mummies in their bandages, but this was totally different. The one they just call The Boy really affected me emotionally. He was apparently about three years old, and he is sitting with his knees bent and his head on them just like a little boy would. But he’s so small! I had to remind myself that this wasn’t a doll or a statue, but once was a real little person. So sad. We couldn’t take photos inside, but I took this one of the postcard I bought.

At night the mood changed, as we had been invited by a friend of a friend of a friend of Cecilia to a “peña” held in a place called La Casona del Molino. People sit at quite big communal tables (although everyone at our table knew each other). Some people bring guitars and other instruments and spontaneously start singing. All the musicians are very respectful of each other’s time and talent. Many of the songs were known to the locals (who made up most of the crowd as I don’t think it’s known to all the tourists) and there was lots of joining in. Quique, the boyfriend of our hostess, was one of the singers and he was great. Most of the music was mountain folkloric music, and one couple even got up and danced chacarera. Fabulous night and a great start to our trip.

Next morning we picked up our rental car early and set off for the first leg of our mountain adventure. Stay tuned.

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Benito Quinquela Martin, fantastic Argentine artist

Today I went with my friend Cecilia to the Museum of Benito Quinquela Martin. I’ve wanted to go here for a long time but never managed to find the place, so today I asked Cecilia to take me — I’m so glad I did.
Quinquela Martin was a son of La Boca, a working class barrio down by the docks. His art depicts the life of the dockworkers of his day. It reminded me of the work of Diego Rivera, which also affected me deeply.
Quinquela Martin’s work is easily recognizable for its incredible use of colour and light. I’m afraid my iPhone photographs don’t do it justice, but here they are anyway. The second last is a high relief sculpture of the artist at work, mounted on the outside wall of one of the iconic cafes of the area, La Perla de Caminito. The last is a shot of his paints and brushes — imagine what those simple tools in the hands of a master created.

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I’m here – I’m really here!

And it feels as if I’ve never been away!

I arrived early yesterday morning. My friend Cecilia (who features in many of the ‘aventuras’ in my book) picked me up and took me to her house, where I had a few hours sleep and a welcome shower — it’s a long trip from Toronto.

 

By 3 pm we

“Yuletide carols being sung by a choir”

Always seems funny to see Santa in the summer weather!

were at the annual Christmas garden party at the British Embassy. It’s not actually as posh as it sounds — more of a glorified artesan fair really. But I met several of my friends there and it was lovely to be greeted so warmly.

I thought I would have an early night, but no. Cecilia informed me we had been invited to the birthday party of one of her friends, so off we went there at 10.30 pm. All Argentines, all Spanish speaking. I don’t know if my Spanish is better or worse, but it’s certainly faster!

So two parties in one day. I wonder if that’s a sign of things to come. I certainly hope so!

I’m at Cecilia’s house until Thursday, when we go off to Salta for another adventure, so I’ll post again then — unless there’s something fun in the meantime, which has been known to happen.

Soon I will put a sign-up form here so that you can sign up for updates.

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Only 6 more sleeps!

I’m like the kids, counting sleeps before I leave for Argentina! It has been pretty busy for me in recent days, as I have rented my apartment for the time I’m away. I’ve never done this before, although people have been suggesting it for some time.

I’m happy it’s done, but it has caused me a lot of extra work because all my cupboards and drawers have to be emptied so that the tenants can put their things away. I’ve been trudging up and down to my locker with boxes — many boxes! I’ve taken the chance to purge as well, so I’ve been wearing a path to the Salvation Army — with more boxes and bags!

A funny thing happened yesterday. I had emptied a small wooden file cabinet, one of the ones with one deep file drawer and two shallow drawers above. I was taking it down to put it outside behind the building for whoever wanted it. When I got into the elevator there was a young woman there, coat and hat on and obviously going out. Conversation:

Me: Want a filing cabinet?

Her: That one?

Me: Yes

Her: Sure, I’ll take it! There was a white one outside the other day but by the time I got down to get it, it was gone.

Me: That was mine too, but it had no wheels. This one’s better as it  has wheels. Want it now?

Her: Sure. I was going out, but I’ll take it upstairs first.

Win-win!

