Since Rio, we flew down to Buenos Aires for a few days, then bused 17 hrs to Iguazu falls, then bused another 23 hrs (ended up being much longer because the bus broke down an hour in) to Salta, which is in Northwest Argentina. I will try to write about Buenos Aires and Iguazu when I have time, but for now I'd like to share our most recent trip to Cafayate while its still fresh on my mind.
So, to start the story, Micah and I decided to buy a tent. The Salta area is known for its outdoors activities, and we thought, being the former athletes we are, we would fit right in and do something extreme. We went to the bus station to buy the tickets from Salta to Cafayate (known for being the highest vineyards in the world) for the next day. When we got to the bus station around 5 we found out that all the buses for the next day were full, but we could catch the 9pm bus that n
ight. In the crunch of the moment, we bought the tickets, then realized how much we had to do. We ran back to our hostel to get our bags, bought a tent, and made it back to the bus station in time to catch the bus. Only then did we realize that a) the whole point of the bus ride is to see beautiful scenery, and it was night and b) we had no idea where we were going to stay that night.As we boarded the bus a few teenage locals befriended us and were very talkative, even though we made it perfectly clear we had no idea what they were jabbering about in spanish. We were relieved when we parted from them to load the bus, only to be disappointed when they were sitting RIGHT behind us for the 3.5 hr trip. They kept offering us the wine they were downing jubilantly, which we politely denied until we finally escaped by pretending to be asleep. Once the bus started moving, we began to smell smoke, both cigarette smoke and something else. Turns out, not only were they all drinking and smoking cigarettes (ON THE BUS), but they had lit up some marijauna as well!! Micah and I were NOT happy as the smoke consumed us. Then, they busted out a guitar and began jamming. For the most part, the music was actually quite enjoyable except for the one off tuned drunk kid who kept yelling above the rest. I was soon brought back to middle school, when the bus driver actually had to pull over the bus and go to the back, where he made them put out their cigarettes, but let them keep the guitar and wine...
About an hour later the bus stopped again. This time, 5 armed police men came on and took their wine and guitar. Micah and I sat back relieved, assuming this would be the end, but alas, right when the bus started moving they starting making their own beat on the seats and windows and kept up the screeching tunes.
Finally we pulled into cafayate around 1:15 am. At first we were relieved with the discovery that their was a huge celebration going on in the city, so the streets were packed and we didn't have to worry about being out alone in an unknown city at such a time. Only too soon did we discover this was also a disaster. All 3 of the camp grounds around the town were completo (full) as well as all of the hostels we came upon. Around 3:30 we'd accepted the fact that we would just have to stay up all night with the crowds and try to find a place in the morning, when a girl approached us and directed us to an open hostel she knew of. When we got there we were completely relieved to have a bed, until we actually saw the room. Disgusting. I slept with my rain jacket wrapped around the pillow because I am fairly certain their were either bed bugs or lice, or both... We were so exhausted by that stage that we grabbed a choripan for dinner and fell asleep around 4.
The next day (yesterday) we decided we were going to rent a bike and make the 82 km bikeride through the mountains in a very beautiful and famous area known for the garganta del diablo (the devils throat). I'm not quite sure what inspired such a false confidence in our physical abilities to ride bikes for what would be close to 160 km round trip, through the mountains with giant backpacks on our back, in the middle of a hot and dry summer. When talking with a guy at our hostel, we had understood that all the stops on the map we had were small cities along the way, so we assumed we would stop there to get water, food, and pitch our tent. Evidently our translation abilities were absolutely off.
We started on our trek around 2pm yesterday, and literally within 30 min. we were pulled over on the side of the road, downing the little water we had and cursing our heavy, pointless backpacks. We finally built up the strength to keep going, our goal to at least reach the first town by nightfall (we were told it was only 2 hrs away). About 10 min. in, Micah's chain falls off her bike so we pull over again. We were already hysterically laughing at this stage because we were soooo exhausted. I know, we should NOT have been this tired, but I promise you this was like Lance Armstrong stuff when you factor in our giant backpacks, hills and he
at AND I forgot to mention the vicious wind that had picked up against us! We actually got blown off the road once. Anyways, once Micah got the chain back on, she turned to me and I fell to the ground laughing. Her fingers were covered in grease from the chain, and she'd happened to only touch her face right above her lip. When she turned to me she looked like hitler in a bike helmet. I honestly thought it was the funniest thing I had ever seen...From here we hopped back on the bikes and with the help of our ipods and a little bit of pride, we road to km 13 (doesn't sound far, I know...) Exhausted and defeated, we got off our bikes and began walking onward, still determined to make the first town, at km 20. I forgot to mention earlier that yesterday ended up being a day of luck. Not necessarily good luck, but luck. A few minutes after we started walking a truck pulled over with two guys who asked if we needed a lift (we had researched this earlier and been told repeatedly that hitchhiking in the area was perfectly normal and safe). We happily accepted and hopped in the back of the truck, holding our bags and bikes and we drove through the beautiful mountains with the wind wildly blowing our hair. What luck! We were in heaven. After driving for a while, the truck pulled off the road next to the river so the two guys could go wash off real quick. When they came back, they couldn't get the truck to start! At first I was somewhat skeptical and a bit nervous that they were trying to pull some scam on us to get money or something, but after popping the hood and making a few adjustements the engine roared to life! We crawled back in the back and got ready for the rest of the trip. But, when he pressed the gas, the wheels turned but we didn't move anywhere. The sand they pulled into was soft and deep, and their truck was old. The back wheel was almost completely covered in the sand. We got out and tried to push the truck out, but push as we may we were stuck. Seriously, the car breaks down, and when they fix it we are stuck...
