Cooking Dinners and Falling Down Stairs

From South America

Today I fell down an entire flight of stairs in the La Casa de La Libertad, a well preserved 17th Century colonial building where Bolivian independence was declared. Below is a photo of the lovely staircase. Fortunately, the only injuries I sustained were a bump on my head, which I have been icing diligently, and a cut on my right hip. I am so lucky that I was not more hurt!!
While I was icing in the kitchen today (see photo above), El Cactus prepared lunch for me.

From South America

Chad, El Cactus and I have been enjoying Sucre. We spent yesterday wandering around the city, visiting churches, dancing to marching bands practices, trying all the street food we see and trying to find the cheapest place to stay. Last night, Chad left for Cochabamba and I will join him tomorrow night.

I have been cooking a lot the last few days. It is great to be back in the kitchen and, if my mom saw me, she would say I was being a happy little homemaker.

Treating myself to a fancy dinner tonight as a result of my injury. Always good to have an excuse to treat yourself. Meeting El Menscho for dinner.

So Long Los Gauchos

The original three have now gone their separate ways. We had a great final night by watching the Copa America match between Bolivia and Costa Rica. We viewed the match at Bolvian bar with several jars of ¨Limonada¨, lemonade with Bolivian fire water. We were joined by the fourth Gaucho, who arrived to Potosi yesterday morning.

Big hugs, some kisses too (none for Chad- he doesn´t like kisses from friends).

Tonight I am cooking a vegetarian feast. Will head to Sucre tomorrow morning and will have lunch with Chad and El Menscho Magico.

Potosi´s Working Mines

From South America Random

Since the 16th Century, Bolivianos have been working in the Cerro Rico, ¨The Rich Mountian¨ in Potosi in search of precious metals, such as silver and tin. Today we took a tour of a cooperative mine and climbed through the narrow passageways to see the work of the miners, to understand the hardships of the work and to learn about the history of this city´s desire for economic prosperity. After just spending an hour and a half in the mine, climbing on all fours at around 4200m above sea level, seeing the backbreaking work of the laborers and hearing their stories, there are clear injustices within the mining communities that exist here. It paints a bleak picture of the mining industry around the world and sadly there do not seem to be any real potential solutions in sight. Geologists estimate that the Cerro Rico has about 80-100 years until it is tapped of its resources. Miners continue to probe the mountain with dynamite in search of a profitable rock while they are inhaling toxic fumes, working in extremely hot regions and lacking proper safety equipment and health insurance.

From South America Random

What planet are we on?

In the last four days, I have seen some of the most beautiful sights located in a teeny, tiny corner of the world: red lagoons, green lagoons, cacti, geysers, volcanoes, ghost towns, petrified rock formations, llamas, vicuñas, desert, thermal baths, flamingos, snow-capped mountains, chincillas and THE SALT FLATS! A lot of time in the car and too much wind but it was definitely worth it! Our guide Fidel and cook Carmen were amazing and I will definitely miss them!!

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We slept at 4800m, got altitude sickness, appreciated the night sky and I got my hair cut by an awesome Scottish backpacker last night before I went to sleep.

From South America Random

Today at the Salar de Uyuni, the world´s largest salt flats, I sat on top of our jeep as it drove through the seemingly endless white expanse. We took great pictures and have checked into the only hotel in Uyuni that has heat. We are cold and wet and ready to have a good night´s sleep at a normal altitude. We had a great addition to our group on the four-day trip: a cool Aussie named Tim (El Menscho Magico) who brought humor and rock-climbing knowledge to the group, among many other things.

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We are celebrating the 4th of July in style by heading to the local pizza restaurant that is run by an Amherst alum- no joke!

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Our plan is to head to Potosi but we are not sure if we are going to be able to leave this dingy, cold and run-down tourist town because it is snowing and the buses are not running. Hmmm....

From South America Random

ESTAMOS EN BOLIVIA

Have just arrived in Tupiza, known as the American Wild West of Bolivia. This region was the setting for the final scene of ¨Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid¨. Home to the Cordilleras de Chichas (Chichas Mountains), this small dusty town is surrounded by a picturesque landscape of canyons, painted hills and cacti-filled valleys. The Bolivianos are more indigenous-looking, wear traditional altiplano dress and are more humble than the average Argentine. And it´s cheap, cheap, cheap. Tomorrow we are going on a 3-hour horseback riding trip through the region and set off on Friday morning for a 4-day tour of the southwest region.