I look forward to getting back to blogging regularly when I get to Argentina. I’m also going to put a sign-up form for those who want to be advised when I put a post up. I’ll try to get that done before I leave — if I can get some time away from all these boxes!

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A5 starts in just 5 weeks!

Five weeks today I’ll be back in Buenos Aires — yayyyyyyy!!

I’m into heavy planning mode now. I have lists of things I want to take with me that I missed last time. For example, as most Latin women have great thick hair, they don’t need the volumising hair products I use and so it’s almost impossible to find styling mousse or my favourite shampoo. I have to take those with me.

As I have to pay my Buenos Aires rent in U.S. dollars, in cash, I’ve been gradually buying up greenbacks. Now I have enough, so I don’t need any more American money. I’ll buy some Pesos to get me started. I usually get my pesos from the ATM, directly out of my Canadian bank account. Only problem is, it’s kind of expensive because of the low withdrawal rates and the high charges, so I like to get a good supply to start. That’s also a tip for you if you’re thinking of coming down for vacation.

This year, for the first time, I’m considering renting my Toronto apartment while I’m in Argentina. When I look around and see all the decluttering I’ll need to do, it makes me feel faint. But I think it will be worth it.

Tonight I’m going to one of Toronto’s many milongas to dance tango — have to get in practice for Buenos Aires!

Now that my new book is out, I have lots of new ideas and plans around the book, its stories and Argentina in general. One of those ideas is to develop this blog into more of a site with “all things Argentine”. If you’re interested in Argentina, stay tuned.

Here’s the cover of the book. Like it? It’s now available in both print and ebook editions at most online bookstores. Click on the image to learn more.

 

 

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Getting ready for A5!

This weekend starts October, so it will be less than 2 months till I’m back in Amazing Argentina! My friend Susan started numbering my Argentine adventures by the A a couple of years back when it was coming up to A3, so I’m now gearing up for A5. So excited!

And the other exciting news is that my memoir of Argentina, Rare Steak, Red Wine, Hot Tango!, is about to make its debut! Launch date is October 10 and it will be available in both digital and print formats on Amazon and all the other major online platforms. Here’s a shot of the cover.

Is that hot or what?? I will post again here on October 10 to remind everyone — the ebook will be on sale for 99 cents for a couple of days and there will be 2 lovely bonuses for people who buy in launch week. So stay tuned!

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It’s finally come

The last day of A4 (“Argentine trip #4) is here. My apartment is wall-to-wall clothes and other stuff, waiting to be magically placed in my two suitcases. Packing to come home is always a bit of a nightmare for me, and after almost six months it’s even worse.

Would you believe I had to work today?? I delivered a client’s webinar from 2 – 3 pm, so couldn’t really get on with anything else till that was done.

But as soon as it was, I went out for a final wander around the neighbourhood, including coffee on the stage of El Ateneo Grand Splendid, the 100-year-old former opera house now doing stellar duty as a magnificent bookstore.

 

 

 

 

I had a lovely dinner last night with 7 of my friends at La Gran Parilla, the best steakhouse I’ve ever been in. It was lovely to have them all gather to say goodbye, or, as everyone reminded me, hasta luego! Yes, I plan to be back here in November, which makes it just a little easier to leave.

I cheated with the photo, as it’s from the last time I was there, but last night’s version was just as juicy and delicious!

I told everyone not to include me in any plans for today or this evening, as I do like to spend the last day on my own. No steak tonight, but I’ll be having empanadas in one of my local faves, El Sanjuanino, followed by a very self-indulgent apple crepe in La Biela. Then I’ll be off to bed, as I have an early start tomorrow morning.

Now if only I could twitch my nose and get all this stuff packed……

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Tango!

I haven’t written anything here for quite a while — I have a theory about why that is, and I’ll share it in my final post before I leave for Toronto at the end of April.

But in the meantime, I had to share this video. It’s my last tango lesson for this stay in Buenos Aires, because Alejandro is leaving for Europe next week and won’t be back till I’ve gone. So we shot this little video, which I hope will show that I’ve improved since last year’s effort.

Alejandro chose a slow, sensuous tune time time, and although I actually prefer dancing a slightly faster tango, I have to admit this does show off the “flirtatious” nature of some of the footwork! I hope you enjoy it — I certainly did!