Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Gypsy Train - Mendoza to Salta - the first few days

Today, my friends, is a very sad day. Today is the day we must disembark the gypsy train. However, not all is lost, we will still be hanging out with the crew for another few days before starting our epic bus ride up to Cuzco in time for the inca trail. jhjk

The last two weeks have provided many exciting times, wonderful adventures and awe inspiring views - i will try and keep it somewhat concise....maybe, haha.

Our crew had changed slightly since the trip to Mendoza. Carla headed off on her own to see more of Argentina and Zach, one of the owners of the bus made a last minute decision to go back to Buenos Aires to live. This left Alex and Aleana - the other two owners of the bus, Bianca and I, Jonny our other gypsy trainer from BA and two new arrivals - two Aussie sisters who live on the sunny coast. Slightly sleep deprived and eager to get out of Mendoza, we piled into the bus ready to live out some more gypsy dreams.

The first day we drove to the Chillian boarder to check out Puente del Inca (the inca bridge) and Aconcagua (Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,962 m). The Inca Bridge is an epic red rock formation that forms a natural bridge with hot springs flowing underneigh it - unfortunately we weren´t able to go for a swim. Especially as it was absolutely freezing with an icy wind threatening to blow us over at any moment - a vast difference to the warm sunny days we enjoyed in Mendoza.
We wanted to go for a hike to the base of Aconcagua, however the park ranger told us with the extreme weather conditions it was not advisable. So we contented ourselves with attempting to view the mountain from the lookout point (whilst battling to stay upright against the wind) - however it was so cloudy that we could barely see it! In retrospect it was definitely a good thing we didn´t go hiking, as shortly after we set up camp it started snowing!! Definitely had not packed for this kind of cold!!

The next day we were beaten by the elements again. Having left the Inca bridge behind we headed slowly north and into Parque National el Leoncito for the promise to star gazing at an observatory. The park was the nicest we stayed at, well maintained and the staff were great - also free entry & camping, showers and wifi, unheard of at any other national park we visited! After dinner we all piled into the bus, excited to see some contallations and planets,  however when we arrived we were told it was too cloudy and that we couldn´t do it. Dissapointed, but not disheartened we went back to camp and stared at the stars inbetween the clouds.

The first two days seemed to be a journey of things we couldn´t do.  The third day however, we woke up to a beautiful blue sky, with an amazing view of the mountains. Moving forever north, with the promise of more star gazing, we were not discouraged.

A mass of snow peaked mountains surrounded the vast dusty, dry landscape we were driving though. Dust filled the gypsy train, with everything and everyone on it being covered with a fine film of brown dirt. The only green to be seen was in the shurbs that covered the desert-like landscape - but even they were struggling with the brown dust that covered them. Everything on the gypsy train shuddered and shook and we drove a few hundred kms down this dusty dirt road. Only seeing other forms of life every 20 minutes or so, by way of cars driving in the opposite direction. No other forms of civilisation to be seen.
We encountered a massive dried up salt lake and left the bus to explore. We found out, through Aleana tasting it, that it did not infact taste like salt. It was hard to imagine that this massive spance of cracked yellow earth, surrounded by desert and mountains used to home a body of water.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Mendoza

Whoever said that mixing bike riding and alcohol was a bad idea, obviously hasn´t been on a gringo wine tour in Mendoza. At 9.45am our group of 7 keen gringos (the gypsy bus crew from BA to Mendoza) gathered at the entrance of Mr Hugo's. Mr Hugo's (backpacker tale famous) wine tour consists of supplying you with a bicycle, a (very inaccurate and not to scale) map, some discount cards, a glass of wine or 10 (pre and post tour) and sending you on your way. I think we were all as equally excited about riding bikes as we were about tasting wine - for at least the first half of the day.

As it was not yet midday we decided to start off easy and go to a wine museum - which also happened to be the only place you could try wine for free, but this is not the reason we went there...i swear!! After 20 minutes of pretending to be respectable we went straight to the chocolate factory/absinthe distillery. There is nothing like a shot of absinthe to kick start your day. All 7 of us were eager to sample the local produce, so as a group we each had a shot of this elusive green liquid. The room was momentarily quiet as we took the shot - quickly followed by coughs and splutters. Drinking it really made all of us feel like we had been throwing up for hours with the burning throat and momentary loss for words it brings.

The rest of the day was spent riding from winery, to beer garden, to winery sampling all the local produce. After the first winery we discovered that it was much cheaper just to buy a few bottles of wine between us and share them rather than paying for each of us doing a tasting - so this was our plan of attack in each place. We even managed to muster up a picnic in a vineyard, very civilised. It was an amazing day with so many laughs. Anyone who goes to Mendoza HAS to do it. I think lonely planet summed it up best.
¨It is a crime to go to Mendoza and not go to a vineyard. A crime people!¨

Yesterday BB and I went white water rafting in the Mendoza River. The drive out was amazing as we got to see the Andes close up for the first time. Our rafting group was 6 giggling girls from Australia (me & BB) and England (the other 4), so our rafting guide took it upon himself to make sure we all got as wet as possible during the trip. He´s obviously well practiced at this, as he has many different tricks to try and get us thrown into the water (some of which were successful), or just make sure we got absolutely drenched whilst still in the confines of the raft. BB managed not to fall in, I however was defeated by his trickery of making us sit ´horseriding´stance (one leg off the raft in the water and the other in the raft) and fell right into the freezing glacial river alongside the girl in front of me.

After rafting we were left to lay around in the sun, surrounded by mountains and just chill out for a few hours. Bliss. It feels like so long since we have been in the sun - it made me realise how much i miss being on the beach in Brazil. Definitely need to get some more outdoor time soon!