From South America Random

Some highlights over the last few days:
-Saw the mummified body of an Incan child who was sacrificed to the gods at the museum MAAM in Salta, Argentina. Disturbing yet intriguing.
-Trekked through the Hills of Seven Colors in Purmamarca, Argentina and had a great 3-hour talk with El Cactus Bailarin on a hilltop about anything and everything.

From South America Random

-Tried llama meat in Tilcara, Argentina. Pretty delicious actually.
-Dealt with bureaucratic inefficiency today when we tried to cross the border into Bolivia. The Argentine side had an unnecessarily long line to receive our exit stamp (over an hour). The Bolivian side was more efficient but did not ask for any of the 8 ¨required¨ documents needed to cross the border.

El Cactus is gone- it was great to have his company but Los Gauchos don´t cross borders with strangers. Bolivia is very exciting and am looking forward to the last 2/3 of the trip.


Besos!!

Lazy Sunday in Salta

Spent the day relaxing and taking care of errands. Needed a chill day after enjoying a real Argentine night out with the boys and the newest addition to our group, Fede, who will now be referred to on the blog by his nickname which is El Cactus Bailarin (the dancing cactus). He will be joining Los Gauchos until he gets sick and tired of us, which might be soon.

Also, FYI, El Gringo Loco will now be called by his newest, less generic and more appropriate nickname, El Pollito Sin Cabeza (The Chicken without a Head). Chad gets two thumbs up for for the two aformentioned names. One thumb up to me for translating the names into Castellano.



We had quite an evening last night. We went to a peña, a folkloric dance show, in the happening part of town. The performers danced different regional dances in traditional costumes and, true to form, Pollito was the star of the evening. He was selected out of the crowd to dance with one of the beautiful performers and had the entire audience eating out of his hand for the rest of the night. Very comical and he had Los Gauchos in hysterics the entire evening. Pollito and I tore up the dance floor-we got a standing ovation at the end of our dance. After the ovation, the MC told the audience that ¨we danced like we were on 600 mm of Rivotril¨(according to Wikipedia, it is a common prescription for epilepsy, anxiety disorders, panic disorders, mania and restless legs syndrome, among other things). Don´t think it was a compliment but we had fun!!! El Cactus received the adjective in his nickname (bailarin) after impressively dancing to some Cumbia. We had a great time dancing to his favorite songs. Chad eventually got on the dance floor after a few Salta beers and charmed a 60-plus woman with his fiery rhythm and moves. We ate an amazing parrilla but there is a severe lack of vegetables in this country.



Went to a live music show and enjoyed some Fernets with Coke. Fernet is a bitter and aromatic spirit made with herbs and spices. Pollito was the band´s most spirited groupie and we all chatted it up with the band after the show. Pollito and I split a choripan at the end of the night after we resolved a brief lover´s quarrel. We hugged it out!

Great fun had by all. One of the highlights of the trip so far.

Tomorrow morning at 6:30AM we will head to Pumamarca, farther north and on our way to Bolivia. It will probably be our last stop before we cross the border. Argentina is AMAZING!!

Besos,
La Princesa Magica

Hikes, Wine Country and Lots of Maté

Tafi del Valle was so picturesque. A small rural mountain village inhabited by indigenous people. One day, we hired a 14 year-old boy named Pancho to guide us to the waterfalls, Cascada Rio de Los Alissos. We hiked up to about 3000 meters to see the 60 meter drop from two rock faces. It was covered in ice and when Chad climbed closer to get a look, a big sheet of ice fell from the top of the falls and shattered pretty close to his head. Terrifying but funny after we saw he was okay. The hike was certainly made more difficult by the altitude. It was in Tafí that we picked up an extra travel buddy, Fedé, a porteño (from Buenos Aires). He is chill, nice and funny, but his sense of humor is a little inappropriate for my taste. The guys seems to enjoy his potty humor, however. He is still traveling with us but I think we will part ways after Salta. We shall see.



Since Tafi, we have pased our time in Cafayate, Argentina´s second biggest wine town after Mendoza. Gringo went for a 50 km bike ride yesterday while Chad, Fedé and I walked through the hillside and visited a few bodegas. Being in wine country brought me joy and it was great to taste some wine and learn more about the wine-making process. Fedé cooked us dinner last night-delicioso.


Today we are in Salta- not much to do here but the main square is full of beautiful 19th Century buildings. I was Gringo´s arm candy today while he played the slots. We ate empanadas and tamales for lunch. We will probably go to a boliche (dance club) tonight after we eat at a parrilla (grill house). Not sure where we will head next but spontaneous nature of this trip is exhilirating.

The trip is awesome. We all travel really well together and we have nicknamed ourselves Los Gauchos (the cowboys).

Besos
Teeny