The End is Nigh
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2011
1
24
Trip End
Feb 11, 2011
Buenos Aires, Capital Federal District, Argentina
Friday, December 2, 2011
The next morning Ricardo, the hostel owner, drove me and two other people to Talampaya National Park, 130 k's away. When we got there we joined a tour through the park in a truck with seating inside, and sometimes, on the roof. The area used to be a forest, back in the Triasic era and a lot of dinosaur fossils and bones have been found in the park. We drove through a deep red canyon along the dry river bed, and past some impressive towers of red stone. You could sum this place up with one word; red. There were also some petroglyphs left by indigenous people a long time ago. The result of wind and water erosion is there to be seen. In the summer there is torrential rain, but right now it is very dry. The whole place reminded me of a Road Runner cartoon, though we only saw a fox, not a coyote. There was some other interesting wildlife on display though (see the photo).
The next morning Mario, who works at the hostel, took the hostel guests for a pleasant bike ride. We rode up the valley to see the river and then stopped off at the reservoir. Then it was back to the hostel to get ready for a visit to Ischigualatos Provincial Park.
Ischigualatos (Quechua for "Dead Land") is a wonderful place bordering Talampaya, but the entrance is only 80 k's away. We got driven to the park and then we joined a convoy of cars to drive around. The guide was in the lead vehicle. I guess they do this so people don't climb on the rock formations and damage them. The park used to be a lake and forested area a couple of hundred million years ago, and they have found a lot of dinosaur and other bones here, as well as fossilised plants, especially in the area known as the Valley of the Moon (the third place I have been with that name in South America).
The remains are from the Triasic era - about 230 million years ago. It is the only place in the world where nearly all the Triasic is found in layers of rock, which means they can study the transition from dinosaurs to mammals. The ground is soft and the summer rains wash parts of it away exposing the bones. This saves having to dig for bits and pieces, and in fact digging is prohibited. The area also has great examples of wind and rain erosion, along with layering of sediments from different eras. We went in the afternoon hoping for better light for photos, but that didn't work out, early morning would have been better. Despite that, I really enjoyed Ischigualatos.
I was able to have a bit of a sleep in on Saturday morning as I had nothing planned apart from getting the bus south. The bus didn't leave until 2 pm and after 4 hours arrived in San Juan (650m), where I got another bus for the 2 hour ride to Mendoza (824m). We were on the plains from San Juan, the Andes off in the distance to one side, and bugger all in the other. But the sun was going down behind the Andes and the light was beautiful to see; a nice time to be travelling on that road.
Mendoza is another well known wine producing area, but that is of little interest to me. On Sunday morning I did very little, I was waiting for the Liverpool game against Chelski to kick off. After watching Liverpool beat Chelsea I wandered to the supermarket, but it was closed (!). I knew it was Sunday but that is a bit daft. Oh well, I bought some sandwiches in a local shop and wandered back to the hostel where I did very little due it raining outside. They don't get much rain in Mendoza but it rained while I was there, I felt very special. The rain stopped a bit later on and it cleared up so I went for a wander into the centre of town. Mendoza looks nice enough, with wide tree-lined streets, but it is just another city as far as I can tell. If I was into wine it would be more interesting.
Monday morning was looking a bit better but I had decided to move on, so I bought a bus ticket, had breakfast, relaxed at the hostel (the guy working in the hostel turned on the tv and they were showing the "Footrot Flats" movie), then wandered back to the bus station. I was going to San Luis, about 4 hours down the road. It seemed like it would be a good place to spend a night or two, and it was only a short bus ride, well short by Argentine standards.
So after arriving at the hostel I tried to find out what to do in San Luis. The girl working in the hostel only spoke Spanish, and there was no written material in English. So I wandered into the tourist information office in town. They only spoke Spanish there too. Oh well, the town looked pleasant enough but I figured one night would do.
