Cafayate

We arrived on Sunday night in Cafayate, which is a really nice little town. It seems to be very touristic, but not many gringos. Either way, this means that places in hostels were quite few and far between. We did finally manage to find one with a double room for rather cheap, and located directly on the main square, so we jumped on the occasion. On our first night here, we randomly bumped into some people from the hostel back in Tucuman. We clearly weren't the only people who thought that city was a total waste of time.

In the morning, we were kicked out of the hostel, because other people had reserved, and the place was full, so we went walking around looking for another place to stay. The new place organised a couple of tours to see the sites around Cafayate, which are rather nice.

On Monday, we went to the Quebrada de Cafayate, which is a desert located just outside the town. We were told it was a going to be a trek, but really, it was just a bus ride. The guide would take us on a bus to one place, and then stop long enough for everyone to get out, take a few pictures. Frankly this was rather enjoyable, as there were a few stops where climbing on rocks was necessary in order to see everything. I had a really good time there.

One of the stops was called the amphitheater which is a sort of cave with really nice acoustics. Some local musicians have clearly picked up on this, as they were waiting for us when the bus pull up. As soon as we walked into the main part of the amphitheater, they started playing, and it sounded really nice.

This morning, we went on another trek to see the waterfalls of the Rio Colorado. Even though this was a more of a trek than the previous one, it still was not very taxing. The best part of it was all the rock climbing that was necessary. We had to go down really small tunnels and get into some pretty bizarre positions to get to see some of the waterfalls. The waterfalls themselves were not particularly nice, but I still had a really good time.

We got back in the afternoon, which gave us just enough time to try out some of the wineries of the area. The tours were far more interesting than the ones I had in Mendoza, as we actually got to see the grapes being unloaded from the trucks, and processed by the machines, as well as the wine being bottled. There were also some free wine samples at the end (which was my favorite part).

Tomorrow we plan on going to Salta as a stop off on our way to Jujuy. I am not sure how much there is to do in either of these places, but we will definately find something to keep us amused for a couple of days.

Tucuman

I have decided to go up north and explore the final part of Argentina before heading to Brazil for Carnaval. I am now travelling with a friend I have made in Buenos Aires called Liya - a girl from Israel.

Our first stop was Tucuman, and although the city itself was a bit of a hole, the journey there was even worse. The bus ride was supposed to be 15 hours, which is quite reasonable for bus journeys in South America. There were several companies offering to go from Buenos Aires to Tucuman, so, of course, we chose the cheapest one. This time was no different from all the other times, as we got what we paid for.

It was difficult just taking the first step on to the bus because of the stench. Our conclusion was that some small animal had somehow made its way into the ventilation system moments before its death, and the carcass was then left there to ferment for several years.

Still, that was not the worst part of the ordeal. The bus had not been moving for more than five minutes before some really cheesey rock music started blasting out the speakers. It was just loud enough so that we could not hear eachother speaking. We promptly asked the steward to turn it down, which, to his credit, he did almost instantly. It seems however that the volume control on the stereo and the air conditioning were somehow linked on this bus, because as soon as the volume dropped, so did the temperature. Taking into consideration how hot it was outside, I completely forgot to take any kind of warm clothing with me, and had to deal with the cold for the entire 15 hours (actually due to delays, it lasted closer to 17).

Despite all of these distractions, I still managed to fall asleep at a reasonable time. I was sleeping exceptionally well until some genious decided that 5:30 in the morning is an excellent time to break out a guitar and start singing really loudly. It took me a while to figure out what was going on, but it all became clear when I heard Liya telling him to shut up. It was a pretty pointless effort, unfortunately, because we seemed to be the only people who thought that it was pretty inappropriate. Even the people sitting across the aisle from us with their toddler were enjoying it.

It was after 7 o'clock when he finally shut up and silence fell across the bus. Not for long, though because the old man sitting behind me started snoring really loud. Needless to say, I did not get much sleep that night.

Arriving in Tucuman, there was so much rain, that we could not possibly do anything even if we wanted to. Arriving at the hostel, we asked what there was to do, and the man answered us with a whole bunch of nothing. We were out of there the very next day.

