Chau Argentina

We are in Bolivia. There is no mistaking us now. After 4 months in the South of Argentina, where many of the people look like they could be American, we are most definitely the gringos now, and being treated as such. I guess that is what happens when I lug more posessions on my back, than most people here own period.

We are waiting for our bus to La Paz, the capitol city in the north, skipping many of the tourist destinations along the way, because our time is ticking, and ......well the accomodations here make Tijuana look desirable. So, after leaving Salta at 7 am to arrive here at the border, we will now board a bus at 6 pm, for a 18 hour trip to La Paz. Not exactly a luxury cruiser we will be without a bathroom, so I am hoping that the chicken we just ate passes through normally.

We also skipped one of the major tourist destinations in Argentina, Iguazu Falls in the northern Jungle of Argentina. This omission is due mainly to my underestimation of how big Argentina is. And with the amount of luggage we are carrying around, the traveling is not exactly as easy as we had planned, although I am not sure that we put much thought into the actually traveling part. Therefore we skipped the 60 hours round trip it would have taken to see the Iguazu falls in the North Eastern corner of Argentina, and continue "straight away" for La Paz after crossing the border.

I already miss Buenos Aires and the luxuries of the city there, especially after feeling the giant cockroach squish under my foot in our last room, at a hostel in Salta. This hostel, designed by Argentinas finest engineers, leaked water, allowing mold to cover the walls turning our "habitacion" into a musty den. Because it is "Semana Santa" (they arduously celebrate the whole week of Easter)the whole country is traveling and we had to stay with what accomodations we could find, and we paid twenty dollars a night for this. So much for the north being really cheap... dirty yes, cheap, not so much. However, the city was unique, as each city has been since we started traveling north about a month ago, from the end of the world. With each city, I began to feel more and more like I was in Mexico, and finally, in Salta, we were able to eat some tamales and find some real spicy salsa.

All in all Argentina was beautiful, the people are so nice, Bs As was too big to cover in the 3 plus months we were there, and the rest of the country cannot be covered in a months time of traveling. But we passed through myriad climate changes, and spent time on a ranch, which we nearly could not reach.

Becuase the small mountain road had been inundated by the flooding river,our taxi, which was a small honda model from the mid 80´s, twisted and bumped his way professionally through a muddy road that he had no business being on in his little coche. After almost getting stuck in mud twice, the trip came to an abrupt end as the road was impassable. The usual stream, which flows over the road is usually easily passable with the concrete slab, which facilitates the crossing. However, this is no bridge, and the stream had swelled to a raging river. So after 40 minutes in this little taxi we turned around to head back to the city, sure enough the taxi tried to charge us for the ride. This was of course after a 15 hr. bus ride which included a blown tire.

However, a man from town assured us we could make it through the river in his truck. Although I thought differently, we were determined to get the estancia, my thoughts were that there was no way we were going to pass, and it was one heck of an adrenaline rush when we plowed through a raging river in a pick up. But the estancia was beautiful, we had the place to ourselves, practiced our Spanish for three days with our gaucho guide Diego, rode horses, milked goats, cut up dead cows, drank mate, and caught some rays by the river.

And so now with more countries to see, we are ready to move on. So Chau Argentina, as well as the language of "Castellano," thanks for the good times.