We flag down a couple of cars, one a big truck and the other a small car filled to the brim with family members. The driver of our truck ties a roap to his front bumper to the other truck and through much effort we are towed safely onto the road. At this time we realize there is a bunch of water now pouring out of our trucks hood. When they pop it open, they realize that when they tied the rope to the bumper, it somehow got wrapped around a part of the engine and the pressure from the towing caused it to pop right out of place. Ugh!! But, as luck would have it, the other car who had pulled over happened to be that of a kindly old mechanic. After about an hour of waiting, where Micah and I helped the family's kids find pretty stones for their fish aquarium, the truck kicked to life. At this point, the truck had broken down, been fixed, gotten stuck, been towed out, had a peice of the engine ripped out, and been put back together again... They needed lots of wa
ter to pore on the engine though to keep it cool, so Micah downed the last of her 2 liters to fill the bottle with river water to help out. I only had about 1 liter of water left, but at this stage we did not realize our predicament. We hopped back in the truck and completed the trip to the devils throat, 48 km into our adventure.On the way to the devils throat, we'd begun to realize that all of the 'cities' along the way, were no more than signs for big sites to see, such as a pretty rock, or 3 crosses sticking out of the ground. We hadn't passed so much as a gas station, let alone a town where we could eat, drink and sleep. We thanked the drivers for their kindness and climbed out with our bikes. We were still so exhausted that we didn't even have the strength to go climb around the devils throat, the whole point of making the trip. By this time it was starting to get dark and we were legitimately worried about what we were going to do. We tried talking to some of the fellow travelers at the devil's throat, and they said 5 km down the road we would find a bar where we could at least get water. We threw our backpacks on, donned our helmets, and built up the courage to bike the last 5 km. Well, about 3 rest breaks and 7 km later, we had seen NOTHING and it was too dark to safely keep going on the road. We found a car pulled over and asked them desperately if we were getting close to this mythical store we kept dreaming about. They laughed and told us the closest store was 4 hrs. away by bike. Bueno Suerte (good luck) theyt told us. At this news, with all hope gone, we decided to begin our walk to the river to set up our tent and start the trip back to Cafayate in the morning. The river was not close, and we dragged our bikes and bags through the rocks and mud, twisting ankles and slipping often, until we finally reached the bank.
Against Micah's wishes I insisted on crossing the river because I said I would feel safer on the other side, further away from the highway. We had been told by everyone that it was perfectly safe, normal, and legal to pull over and camp on the road, but as usually happens, when night began to fall I got spooked. I wanted as far from the highway and other people as possible. So, in our goretex (waterproof) tennis shoes we began dragging our bikes across. At this stage I was too weary and out of it to think through the fact that tennis shoes are only water p
roof if you don't go in water deeper than them. A few steps in, the water came up to our shins and our shoes filled with water. But, since they are 'waterproof' they didn't drain the water like most shoes, but kept it trapped in. Heavy footed, thirsty and hungry we found our perfect camping spot.It was pitch black by this stage, and neither of us had really ever set up a tent before. We grabbed our flashlights and set to work on what could have been an entertaining scene from 'I Love Lucy'! We had poles sticking out randomly and the whole thing kept collapsing over and over again. About this time, we also realized our 'perfect' spot was covered with giant ant beds. We really had not other landscape options, so we kept working and finally had a standing tent! After a second of celebration, we moved our stuff inside, zipped ourselves in, and went to work killing all the ants and flying bugs that had made their way inside. We then took a small swig of the tiny bit of water we had, and ate the chicken we had fortunately saved from lunch. At this stage, we relaxed and actually began enjoying ourselves. The stars were beautiful and all we could hear was the river running and sweet nothingness. I took out my journal to write and Micah took out her ipod and enjoyed laying beneath the stars.
This contentedness lasted about 30 min. We then realized how hard the ground was (we hadn't thought far enough ahead to buy a sleeping bag or pad to sleep on, so all we had was a thin sheet. We also notices how hot it was and how small our tent was when it had two people and two giant backpacks in it. To make a long night short, we slept little and woke with sore and bruised bodies, both from the hard bike ride from the day before, and the hard ground from that night.