So on Tuesday morning I got on a bus to Cordoba (only 384m), Argentina's second biggest city, with a population of about 1.4 million (compared to about 13 million in Buenos Aires). We arrived in Cordoba after 7 and a half hours at a the new bus station (open for about a month), which was deserted. The old one just around the corner was very busy. I got a taxi but the driver told me I could walk to the hostel as it was only a 20 minute walk. In other words, he could get a more lucrative fare elsewhere. I flagged down another taxi and that driver was much more accommodating.
It was very hot in Cordoba on Wednesday, but I did go for a wander around town to see what I could see. The city is quite pleasant, with lots of pedestrian only streets (Auckland could do with more of those, maybe Queen St between Victoria and Customs) and plenty of activity. I did retreat to the hostel to escape the heat later on though. But having got a bit bored I ventured out to see the memoria museum, a museum dedicated to those who were killed or disappeared during the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1984. The museum is located in what used to be the headquarters of the Cordoba secret police, which added some poignancy. For the sake of balance I should include that a lot of those victims were actively using violence to fight the regime - terrorists or freedom fighters?
I decided I needed a day out so signed up for a tour to Quebrada del Condrito National Park, up in the Sierras Grandes (one of the local mountain ranges, the other is Sierras Chicas. Both are older than the Andes). I got picked up at about 8am and after picking up some other people we headed to the mountains, the Sierras Grandas. There were only 5 of us plus our guide. Once we arrived we started walking towards the viewpoint to see the condors. The day was very hot and but the walk wasn't too hard. The landscape is quite different to other places I have been; long tussock grasses with outcrops of rock. The view from the mountains was flat. All around is plains. The lookout was at about 2,000m and was on the lip of a canyon, and looking down we could see 30 - 40 condors sitting by a pool in the river. Later on they started flying, well gliding - they don't flap their wings much. I like watching the way the condors glide on the thermals and use their wing tips and tails to steer, and their feet to slow down. Then it was the walk back to the van and the drive back to the city.
Friday was a lazy day. I slept late'ish, then packed and checked out. I did bugger all, it was so hot and humid in Corodba. I did venture out later on and as I walked along I could feel the heat coming up from the footpath. I had a bus booked that night so just relaxed until it was time to go to the bus station. It started to rain before I went to the bus, thunder and lightning too. They don't get much rain in Cordoba but there it was. (I seem to be turning into some sort of rain god. I could hire myself out to places with droughts - pity Aussie just had all that rain.) The girl in the hostel called a taxi for me but it was going to be a while as the taxis get busy when it rains. Eventually I started to walk, I didn't want to miss the bus. After a few blocks I was able to hail a taxi.
The bus ride was ok. I had a 'cama suite' seat - pricey but I wanted to sleep. The bus left at 11.10 and about 10 minutes later they gave us dinner. Then I managed to get to sleep. They woke us up at 5.45 for breakfast, needing sleep more than food I just went back to sleep. We arrived at about 7, which was an hour earlier than I was expecting. Another hour of sleep would have been good. Then a taxi to the hostel, the same one I stayed at in February. Back to where it all began. I had now travelled over 30,000 kilometres by road on this trip.
It was very hot and humid in B.A. so did very little until I got picked up to go to see River Plate play Rosario at football. The tour took us to a pub where we got free drinks and hot dogs (I only had one, I prefer meat over whatever that hot dog was). Then it was off to the stadium. They have had some crowd problems lately so there was a limit of 40,000 put on the crowd, but it was still very noisy and atmospheric. The away fans were in a caged area in the 2nd tier of the stand we were in. The game ended 1-1, with Rosario scoring first. The noise when River Plate equalised was terrific. At the end of the game our guides told us to wait 20 minutes before leaving due to the expected fights between the home and away fans. I left my hostel at 4.30 and arrived back at 10.30, but it was good fun and I am glad I finally got to experience South American football (and its crowds).
Sunday was also hot and humid, and after sleeping late, I did not much again. However I did watch Liverpool play Manchester City (another 1 all draw). That was my plan for the day and it worked.