The Curse of Buenos Aires

I have now spent a week in Buenos Aires. Most of my time here has been spent partying and randomly meeting people I had met elsewhere durring my trip. It has been very nice, but I have now been sucked in to the city. There is something about Buenos Aires that makes you want to stay. I have met people in my hostel that have been here for six months, and as exessive as that sounds, I can really see how that could happen...

In other news, I was supposed to be meeting some friends here in order to move up to Iguazu. Complications have arrised which have prevented this from happening, however. One of the girls has had all of her stuff stolen. They were in Bariloche waiting for the bus to take them to Buenos Aires, when some guy came from behind her, and stole her bag containing her passport, visa, camera, etc. This poor girl is now stuck in Buenos Aires until she can get a replacement passport. She seems to think that it will take only a week, but I am slightly more pessimistic. Frankly, I am not sure if I can afford to wait here much longer. I do not want to end up like those girls who have been in Buenos Aires for 6 months.

My plans for the future are pretty unclear as of right now. I still want to go to Iguazu, but I might delay it for a week or two to reduce the amount of time I spend in Brazil. I keep hearing that it is very expensive up there, so the longer I delay it, the more money I will save.



Natali update:

I have received messages from many people about this poor girl, so for those who care, here's the latest. She managed to acquire a new passport with absolutely no problems, much to my surprise. The embassy wanted to give her what they call a passing permit, which would allow her to continue with her trip, but she would not be able to go to many countries. When they told her this she cried and cried until they finally caved and gave her a full passport. I'm surprised that worked, but good for her.

She is currently involved in a telephone battle with American Express to have her travellers cheques replaced. Apparently it takes them 72 hours to investigate the claim, and several weeks for the cheques to be replaced. Frankly I'm shocked and appalled by this. It also does not help that the people on the phone are infuriatingly unhelpful. Natali's english is not very good, so she has asked me to talk to them several times, and each time I have flashbacks of that bitch in Punta del Diablo. Only this time I have the capability to really lay it in to these people - so much so in fact, that one of them hung up on me.

Punta del Diablo

I kept hearing all these great things about this place called Punta del Diablo. Everyone kept saying it was really nice and cheap. The guide book I read made it sound like a fantastic little village with a really nice beach and no tourists. I was expecting to have a really excellent couple of days here before making my way up to Iquazu. How silly of me...

Let me tell you about my nightmare:

When I got here, I found out that there is not even a bus terminal, let alone a tourist information desk. That was easily surmountable since the bus happened to stop in front of the police station. I asked the policeman for directions to the nearest hostel, which he kindly gave. This was the last friendly person I talked to in Punta del Diablo.

I found the hostel with relative ease, but they were out of room (so much for this not being a touristy area) so they pointed directions to the only other hostel - as if talking to me was something degrading to them. Needless to say the other hostel was full too, and was also manned by some very rude and unfriendly people.

I now had nowhere to stay, a heavy bag on my back and the sun shining down almost unbearable heat, but the worst was yet to come.

Most of the people who come here stay in cabañas. These are basically little shared houses and they quickly became my last resort to have a roof over my head for the night. These cabañas are normally a cheap alternative for people travelling in groups, but since I was on my own I was looking at a pretty expensive couple of days, that is, of course, if I could find one at all.

The first place I went to had no cabañas left, obviously, as this place is not very popular with tourists. Still with my heavy bag and the sun pounding on me, I walked around until I found another place that rents these cabañas. A place run by the rudest elderly couple I have ever had the misfortune to come across. The man (who seems to be the one who runs the business) never spoke, he only ever mumbled and never even took his cigarette out of his mouth to do so. Even when he saw I was struggling to understand what he was saying. After a considerable amount of time the woman finally decided to step in and translate what he was saying into some sort of coherent Spanish. They were telling me to come back in half an hour, as they might have something then.

I don't thing that I have ever had to wait so long for 30 minutes to be up. I realised that this was probably my last chance to have a place for the night. It did seem that my luch was changing, however, because when I walked back into the office, they now had a place - nothing more than a shack with a toillet (but no toillet seat) and no shower - for me. Seeing this as my only opportunity, I grabbed it with both hands and told them I would take it for two nights.

I was asked to pay up front for both nights at 500 pesos a night (10 pounds). Quite expensive for South America, but it won't ruin me. Nonetheless, I did not have that kind of cash on me, so I asked where the nearest cash point was. Their answer is what will make me hate this place forever. there are no banks in Punta del Diablo. But not to worry, they were telling me, they accept Argentinian pessos. Thanks to this I had just enough in the two currencies to pay for the two nights, but this left me more or less pennyless and with no way to take money out.