We woke u
p just as exhausted as we were when we'd gone to bed. In somewhat of a blessing, the wind from the day before had died down, but this just made the sweltering heat more unbearable. While we were completely unhappy at this stage, we were somewhat entertained by the fact that we woke up to wild pigs (not the giant dangerous hogs of some places) roaming around our tent. That made us feel that much cleaner...We gathered our energy and put up our tent and made the trying trek back across the river, mud and rocks to the highway.Pulling up to the highway, we were both well aware that there was NO way, with our giant bags and no food or water, we were ever going to continue on in our same direction or for that matter make the 50 or so km back to civilization. We sat our stuff down and began praying for a truck to come by. After about 15 minutes we flagged down a nice couple on their way to Cafayate, who completely rearranged the packed bed of their truck to fit us and our bikes in. We thanked our 'lucky' stars and sat back to enjoy the trip back to town. We were so exhausted, that Micah actually fell asleep sitting up awkwardly on top of our bikes wedged uncomfortably in the back. Back at Cafayate we returned our cursed bikes and set off to find a place to sleep for the night. EVERYTHING was full. As we were about to set up our tent in a packed and hot backyard, we made an instant decision to go try to catch a bus back to Salta and try our luck there. When we walked up to the station, we found a taxi that was willing to take us for the same price as our bus tickets would have been.
We finally arrived in Salta about 6 (3.5 hrs ago) and set off to find a place to sleep. Note that we still hadn't had more than a tiny bit of chicken and a granola bar in more that 24 hrs of tiring biking. I'd already managed to drink a whole 2 liter bottle of water during the taxi ride, but we were both famished. A few minutes into our walk it began to pour. We finally walked into a hostel, completely drenched, streaked with dirt, and starving. After a nice shower, we split a large pizza and topped it off with giant ice cream cones. I am now content and looking forward to a long nights sleep!
Good night,
Emily
itself is a series of contrasts, most notably the close proximity of the very rich and very poor. It was common to walk by million dollar beach apartments backing up to miles of favelas (slums). In fact there are more than 900 of these favelas in the city!! We took a tour through the largest one in South America, known as Rociera (sp?). Little did we know that the tour would actually begin with each of us being tossed on the back of a motorcycle that sent us speeding through the windy, traffic filled streets of the favela to the top! Micah and I screamed the whole way as our drivers decided to race each other up, knowing we were terrified! Anway, we survived and were completely taken aback b
y the favela. The tour guide led us through the small side streets, filled with decomposing garbage, barely wide enough to walk. He told us all about the politics and economics that go on within a favela run by a drug lord. The item we paid attention to most was the fact that when all the kites disappeared from the sky (they flew them as a sport, much like in The Kite Runner, with glass on the string to cut down opposing kites), it meant something was going down, either a police raid or an opposing gang was coming. We kept a keen eye on the skies...I wish I had time to go into all the det
ails, but if you are interested you might watch the movie "City of God", made about one of Rio's favelas. Its pretty graphic and violent, and definitely not a happy, feel good movie, but worthwhile if you are curious.
Another great experience was going to the Flamingo vs. Fluminense soccer game at Maracana Stadium. We were told it was Rio's biggest rivalry in the worlds largest stadium. The stadium used to hold 200,000 people before it was made smaller because of safety concerns! Our seats were at the top of the crazy Flamingo fan section. Flamingo is Rio's working class team and also the most popular, boasting 33 million supporters! The atmosphere was unbelievable with singing, chanting, jumping, flags, and flares and on top of that we even got a 
great game. Flamingo came back from being down 1-3 to win 5-3. I don't remember the last time I saw 8 goals in a high quality match, but I'm sure glad it happened while we were there!
were just going to WATCH the performance, but we were soon swept onto the dance floor and samba'd the night away with an old Brazilian man and the great Argentinian men we met at the hostel. Evidently our samba skills were less than par though, because a girl actually approached one of us and condescendingly asked if we were from the US...Haha, good stuff.
only issue were the little 12 year old boys that would weave in and out of the crowd checking people out for bags and feeling your pockets. Fortunately we made it out with everything, but our friend had his wallet picked straight out of his side pocket!Apart from the Carnaval events, we also checked out the typical touristy things. We went to the top of Corcovado to pose with the Christ the Redeemer Statue (the second largest statue in the world, after the Statue of Liberty), we took the cable car up to the top of Sugarloaf to watch sunset, we walked throught Tijuca National Park (the largest urban rainforest in the world), we drove through the streets of bohemian Santa T
eresa, went to Ipanema and rubbed shoulders with the correctly named "beautiful people", shopped at their famous Hippie Fair, drank coconut water and slurped acai, and even made some monkey friends during a nap on our terrace.
these fun things we did, the most entertaining moment of the whole week might have been watching the 3 year old girl walking in front of us as she stopped every few steps to pick the wedgie from the thong style bikini she had on. Haha, they sure start early! While its true that they wear very little in this city, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that speedos actually look quite good on certain men...