Tomorrow we´re heading off on the next leg of our gypsy train adventure - making a very slow and highly detoured way to Salta. Excited much.
xxxxxxx

Friday, April 8, 2011

The Gypsy Train - living my hippy dreams

Tuesday morning we boarded the gypsy train in their slow paced journey towards Mendoza. Despite the hangover and crippling mess i become on too few hours sleep, I could feel my soul relax and breathe a deep sigh of relief with every km we drove out of BA. My thoughts slowed and my smile real, undrunken, unsleazy, unoffensively happy.

The gypsy train is a group of fellow backpackers who met in Colombia and decided one hungover morning that they should buy a bus and drive around south America. Skip forward 9 months and the people we are now travelling with are the three remaining owners. If you want to check them out, their website/blog is here: http://www.thegypsytrain.com/.

The last 4 days we have spent on the bus have been amazing. Camping out every night, eating amazing (home made - well...bus made) food and enjoying the, generally unvisited by tourists, small towns in between BA and Mendoza. Last night, with the promise of hot springs, we stayed in a small town that looked like it had been abandoned by 90% of the humans that once resided there - and had almost been entirely taken over by dogs. We rocked up to a campground/park where the hot springs were advertised to discover that it wasn´t really what we were expecting. A hotel had tapped into the springs and made bedrooms (which are for hiring by the hour) that contained something that was the mixture between a small pool and a spa bath and a single bed. What we think was happening is that they fill up the pool/spa with water from the hot springs, but who knows? We were mildly convinced that it may be a ´love hotel´, and had many laughs at the prospect of what exactly was going on.

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The whole idea of drinking strong green tea out of a wooden cup, with a metal straw (with a filter at one end), may sound peculiar to some. But in Argentina this is a national pass time - along with queuing and saying things to gringo girls as they walk down the street. At any place that there are Argentinians - there will be mate (pronounced Mar-Tae). With friends and families alike bringing all the necessary equipment (thermos, tea leaves, wooden cup, metal straw etc) to share mate amongst themselves. One cup and straw is shared amongst the group, with each person taking turns to drink this bitter herbal tea. There is something distinctly communal and relaxing about the mate drinking ritual, and it has been something we have been enjoying during our last few days on the gypsy train.

As we headed towards Mendoza - our last stint of driving to get there - we passed around mate. Zach was our dedicated refiller, ensuring the cycle wasn´t broken and that the order it was being passed continued - with a chain of people handing the small wooden cup up around the bus in some form of mate relay. Aside from the mate each of us were lost in our own thoughts, when out of no where it happened. After driving for the better part of 4 days and seeing nothing but flat landscape our first glimpse of the Andes just seemed to pop out of nowhere in front of us. They were still enough in the distance that their snowy white peaks could almost be mistaken for clouds.
´Holy Shit´ i exclaimed when i saw them - upon reflection i wish my initial reaction had been much more eloquent. But it was really like it had just been placed in front of us. How could the world's longest continental mountain range just appear like that? and be surrounded by hundreds of kms of flat, flat land? But there it was.

BB and i decided that we have not had enough time on the bus. With this in our minds we have decided to stay on the bus for as long as we can, until a) they kick us off, b) we have to be in Peru for the inca trail or c) we decide that being hippies and never showering isn´t actually for us at all and that we want to return to city lifestyle. Personally i´m betting on option b. But who knows, could be a combination of all three.

I´ve been happy travelling, but now, i´m much happier. Loving the simple, cheap, jaw dropping life that we have been living. Not ready to give that up yet.

xxxxxxx

BA round two (fight)

It has been so long since doing this blog that i really don´t know where to begin, and none of it really seems that relevant anymore. We managed to continue drinking late into each night, whilst actually seeing some touristy things during the day. On one day we went out to la boca to see the area where the quintessential photographs of BA are taken (the ones of all the brightly coloured buildings). The area is very dodgy except for the 3 streets that are the dedicated tourist area. So much so a man came up to us at one point and pleaded with us that we don´t even think about leaving the area except by bus or taxi.

On our last night in BA we went to ´La Bomba´ - a drumming group that puts on concerts every Monday night. It was a lot of fun but over waaay too fast! This was made even better as the 1L beers were served in plastic cups, so you had to carry a plastic cup the size of your head around. Two hands on the cup at all times people.

BB and I have decided that no matter where we end up, there always seems to be token English gap year kids and a token kiwi with us, at all times! The exception to that is on the bus we don´t have a kiwi, only an English gap year. It´s funny how it keeps on happening though. Especially when every kiwi we meet tells us they haven´t met any other kiwis.

One interesting thing that happened while we were in BA was the public holiday they had. During the public holiday the locals all took to the streets to march/protest in memory of recent history political events. In vague understanding - there had been a dictatorship in Argentina who detained anyone who opposed them. Something like 30,000 people went ´missing´never to be seen or heard of again and no formal investigation has ever happened about it. It was an amazing thing to see - hundreds of thousands of people on the streets marching and drumming and really being passionate about it. Even if we didn´t know the reason until later...

By the time we left BA we were well and truly ready. I missed being in the sun - even though it was sunny outside the tall buildings kept us always in the shadows.... well that and our inability to leave the hostel before about 4pm.

We think we´ve been getting too settled into cities, so we´ve been enjoying the difference that the gypsy train is providing us. It has also been good to meet new people. As we already knew so many people in BA we didn´t really make the effort to meet new people, which really ended up getting to me a lot. Although we did have a few hilarious nights meeting folks, including the people whose bus we are now on. We also met one group of Argentinians who taught us how to talk back to people in Spanish when they´re being rude to us, which we find hilarious.



So the rest of the last week is going to be made into its own blog entry. As always though - photos will be provided eventually....
xxx