Monday was a public holiday in Argentina, and lacking much else to do myself, Tony (UK) and Johnathon (Sweden) made a trip to a place called Tigre, a suburb of BA about an hour away by train. We had heard it was a good place to visit so we did, it is also a popular day trip for locals. Tigre is located on a delta on the river, and the thing to do, apparently, is a boat ride. So we did. As we cruised down the river we saw that every house/hotel/restaurant had its own dock. We also saw some old boats slowly rusting away on the banks. I guess they couldn't get anything for them as scrap.
We got off the boat at one of the islands to go for a walk, which was mediocre. Getting back on a boat was the difficult part. We waited for a while at the same place we got off and then decided to walk a bit. We found a restaurant where we had lunch, and then waited for about an hour more, watching boats drop people off but not picking people up, then finally a boat arrived that we could get on. Yay! So us, and about 100 other people piled into the boat and headed back to Tigre. Quite a few people got left behind as the boat was full. Then once back in the town (as such) we got the train back to BA. That was a disappointing day, but at least it got us out of the hostel. We are all near the end of our travels and the humidity is making us very lazy.
Damn, it was hot! But on Tuesday morning I managed to push myself to go out and have a look at the Recoleta Cemetery. This is a true necropolis, with streets of tombs. The tombs are a bit over the top, with statues of the dead person and/or angels. Lots of money spent for somewhere to put a coffin. Evita Peron is entombed there. I was having a general wander when I got close to where she is and was just in time to see a big tour group wander in to the 'street' to have a look. So I sat down and waited. When they had mostly gone I wandered in to have a look. This was funny. She doesn't have her own tomb, but is in her family's tomb - she was born into a wealthy family - and there is a just a plaque on the front that mentions her. I found it odd that people were posing for photos in front of the tomb (and others as well) with smiles on their faces. One girl (not Asian) posed looking very serious but also doing the v for victory thing. I laughed out loud at that. After that I went back to the hostel.
Later on I watched Liverpool beat Chelsea (again), this time in the Carling Cup. That finished the day off nicely.
On Wednesday (much cooler weather, good wind) I met up with Sandra, a German girl I met in Cordoba. We wandered down to San Telmo where we had lunch, then went to La Boca to see El Caminito, the part of the neighbourhood with the multi-coloured buildings. I didn't remember it being so touristy. Every few metres someone was trying to get us to eat at their restaurant, or buy some cheesy souvenirs in their shop. After that, we went to another part of town called Puerto Madero, the old dock area which was neglected for 50 years until the government did it up. That was the day pretty much.
On Thursday Sandra and I went to Palermo, one of the neighbourhoods of BA I (and Sandra) hadn't been to before. This is one of the nicer areas of town. It was pleasant wandering along tree-lined streets. We had lunch at a pub then wandered some more, finishing up at the botanical gardens, which after walking around two sides of, we finally found an open gate to. A nice day, sunny weather, but not humid - yay!
I had thought about going to Colonia in Uruguay for a day but decided that as nice as Colonia apparently is, I just couldn't be bothered. It isn't that cheap either, and I really don't need another stamp in my passport that much.
Friday was, weather wise, like Thursday. Not that it mattered too much as I spent the day at the hostel waiting to go to the airport. It is 5.40pm in Buenos Aires as I write this and the pick up is booked for 6. That is far too early but it is the latest they do (!). So I will have several hours to do not sure what at the airport. My flight is scheduled to depart at 2.30 Saturday morning (6.30pm NZ time) and will hopefully be on schedule. When I reconfirmed my flight the other day I chose a seat in a row of 4 and the others were empty - yay. I am hoping that is still the case. It will be nice to be able to lie down and sleep, he said hopefully.
So that is pretty much that. It is over, apart from the flight home. Thanks for reading this. And thanks to those who kept in touch with me. I am looking forward to catching up some of you in the next couple of weeks.
See you
Distance Travelled : (approx)
By Air : 28503 k's
By Road :30532 k's
By Sea : 818 nautical miles
By River : 1200 k's (no-one seems to know exactly, but I found this number after trawling the internet)
By Train : 318 k's including Devil's Nose
Song of the day : "Home Again" by Shihad (bit premature I guess, but I can only hope I survive the flight)