Back I went to the police station to ask them how to get money, and if it was at all possible. I pointed to a kiosk where they sell bus tickets to the nearest town, an hour and a half away, which is where you need to go if you want to get some cash. Thankfully I had enough money to pay for the bus ride, but I had to wait until the morning for the next bus. I dread to think what would have happened to me if I did not have enough money to pay for the bus.

Thankfully my bad luck was at an end the next day. I woke up, got the bus, went to Chuy, took money out, and suddenly felt much better. I could actually enjoy my lunch; something which did not happen durring the meal the night before.

Chuy itself was a pretty nice little town just on the boarder with Brazil. Comhow this allows it to have shops on the main street selling duty free goods. When you take into account how cheap everything is here, it's amazing that they can have discounts on anything. It was really tempting to just buy everything, but I don't have any space in my bag as it is, so buying more stuff would be pretty silly.

On arrive back at Punta del Diablo, it became clear that it was this place that was giving me bad luck. Possible a curse cast by the devil, I don't know. The town had experienced a power outage in my abscence which fried the computer screen of the bus company. It didn't helpt that bitch behind the counter was ruder than ever.

Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Can I go to Monevideo tomorrow?

Bitch: I don't know. (She turns away making me think that she will ask someone. Eventually she turns around glaring at me as if to say "Why are you still here?")

Me: When will you know?

Bitch: I don't know.

Me: Why don't you know?

Bitch: My screen doesn't work.

Me: When will it work?

Bitch: I don't know

If my Spanish were a little better I would really have liked to give her some serious shit, but instead I walked away furious.

Not knowing what to do, I went to eat dinner, whish probably the best decision I had made since deciding to go to Punta del Diablo, because I met a really nice French couple that explained to me that I could buy a ticket on the bus, completely bypassing my friend the bitch.

On my last day in this aptly named hell hose, I went for a walk around and realised that it is actually a very nice place. What a shame that this string of unfortunate events made it impossible for me to enjoy myself. The beaches are very beautiful, and the fact that all the buildings are no more than two stories tall makes it very cute.

I'm back in Montevideo now, on my way up to Gualegauychu, a small village in the north of Argentina that starts carnival celebrations now. To get there I will have to go back down to Buenos Aires, which is in the completely opposite direction, because Gualegauychu is inaccessable from Uruguay, despite it being just on the boarder. This is because of the river that separates the two countries.

Montevideo

I arrived here in Montevideo yesterday morning, and encountered my first problem in Uruguay. The cash machine would not let me take money out for some reason. I tried both cards and nothing worked. There was no need to panic, though, as I still have some traveller's cheques, but I'd like to save those for as long as I can. Still trying to save as much money as possible, I decided that I would have to forgo the luxury of getting a taxi, or even a bus, from the main station and walk to the hostel. It did not look very far on the map, but it ended up taking me about an hour and a half walking in the blistering heat with my big bag. Another problem that I had not thought of was that since I had no Uruguayan money, I could not buy any water on the way either. Needless to say, when I finally got to the hostel - which is located right in the centre of town - I no longer cared what the receptionist had to tell me about the price of a room, or what I got for that price (so much for me trying to be thrifty). I was just waiting for him to point me to the kitchen so I could get water, and the bathroom so I could take a shower.

Once I had all my stuff sorted out, and I felt normal again, I went for a walk around the old city. I was told that there is a lot of touristic stuff to do there, but I think the receptionist is on crack because there is one cathedral and one museum. Obviously, this took me about an hour. There are however a few plazas scattered around the old city. This is where I spent most of my day yesterday, sitting in the sun, listening to some music, and reading about Brazil trying to plan the rest of my trip.

In the evening I met some American guys at the hostel who currently live in Salvador (where I plan on being for the carnival). They told me all about their experience of the event, and gave me a few tips on how to not get robbed (e.g. don't take anything of value with you). We sat on the beach having dinner, watching the sun set and talking about Carnaval.

So after a day of being here, I feel like I've done everying there is to do. I'm probably going to end up at the beach again today, but I don't know how much longer I will stay. I was supposed to meet some friends here, but they're stuck in Buenos Aires (the most difficult place in the world to have to leave). They said they would try to be here by the end of the week, but frankly I don't know if I want to stay that long. I hear there are some much nicer beaches in Punto Esta, so I will probably spend a few days there before making my way up to Iguazu.

Sabbath

On Saturday, I was invited to Bedchabad (I´m not sure if I spelled it correctly). It is a foundation set up by Israel to give the jewish community around the world the possibility to take part in ceremonies and rituals which are important to them. The sabbath is one such thing.

So off I went with five Israelis to this big dinner, and it was quite an experience. We got there, and started talking to people. I got to break out the few words I know in Hebrew. I think I confused the rabbi with that, because when I introduced myself in Hebrew, he kept speaking to me in what seemed to me to be gibberish. Everyone else understood, though, and they kindly explained to the rabbi that I don´t really speak Hebrew.

Once we were sat down, a few songs were sung. I tried to join in, but I still haven´t learned to read in Hebrew, so I just hummed a bit like I was told to do. Then everyone went to wash their hands. There is strictly no talking between the time when you wash your hands and when you start eating. I´m sure I was explained the significance of this, but I can´t remember which is a shame.

The meal itself was very nice. It was my first kosher meal, and frankly, I could not taste the difference between it and the food I normally eat, except for the meat being overcooked for my taste. To be kosher, you must not have the blood of the animal in your mouth, so a rare steak is completely out of the question. Good thing for me, I´m not jewish, so I don´t have to be kosher.

I wanted to take pictures of the whole thing, but that too was not impossible. On the sabbath, you are not allowed to use electricity. This includes the batteries in my camera. It would have been nice to have some picutres, but I was not about to insult my hosts in such a way. Shame.

Cordoba

I have been in Cordoba for about a week now, and I´m having a great time here. I got here for new year's eve, because I was told that the people here really know how to party. They were right. The only thing I found really weird was that the club did not open until about 1 am. That means we were partying in the hostel at midnight. Once the place did open, however, it was totally worth the wait. It was in a field with three tents all playing different kinds of music, and there were so many people there. It was really nice being outside until the sun came up at 6 am. I would have liked to stay longer, but some people had already passed out in the field at that point, and the bouncers were kicking us out. So despite that, I still had a fantastic time.

The next couple of days were spent walking around the city with people desperately trying to find somewhere that will sell us food. Everything was closed, so it was more difficult than it might sound. The only places we could even hope to find were fast food restaurants. I´m sick and tired of eating burgers and pizzas. I'm currently on a diet that consists almost entirely of vegetables, because of this.

Yesterday I went to visit Ernesto "Che" Guevara's house. He lived in a village about an hour away by bus. I think I was expecting a bit too much from this, though. People told me about it, and I got really excited, but I don't know why. It really is nothing more than a house with some pictures in it. It was still nice, but over very quickly.

Today I went sky diving for my first time. I've been wanting to do this since the new year, but the weather has been a bit cloudy, so it hasn´t been possible so far. Last night, I was sure the weather would be bad this morning, because it was a really cloudy night. Accepting this theory as fact, I decided it would be a really good idea to go out last night. I didn´t get back until about 6 am, and this morning I was woken up by some friends at about 9:30. Needless to say I was quite tired, amongst other things, but I went anyway.

We were the first people to arrive, so we didn´t have to wait for everyone else to finish before going, which was nice. I was picked to go first, which did not bother me nearly as much as I expect it should have. In fact at no point durring the whole experience was I scared. I kept wondering why I wasn't because I'm usually pretty scared of heights and here I was jumping out of a plane. I suppose I just felt really safe because everyone looked really professional. They gave us a crash course in the positions we need to know for when we are in the air, and then they strap you up, put you on the smallest plane on the planet, and push you off.

There were four of us on the plane. The pilot, the instructor, the guy who tapes the fall, and me. It was so cool to see everything for miles, being above the clouds, and not being supported by anything. There is, however, a really strong pressure on your chest from the wind which I should have expected, really.

When we landed, I was an adrenalin high. It was so much fun, but being the first person to go, I was surrounded by people barely able to keep their eyes open from the night before, so no one wanted to talk to me. That was a bit annoying.

I think it's about time for me to move on again. I think I want to head towards Uruguay because I hear that it's quite cheap and there are some really nice beaches there.